You or someone you know is certainly guilty of tossing shade at baggers. Admittedly, they’ve been an easy target for years, with more than a few catchy nicknames like land yacht, road sofa and chrome fortress. But a new day has dawned for dressers, and some of today’s hottest OE freeway liners make well over 100 hp in stock trim, not to mention wild aftermarket options like (oh yeah) forced induction.
Not convinced? Go watch a King of the Baggers race once. Pitting Harley versus Indian, the series draws thousands and is promoting serious performance development. Who would have imagined a dresser (albeit a seriously modified one) could lap a pro race circuit within 4 seconds of a Superbike. And we’ve all seen the videos of modified baggers dragging rear fenders down the street (not that we can back this sort of behavior).
Before we get into it, let’s address the elephant in the room—somewhat literally. These bikes are heavy, some of them nearly 850 pounds, and that’s just not for everyone. But since less than 90 pounds separates the lightest and heaviest on our list, it’s not worth dwelling on any longer. A thrilling mix of power and practicality, it’s no surprise much of the touring crowd is made up of baggers, and the following bikes are the hottest you can buy right now.
Harley-Davidson Road Glide ST You’ve gotta start somewhere, and it might as well be with HD. Considering their market share in the sector, Harley would be remiss to not embrace the bagger arms race head on, and several Milwaukee-Eight models make the grade. I could go either way between the Street Glide ST and Road Glide ST, but having mentioned KOTB, I have to go with the sharknose Road Glide.
Billed by Harley as the king of baggers, the Road Glide ST combines the power of the 117 ci Milwaukee-Eight engine with HD’s most aggressive touring bodywork. Separating it from the Street Glide ST, is a frame-mounted sharknose fairing sporting a pair of LED headlights. While it’s somewhat of an acquired taste, we think it’s a more modern and racier look than the batwing fairing.
The Road Glide’s bags have a chiseled look, and combined with blacked-out components, bronze cast wheels and a classic HD tank design, the bike has a pretty imposing image. Credit where credit is due, the Road Glide is definitely the least plastic-y bike of the bunch.
There’s more to it than just the image though, and the 117 ci, air/oil-cooled Milwaukee-Eight is the heart of the Road Glide. Sporting electronic sequential port fuel injection, the M8 produces 127 lb-ft and an estimated 103 hp. Torquey, but sacrificing a bit in horsepower, you know what you’re getting with an air-cooled V-twin.
Armed with dual front discs, four-piston calipers and raised suspension to maximize lean angle, Harley has definitely catered to the performance minded tourers with the Road Glide ST. It all comes at a price though, and it’s a tough pill to swallow at $29,999, making it the most expensive bike on our list by a small margin. If you’ve got that kind of coin burning a hole in your pocket, I’d urge you to hold off for a few months, though, as a new 121 ci M8 is on the horizon. [Harley-Davidson]
Indian Challenger Dark Horse Harley and baggers go hand in hand, but at the conclusion of the 2022 KOTB season, it was Indian’s Tyler O’Hara who came out on top on his Mission Foods S&S Challenger, and the brand has momentum. If you’re not one of the lucky 29 to shell out for Indian’s ready-to-race Challenger RR, the Dark Horse is your chariot, and it’s no slouch.
Between the Chieftain and Challenger Dark Horse models, you have to go with the Challenger for its 108 ci PowerPlus liquid-cooled engine. Blacked out, with its cooling components well disguised, the 11:1 compression V-twin is good for 122 hp and 128 lb-ft.
Scroll through the Dark Horse spec sheet, and a couple big names grab your attention. To start, you’ve got radial four-piston Brembo brakes, six-axis Bosch cornering ABS and Apple CarPlay integration. There’s also a hydraulically-adjustable Fox shock out back and an inverted front fork.
With a wide chassis-mounted fairing, LED lighting and sculpted bags out back, the Challenger has the look of a premium bagger that’s a bit more contemporary than its HD counterpart. With that usually comes a more plastic-y feel, and parts of the bike have it, but not overwhelmingly so.
Embracing modern tech and evolution, the Challenger Dark Horse will top the HD’s acceleration rolling or from a dig, making it the current king of the V-twins. MSRP comes in at $29,499, which is still expensive, but there’s no doubting where the money’s been spent. [Indian]
BMW R 18 B Roctane or R 18 B? The Roctane is sure to get more attention, but for the sake of continuity, I’m taking the one with the fairing. The pride of BMW’s Heritage lineup, the R 18 B is BMW’s bid at the performance bagger scene for fans of the classic boxer engine.
BMW took aim at the classic cruiser scene back in 2019 with the unveiling of the R 18 prototype, and cited the classic 1936 R5 for the majority of its design inspiration. The R 18 B takes a different spin on the platform, though, with the inclusion of more touring-friendly bodywork and saddlebags. It’s a bike with conflicting sides to its character, but overall an intriguing prospect and premium offering at just $19,945.
Underneath the swept bodywork, you have BMW’s 1,802 cc air/oil-cooled boxer twin, good for 91 hp and 116 lb-ft in the R 18. It’s not a super hot mill, with 9.6:1 compression and chain-driven cams, but the boxer is super reliable, and its classic looks are unparalleled in today’s market.
The R 18 B gets a reserved selection of BMW tech, with active cruise control, integrated ABS and dual four-piston calipers up front. BMW wouldn’t leave you hanging in the cockpit, and the digital display is massive at 10.25,” and the Marshall Gold Series sound system is a treat for the eyes and ears.
If I could hack into BMW’s configurator tool and make some risky decisions, I’d spice things up a bit by adding the R 18 B’s headlight fairing to the Roctane. Just a thought BMW… [BMW Motorrad]
Kawasaki Vulcan 1700 Vaquero ABS Not much has been said about Kawasaki’s Vulcan 1700 Vaquero, other than that it has ‘nice’ features and it’s comfortable to ride. While we typically find American-style Japanese cruisers to be a little uninspired, the Vulcan 1700 Vaquero is unshook by animosity, and keeps doing its thing to the tune of 104 cubic inches and 108 lb-ft.
The heart of Kawasaki’s 1700 Vaquero is a 1,700 cc, liquid-cooled V-twin, producing 81 hp. While it’s down a bit over the rest of the field, the Vulcan is no slouch, and its 0 to 60 times are less than a second behind Harley’s.
The Vulcan’s not at a loss for technology either, boasting air-assisted rear shocks, electronic cruise control and dual four-piston calipers up front with ABS. The Vaquero is also fit with Kawasaki’s K-ACT co-active braking technology. This system pairs standard ABS function with the ability to moderate the front and rear brakes together. In other words, the system will apply some braking effort to the opposite end if you panic brake with just one wheel.
Overall, the Vulcan 1700 Vaquero is close to being a real threat. It’s mechanically competitive, and its cosmetics are on-par with more expensive offerings—with the exception of the tiny 16-inch front wheel. But that’s just preference I suppose. [Kawasaki]
Yamaha, Moto Guzzi, et al. In lieu of presenting you with another Harley, Indian or BMW, I give you the Honda Goldwing. The Goldwing isn’t a bagger, it’s a touring bike—I know. But Victory’s dead, Yamaha killed the Eluder and Moto Guzzi’s MGX-21 is gone as well. Polaris is onto better things with Indian than Victory, but we’ll miss the others.
Consider a comeback Yamaha and Moto Guzzi, until then, the class fades into tourers like the Goldwing. We need options, and this list needs more bags. And consider for a moment the spectacle of four diverse brands battling for the KOTB championship, instead of two. Or would that be the Battle of the Twins all over again? [Honda]
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