Harley-Davidson celebrates 120 years with seven Anniversary Models

In 2023 Harley-Davidson is marking a remarkable 120 years since it was founded in 1903 – a landmark that only a handful of other brands have achieved and none with such continuous, stable history over those decades. To commemorate the occasion, the firm is planning a series of events and new model launches, kicking off with the reveal today of seven celebratory models.

Available in strictly limited numbers and wearing exclusive paintwork and branding, these bikes are selected from the firm’s ‘Cruiser’, ‘Grand American Touring’, ‘Trike’ and the high-end ‘CVO’ lines and given a makeover to mark them out from the normal offerings.

Above: CVO Road Glide Limited Anniversary is the most eye-catching of the limited-edition models

The CVO Road Glide Limited Anniversary sits at the top of the pile, at least for two-wheeled models, both in terms of the depth of changes and the price tag.

While its hefty £50,395 tag might sound exorbitant, coming in at nearly £10,000 more than the £40,595 charged for the technically similar 2022 CVO Road Glide Limited, with only 1,500 of the Anniversary versions coming to the market worldwide Harley isn’t likely to struggle to find buyers for every one of them. Fitted with top-of-the-range parts throughout, including the 1923cc ‘117’ version of the Milwaukee-Eight V-twin with 105hp and 123 lb-ft of torque, rider safety kit including cornering ABS, linked braking and traction control as well as tyre pressure monitoring and hill hold control, as well as luxuries like Harley’s range-topping Boom! Box GTS infotainment, it’s about as stacked as a Harley can get.

On top of the luxuries afforded to the previous CVO Road Glide Limited, the Anniversary version gains a complex paint scheme that combines ‘Heirloom Red’ panels – the same colour used on the other Anniversary models – over an ‘Anniversary Black’ base, with in a fade-in effect over a subtle eagle graphic that runs the length of the bike from the nose fairing to the panniers. That eagle mirrors the retro-styled ‘Speedbird’ tank badge that’s fitted to all the 120th Anniversary Models, and on the CVO machine hand-painted gold scallop and red pinstripe completes the detaining on each of the panels.

The CVO Road Glide Limited Anniversary also gains Alcantara seats with red and gold stitching, gold-coloured details on the engine and transmission and a numbered, laser-etched panel on the tank console to mark it its position in the limited run.

Above: The Fat Boy 114 Anniversary and Heritage Classic 114 Anniversary are the ‘cruiser’ entries to the anniversary line-up

If the CVO Road Glide Limited Anniversary is a bit too much, either in terms of appearance, size or price tag, then Harley has six celebratory machines in its more mainstream model ranges, again all available in limited numbers and featuring special paint and badging.

All these bikes share the same Heirloom Red paint with red pinstripe, but don’t get the full-length eagle graphic, the Anniversary Black or the gold highlights of the CVO model. They do get the gold-coloured ‘Speedbird’ tank emblem and special seat covers with red side panels and a gold embroidered Harley logo, though, plus red inserts on the engines and transmissions.

The cheapest of the limited run bikes is the Fat Boy 114 Anniversary, although at £27,895 it’s still an expensive machine, £5,200 more than the starting price for the standard Fat Boy 114. Globally, the Fat Boy 114 Anniversary is limited to 3,000 examples, and as with all the anniversary bikes the UK will only get a small share of those, ensuring exclusivity.

From there, we step up to the Heritage Classic 114 Anniversary, the other anniversary model in the ‘Cruiser’ range, at £28,295 (again £5,200 over the starting price for the model). It shares the same paintwork and new seat materials but extends the latter to the saddlebags which are also finished in a combination of red and black. Both models use the same ‘114’ version of the Milwaukee-Eight V-twin – that’s 1868cc in metric measurements – making 94hp and 114 lb-ft, but the Heritage Classic 114 Anniversary will be a rarer bike than the Fat Boy, since only 1,700 are being made.

Above: The Street Glide Special Anniversary, Road Glide Special Anniversary and Ultra Limited Anniversary are new limited-editions in the ‘Grand American Touring’ range

Stepping across to the ‘Grand American Touring’ part of Harley’s range, there are three anniversary options to pick from – the Street Glide Special, Road Glide Special and Ultra Limited all get the Anniversary treatment.

The Road Glide Special Anniversary and Street Glide Special Anniversary will each cost £32,995 – once again, that’s £5,200 more than the starting price for the models in non-limited-edition form – and only 1,600 of each will be sold worldwide. Although the precise number to reach the UK isn’t known at this stage, they will be rare here. As with the other Anniversary models, they’re both finished in Heirloom Red with red pinstripes outlining panels that have a ‘Midnight Crimson’ fade, red engine inserts and gold Speedbird medallions on their tanks, but where the other models go heavy on the chrome, the Street Glide and Road Glide models keep it to a minimum, with blacked-out engines, exhausts and forks, plus a bronze finish to the cast alloy wheels.

Like the bikes they’re based on, the Street Glide Special Anniversary and Road Glide Special Anniversary differ mainly in their handlebar positions and the style of the nose fairing fitted ahead of them. Both use a 93hp version of the ‘114’ Milwaukee-Eight with 117 lb-ft of torque.

For a more traditional Harley look in the touring range, while still getting the Anniversary treatment, you need to go for the Ultra Limited Anniversary at £35,495. That’s £5,500 more than the base version of the same bike, but since only 1,300 of the Ultra Limited Anniversary models will be made, it’s going to be even rarer than the £50k CVO offering. Once again, it has the same paintwork changes and other details as the rest of the Anniversary offerings, while featuring the same high spec as the standard Ultra Limited when it comes to infotainment and electronics, as well as its 87hp, 118lb-ft version of the Milwaukee-Eight 114 engine.

The limited-edition Grand American Touring models, like their mass-produced siblings, all have cornering traction control and ABS as standard, plus linked brakes, hill hold control and tyre pressure monitors in 2023.

Above: The Tri Glide Ultra Anniversary is the rarest and most expensive of all the new limited-edition bikes

The rarest and most expensive of all the limited-edition 2023 Harleys is the Tri Glide Ultra Anniversary, coming in at £51,495 and with production restricted to only 1,100 examples.

While trikes are still a small niche market in the UK, their popularity is rising in the USA and where they were once the preserve of aging riders who could no longer manage a large, two-wheeled bike, the firm is seeing a lot of interest from younger customers and those new to motorcycling.

The Tri Glide Ultra Anniversary carries a whopping £12,700 premium over the standard Tri Glide Ultra, but its changes are similar to the rest of the anniversary offerings, again with Heirloom Red paint, gold badging, red engine inserts and red pinstripes. The last couple of years have proved that there’s a large number of riders who are prepared to pay a hefty premium for exclusivity, with limited-edition bikes from manufacturers all over the world selling out in record time, so the same is likely to apply to these Harley-Davidsons; if you want one, get in touch with your dealer to get your name down. In the UK, the Anniversary models are expected to start arriving in showrooms in April.