Is the King Really Dead?

 

The King Is Dead

As I am writing this, I've got the sick riffs of Dave Mustaine and Megadeth playing in the background. The song- "Kill the King." Dave is growling the chorus, "Kill the King, the King is Dead, Long live the King (I am the King)" and I can't help but wonder if our newest Harley-Davidson CEO, Artie Starrs, heard this song and is taking it a little too literal?

There is no Road King for 2026

That is an indisputable fact. I'll admit, though, I sort of saw this coming over the past few years. I am, however, shocked to see the MoCo actually go through with killing off the Road King entirely like this. They slowly faded the FLHR out of the spotlight, hoping that no one would notice. Keen eyed motorcycle enthusiasts like yours truly, though... saw that the last year that a standard Road King was offered, was 4 (yes FOUR) years ago, in 2022. Each following year, they only offered the Road King Special (FLHRXS) to the civilian market, and the Road King Police (FLHP) to the boys in blue at police departments... right up until this year, that is. The bean counters in the Cream City decided that 2025 would be the final curtain call for their two biggest sellers- the extremely popular Police Road King and Police Electra Glide, opting instead to put all of their financial eggs in the new Police Road Glide basket. To add insult to injury for the hundreds of thousands of Electra Glide loyalists, they even killed off the whole Electra Glide lineage, in name only, choosing to fully invest everything into the Street Glide and Road Glide nameplates. 

Will the King return?

When the Street Glide and Road Glide models got their first major facelift in 2024, the biggest indicator, to me, that the Road King was in trouble was in the redesigned fuel tanks of the Street and Road Glides. The design team had decided to alter the tank design from the large, bulbous, classic tank that had been copied for decades by other manufacturers who were trying to emulate the timeless design of the Harley-Davidson tank. Instead, the design team decided to mimic the sculpted, angular design of their oldest competitor's new bike, the Indian Challenger. But not all of the Grand American Touring bikes got this new tank design, no... the last remaining Road King, the Special, still carried the original tank design. Not changing the tank was a red flag for me, mainly because the touring bikes always change together... but not this time.

What does this tell us, then? Is the Road King just getting a styling update? Can we expect to see a new, redesigned, Road King for the 2027 or 2028 model year? Will the MoCo marketing gurus convince Artie and the rest of the decision makers to file the Road King name into the archives, alongside the Electra Glide, Dyna, FXR, and so many others, and bring back the stripped down touring bike as another option under the Street Glide moniker... maybe call it the Highway Glide and give it a digital infotainment center in the tank console?

Or, will they kill it off entirely?

Has the MoCo become Model Killers?

Over the past decade, it seems as if the MoCo has developed a taste for killing off extremely popular models. Do you remember what they did with the Dyna? I wrote this slideshow article for Harley-Davidson Forums, in December of 2017. In the piece, I spoke hopefully... truly believing that the Dyna was only being updated, improved and prepared for a whole new generation of riders. I was wrong. The MoCo killed off the Dyna and, in just as poor taste as giving a new puppy the name of the dog that they had euthanised, they gave some of the new Softails names that once adorned the dual shock, powerhouse hotrods of the Harley-Davidson lineup. 

One could even argue that a few years later, they even did the same thing with the Sportster. When I wrote this piece, back in 2022, talking about the end of the Evolution Sportster lineup (yes, the Evo Sportsters had their own, full, lineup of submodels) in favor of the EPA inspired RevMax powered motorcycles- the Sportster S and the Nightster. One could argue, however, that the Sportster simply received a long overdue overhaul, but if that's the case, why didn't they update the original, instead of creating a whole new motorcycle? And... the better question- if the Evo Sportster was such a bad, antiquated, design... why didn't H-D shelve it, instead of selling the designs to this Chinese owned company, who is now selling them under their own nameplate? Go ahead, click the link... I'll wait here. I totally understand that the US and European Governments dictate emissions outputs from vehicle manufacturers, but damn... selling the Evo Sportster to SWM? That's just wrong. Before anyone says, "wait a minute... SWM is an Italian company"... yes, more or less. They are built in Italy, however, SWM is owned, and funded, by Shineray Group in Chongqing, China. The ironic part, is that they are being sold in the European and Asian markets... but Shineray is getting the profits of those sales. The question that begs an answer is, if the U.S. government said that no more air-cooled Evo Sportsters could be built and sold in the US, why didn't the MoCo just do what Shineray is doing and build them in Italy, and still sell them in those markets themselves? It would have been a win-win... European and Asian riders could get the authentic Harley-Davidson motorcycles without the import fees, and Milwaukee could keep their intellectual properties (i.e., the designs) and still make a profit from these incredibly popular motorcycles. 

Now, for 2026, we have also seen another model killed off- the Electra Glide. While they seem to have just folded the Electra Glide into the Street Glide moniker, the name carries significant history. 

FLH History

For those that don't know, the Electra Glide got its name from the introduction of the electric start option. The model designation was FLH, and looking at the bike, it looked like what most know as the modern Road King. But, the "Road King" model wasn't introduced until 1994. 

The original Electra Glide did not have a fairing as standard equipment. The iconic Batwing fairing, which could arguably be considered the most popular fairing design in the history of motorcycles, was offered as an option around 1969. It was so popular, that it became standard equipment in 1971, and the "King of the Highway" was an Electra Glide option in 1968, offering that big, lexan windshield, saddlebags and some other trim. 

As the fairing-equipped Electra Glide became more and more popular among the long-haul, cross-country riders, the MoCo recognized the market for an FLH based cruiser, that could handle a cross country ride as easily as it could cruise the boulevards around town and, in 1994, the King of the Highway option, found its own name, as a stand-alone model called the Road King. To the uninformed, the Road King and the Electra Glide King of the Highway might seem like the same motorcycle, but the easiest visual tell is the instruments- the Electra Glide models prior to the Road King have a large, unwieldy instrument "dash" mounted on the forks, whereas in 1994, the new Road King got its own gas tank, with a speedometer mounted in the tank console. This new design really cleaned up the forks and gave the newest FLH version a classic, cruiser look. Over the next few decades, the Road King saw several trim options like the Custom, the Classic, and most recently, the Special. 

While the Road King, Electra Glide, Street Glide and Road Glide may look different, their bones are the same. They all utilized the same frame, same forks, same swingarm and same frame geometry. The differences were found in the model specific pieces, like the fairings, wheels, tour packs (or lack thereof), trim and badges. Most of the parts, were interchangeable. For example, the Electra Glide, Road Glide and Street Glide models had fairing-mounted instruments, including fuel gauges, so their fuel tanks were interchangeable. The wheels, axles, engines, fenders, seats and a myriad of other parts are interchangeable among all of these Touring models. The Street Glide (FLHX) was little more than a more "custom" version of an Electra Glide that was introduced as its own model in 2006. Not many people know, however, that the original FLHX model designation was originally given to a special edition bike, created by Willie G in 1984, dubbed the Electra Glide Special and heralded as the "final Shovelhead" model.

What does it all mean?

I wish I knew. I've been to Juneau Ave. I've been to the Museum and I've walked in the vault. I know that the MoCo has been struggling for a long time, due to a combination of cultural, generational and economic changes that has taken place in our country over the past 20-30 years. I know that they have been forced to comply with stricter and stricter regulations and environmental restrictions. I know that as the founders and their ancestors have aged, died or sold their interests, the remaining investors have become less vested in the company and what it stands for, and more focused on how they can line their own pockets... even if doing so hurts the long-term stability of the company. Don't believe me? Jochen Zeitz's base salary before he was ousted, was $1.94 million dollars a year. Artie Starrs' starting base salary is $1.2 million per year. Their Chief Financial Officer is pulling over $575,000 annually, while their other CEOs are all pulling over a half a million dollars a year each, in salaries, not to mention their generous compensation packages.

Compare those salaries to their Principal Engineer's salary of, get this, $181,000 a year. This is the guy that's over their designs. Or, what about the blue collar workers, building the bikes? Well, the average operations workers are making under $100k a year. Now, don't get me wrong, I understand that a lineworker can't be given a half million dollar salary, and I know that a CEO can't be expected to run a multimillion dollar company for $150k a year, but look at the gaps for a moment. Let's pretend that Jochen loved the company, truly loved it like the founders did. Imagine if he had taken half of his salary and compensation package, and re-invested it back into the company. Would H-D be in the shambles it's in now? Let's also pretend for a moment that the other executives loved the company like the managers and executives did back in 1981. Imagine if, instead of trying to serve themselves, they decided to serve their company, and more importantly, their employees and their customers. Imagine if they sacrificed a fraction of their salaries, and invested it back into the company. I'd be willing to bet that they wouldn't be doing as many layoffs and terminations as they are now. I'd also be willing to bet that the salaries of all those folks that have lost their jobs at the MoCo in the past few months, pales in comparison to what the suits are earning. 

Final Ponderings

Who will save Harley-Davidson like the guys did, back on that fateful day in 1981? How can they expect to continue turning a profit, when they keep killing off models that are good sellers? Who are they listening to, before making these decisions? I would ask what they are motivated by, but I already know the answer to that one. 

I will say this, though- if I've learned anything from my time in Milwaukee, it's that EVERY person that I've encountered working for the Harley-Davidson Motor Company so far has spoken very highly of our new CEO. Everyone really seems to like Artie, even despite the layoffs of their co-workers. They have all said that he visits the facilities often, is very down-to-earth and friendly and is a very approachable guy. He's also doing some things that I, personally, really like- things like bringing everyone back to Juneau Ave and restoring the building back into a working Harley-Davidson facility instead of making the historic building into a damn farmer's market or whatever that nonsense was that Jochen was talking about doing to our beloved 3800 Juneau. 

Artie, if you're reading this (which I'm sure you're not, but IF you are), it seems like you're on the right track so far, at least with your employees. I'd like to offer you some advice, if you'll take it- don't forget us. We, the people of the Harley-Davidson community- the people that spend our hard-earned money on the company that was started over 120 years ago in a 10'x15' shed and now has a global following of dedicated, generational riders. We were raised on H-D, and we are raising our kids on H-D. We encourage our friends and family to join the H-D community. Listen to us. Follow the founders' examples and tune in to the people that ride the bikes, wear the leathers, buy the boots and the jackets, and the hundreds of thousands of t-shirts every year. It's safe to say that the people passionate enough to spend their money on the bikes, all the gear and even permanently mark their bodies with the company's logos, have taken a personal interest in the company that you now lead. We'll give you some good insights on what you can do to make the founders proud. We're all counting on you to bring the company back... and maybe even bring back some of our favorite bikes- like the iconic Road King.

Now, I doubt that Artie will get my little message there, and if Jochen is reading this- sorry if it seems like I'm beating you up, buddy, but you did sort of blow it back there, my dude. 

For now, my loyal MotoReaders, there's nothing we can do, so we just have to wait. Cross our fingers, hope for the best, and wait. 

Ride safe, MotoReaders.... and until next time...

LONG LIVE THE KING.

Daytona Bike Week- Daytona 200 King of the Baggers

Daytona 2026

I am going to preface this post by telling all of you, right up front, that I'm not a big "rally guy". But, in my recent retirement from my payin' job, I've found myself with a lot more time to do some of the things that I haven't had a chance to do for the past quarter of a century. Things like, taking a long motorcycle road trip with my eldest son, or visiting my best bro at his house in Florida. So, when the opportunity arose this year, to do both, I jumped on the opportunity. We also had the opportunity to see one of the most iconic motorcycle races in history- the Daytona 200 and, of course, the MotoAmerica King of the Baggers race. 

Pre-trip Prep

My son chose his 2007 Dyna Street Bob for this trip, and I... of course... would be taking my 2017 Road King Special because, well, ROAD KING! I swapped the seats and put on my tour pack, cleaned her up and figured I was set and ready. My son, however, needed to do a few more things to his Dyna before we left. He had been putting them off for a while, but this trip forced his hand, which isn't always a bad thing- after all, sometimes we need the right motivation to get things done, and this was definitely the right motivation. He needed to fix some wiring issues on his rear lights, his tires were toast, he needed a tune, front and rear brakes and, just for fun, his idle air control valve wasn't working properly... all things that we were more than capable of doing in-house, so he ordered his parts and we got to work. Murphy decided to apply his Law while we were working on the tires, as we quickly discovered that the wheel bearings on his rear wheel were pretty crunchy. The worst one fought a hard battle, but after a couple of hours of profanity-laced frustration, we finally prevailed with sheer determination, anger and a bit of luck and got it out of the hub. With only a couple of days to spare, I lucked out and found the bearings at an Indy shop in a nearby city. After hauling tail down there and picking them up, I got the bearings in and we got his wheels back on... just in time for me to notice that my front tire was worn down to the wear bars! I guess I missed that on my initial inspection, so with only two days left until we set out, I was on the hunt for a new front tire. My local H-D shop came through for me, so I went and picked up the tire, then hauled tail back home to mount and balance it, and get it on the bike. I won't get into the details of what happened during installation because I was in a rush and not paying attention... but suffice to say, I made a couple of stupid mistakes that cost me an extra hour or so of my time and a great deal of frustration. It all worked out though, and I was able to get my bike done with just enough time to scrub in the new tire. That same night, my son got his tune downloaded, installed his IAC valve and was able to get his tires scrubbed in, his brakes set and make sure the bike was running right with the new tune, the day before we left! 

The trip

We left the house on Thursday morning and pointed our bikes East on the superslab. Since this was the longest trip my son had taken so far, we took it easy and didn't push too hard. My Road King is equipped with electronic cruise control and a six gallon tank... my son's Dyna, however... has neither, so we made plenty of stops for fuel and rest. 

Both bikes were running, and riding, great though and we had beautiful weather the whole day, with the exception of a late afternoon rain shower once we got past the Florida state line. We stopped several times, taking plenty of time to snack, hydrate and stretch our legs and even stopped at a dealership to look around. We made it to Lee's house after dark, which was a bit later than we had originally anticipated, but we made it safe and he and his lovely wife had a delicious dinner ready and waiting for us! After a couple of hours of catching up, we turned in to get some rest before our next day of riding. 

Bike Week (in a day)

The next day, we jumped on the bikes and headed down to Daytona for a pass through Main Street for Bike Week, just to say we did it. As I said previously, I'm not really a "rally guy." I've been to a few, and they're okay... but I'm just not into parking my bike for several hours so I can hang out at a bar and I definitely don't enjoy being in the middle of a huge crowd of people. I also don't like sitting in the stop-and-go traffic... ugh. Even with the Rekluse slave cylinder I installed a few years ago, my clutch hand starts getting tired from the constant gray zone riding needed in heavy bike traffic. Not to mention, riding behind all of the duck-walking weekend warriors with throttle tourettes makes me crazy, especially as a certified motorcycle instructor. Look- I'm not judging anyone... if you need to duck walk your bike so you don't fall over, and you need to blip your throttle every few seconds to make sure your bike stays running, then more power to you... but I don't want to be stuck behind you in slow, stop, slow, stop traffic, either. 

After we made our obligatory pass down Main Street Daytona, we FINALLY got out of the traffic and were able to let our bikes breathe a bit, right before running into another traffic jam as we got closer to Destination Daytona, where most of the vendors were set up. 

Now, let me take a moment to tell you that some of the riders that show up for Bike Week are asses, plain and simple. We were all stuck in the same traffic, but some of them felt the overwhelming need to try to weave through the sea of bikes, ride along the shoulders, run red lights and ride like hooligans on the streets, doing burnouts and taking off like they were on a drag strip. Again, I'm not here to judge anyone, but don't get mad at the local cops for pulling you over when you are acting like an ass on the public streets, either. Take your tickets and be glad you didn't hurt yourself or someone else. Three people died in motorcycle crashes this year during Bike Week... that is 3 families destroyed in an instant. Local law enforcement reported, a staggering, 75 crashes during Bike Week... those are only the crashes that were reported, too- there were probably at least a few dozen crashes that weren't reported. That may not seem like many, considering that the number of people at the 85th Annual Bike Week was around 500,000... but imagine being in one of those 75 crashes. Imagine being the person with your bike totalled out because some jagoff decided that he needed to do some stupid stunts in traffic and lost control and smashed into your ride. Now, imagine being the family member of one of those three that died and getting that phone call. It just isn't worth it. I'll get off my soap box now. 

Destination Daytona was insane. The sheer number of vendors will make your head spin- over 120 just at the dealership alone. There must have been a skunk den nearby too, because it seemed like every hundred feet or so, we were smelling a strong, skunky, odor... so weird. We perused a few of the vendors, then went over to Houligan's for a late lunch before heading out. Traffic wasn't too heavy leaving, so we were able to get away from the crowds (and the skunks) and onto some back roads pretty quickly. 

Lee has only lived in Florida for a few years, but he is an avid rider and, like me, he loves to explore on two wheels. In his time on the East Coast, he's found some incredible back roads and he took us along a few of them. If you've never ridden this area, you need to make the trip. The roads may not be very curvy or hilly, but the ancient oak trees draped with spanish moss make for some truly breathtaking scenery. Riding along the St. Johns River, we stopped at a park that was absolutely stunning. The air was fresh, the wind was blowing and the temperature was perfect. After taking in the scenery, we jumped back on the bikes and headed back to Lee's house for the night.

Off to the Races!

The next morning, we headed out early to meet up with a couple of Lee's local riding buddies, Frank and Ben, both of whom were great guys riding gorgeous new Road Glides. After fueling up, we jumped on the superslab and headed south to the Daytona International Speedway. We had free parking in the infield of the racetrack, which was pretty awesome. Going into the venue, my son and I noticed a significant difference in the crowd at the races, compared to the crowd on Main Street or at Destination Daytona. The first thing we noticed was that there were no drunks, which was nice. We also noticed that there was significantly less skunk odor in the air. The crowds were friendly and the drinks, snacks and vendors were reasonably priced. 

We watched the Hooligans race first, which was pretty cool, then... the 200 kicked off. 57 laps of pure speed. The Super Sport bikes are cool, but if I'm being completely honest, I don't have the attention span to watch nearly 50 motorcycles racing for 57 laps. We were in the infield, so we got to see them coming through the S-curve, and also as they exited the pits, which was pretty impressive. These riders are practically on their elbows in the turns! They are also incredibly powerful, incredibly fast, motorcycles. Even if you're not into racing, you can appreciate the sheer power these motorcycles have and the skills that their riders have. 

Next up, was the real reason that we were there- the King of the Baggers race. Nine laps. 11 motorcycles. ALL V-TWIN baggers. Now, the sound of these machines don't even compare to any of the other bikes that were racing that day. Deep, loud, tuned, powerful V-twin engines roared... absolutely roared... along the track. Each rider trying to best the other, in 9 laps. These guys didn't have 57 laps to make up time, they had to get it done in less than 10! Don't get me wrong- I know that the 200 is as much of an endurance race as it is a competition of speed, but the 31-ish miles of the Baggers race is just pure fury, right out of the gate. You can see it in the infield, as the bikes power through the S-curve and nearly break the rear tire loose on every lap, as the riders crack the throttles and let those huge, torquey mills breathe! My Indian-favoring MotoReaders got to take the bragging rights on this race, as Team Harley-Davidson's Kyle Wyman lost his winning streak, although Wyman did jump in first place for a lap or two before being overtaken by Team Indian's Troy Herfoss (1st place) and Rocco Landers (2nd place). Side note- if you watched the "Why We Ride" documentary... you may have noticed a young Rocco Landers riding with his family... and in the final scenes, mentioning how he wanted to be a motorcycle racer when he grew up. Goal achieved, Rocco... good job, buddy. If you haven't seen the film... do yourself a favor and watch it- trust your old pal, the MotoWriter, on this one.

That's a Wrap!

After leaving the races, we rode to a cool little Irish pub for dinner and a cold drink, then, after dinner, we bid farewell to Ben and Frank and headed back to Lee's house for our final night on the East Coast. We got up the next morning, had a couple of cups of coffee, then got on the bikes and headed West. My son and I made really good time heading back, since he was, basically, a long-distance pro at this point. Our stops were also much more efficient- we rode tank-to-tank, only taking our breaks during the fuel stops. A storm front had been moving East across the country and we ran into it before we reached Alabama, but fortunately, we didn't get the rain that we were prepared for- just a few light showers, instead. We made it back to the MotoCompound by late afternoon, wrapping up a nearly 1,500 mile trip over 4 days. 

In all, it was an awesome trip... one that was long overdue. Even though we may have cut it to the wire before leaving, we got our bikes road-trip ready and we had a safe trip. As a matter of fact, the only close-call of the trip happened when we were on our way down to Bike Week, when a jackass in an old, crappy, Honda SUV decided to pull directly out of a side road, right in front of Lee, which forced him into an emergency, brake and evade, situation... which he handled like a pro. 

Final Thoughts

If there's a trip that you've been putting off until the "right time"... let me tell you- NOW is the right time! Take that trip! Make those memories! Do it before you're too old, too broke, too scared or too worn out. Don't be afraid to get out there and explore our world. Put a few bucks aside, here and there... skip the local latte lounge and drink your coffee at home for a few weeks, pack a lunch instead of hitting the drive-thru and plan a trip of camping or staying with friends. Your life is passing you by right now. As much as I love that you're on your computer, tablet, or phone, reading this... it's time to turn off the device and turn on your motorcycle. I'll be here when you get back... now... go... 

Ride safe, and make good memories!