Half Moon Bay, CA
Doesn't assume like so continued ago that a brace of guys in Milwaukee came up with the ablaze abstraction of bolting on some top-shelf genitalia from Harley's able-bodied P&A archive to new archetypal year bikes. They ample these de facto branch customs-ready-made and upmarket-would address to consumers who capital the bling appropriate abroad afterwards the backbreaking work.
Now in its 11th year, the CVO agreement has succeeded above Willie G's wildest dreams. What started out as an FXR reboot with a few tweaks and added dollops of chrome in 1999 has exploded into a four bike caricature even with achievement upgrades, head-turning paintwork and top-shelf accession amenities. Rather than aloof a ancillary activity for Harley's artistic types, it has acquired into the Motor Company's advertise division. CVO, by the way, stands for Custom Vehicle Operations, and is H-D's centralized custom line.
As such, Harley additionally hopes to arm-twist a faculty of exclusivity by befitting CVO assembly runs low (though aftermost year's orders topped 10,000 units). The CVO architecture aggregation generally joins armament with H-D OE Engineering and Styling, so these bound copy models frequently become analysis beds for new account that can potentially go abounding OE on accepted assembly models the abutting season.
There's additionally no catechism aesthetics comedy a above allotment in anniversary model's final design, but if you're apprehensive whether that's account the CVOs' $25,000 + allurement price, the MoCo association would acknowledgment with an apparent "yes". They account that if you were to buy a banal Harley and personalize it with copious amounts of Screamin' Eagle bits, you wouldn't be able to body a CVO-like one for abutting to the aforementioned price.
Fortunately, this year's cream-of-the-crop Harleys accord you little acumen to doubtable you're accepting fleeced. To accumulate things fresh, there are two all-new CVO models for 2010. Aboriginal up is the admission of the CVO Street Glide, which replaces aftermost year's Screamin' Eagle Alley Glide. The minimalist bagger is a acceptable accession to the CVO group, accustomed its acceptance in the approved lineup. The abutting two new CVO machines accept been bottomward this alley before; authoritative the cut afresh for 2010 are the CVO Ultra Classic Electra Glide and the CVO Fat Bob, which both appeared as '09 CVOs, and adore abundance of absorption in the accepted calendar as well.
But everybody knows there's one archetypal at every CVO barrage that's destined to accession aggregate eyebrows: this year that bike is the FLSTSE CVO Convertible. The all-new model, which is based on the Softail platform, reintroduces the always-appealing abstraction of a apparatus able of adapting to a rider's adopted actualization aloof with the bandy of a few apparatus (Super-Glide T-Sport anyone?).
Powering the 2010 CVO quartet already afresh is Screamin' Eagle's Twin Cam 110 ability plant, which aboriginal fabricated its actualization in 2007. The 1,803 cc V-twin continues to be the largest-displacement branch agent Harley produces, with 4-inch artificial pistons cranking out as abundant as 115 lb-ft of torque at 3750 rpm (claimed). Jetting and bankrupt systems abuse that amount hardly in anniversary model, but you can absolutely calculation on spinning the Fat Bob's rear elastic afterwards aggravating too hard.
The fuel-injected Big Twin agent is afresh abutting to the six-speed Cruise Drive tranny on all CVOs, and Harley's proprietary aegis arrangement comes accepted actuality as well. All touring CVOs additionally get ABS and cyberbanking cruise ascendancy as accepted features.
But the CVO agents didn't decay time activity over the bikes' accepted appearance at the unveiling; it looked like they aloof capital us to ride the things (as abundant as we could ride four bikes in one day, anyway). That was accomplished by us, so afterwards a quick presentation, we headed for the admirable San Mateo hills and eventually the Pacific coast, on our best of Ultra Classic Electra Glide ($35,999), Street Glide ($30,999), Softail Convertible ($27,999) or Fat Bob ($25,299), all in CVO trim
