Harley Unveils Low Rider ST and New Big-bore Baggers for 2022

New Road Glide ST and Street Glide ST also get the bigger M-8 117 engine.

The Low Rider S is back for 2022, but bigger news is its new Low Rider ST sibling (shown on the left).Harley-Davidson

Faster and further. The motto for Harley-new Davidson’s model launch in January 2022 had a lot of people scratching their heads, but it turns out to be a rather obvious explanation of the firm’s latest products. Three high-performance baggers headline Harley’s latest showing, reflecting a trend toward livelier touring bikes and the success of the MotoAmerica King of the Baggers race series. The Street Glide ST and Road Glide ST are upgraded versions of current models, while the Low Rider ST is a new model that takes stylistic cues from Harley’s heritage.

Along with the bigger M-8 117 engine, the 2022 Low Rider S also gains longer-travel rear suspension to increase cornering clearance.Harley-Davidson

The three “ST” models, as well as the upgraded 2022 Low Rider S, are the first mass-produced Harleys to include the company’s 117ci Milwaukee-Eight V-twin engine, which was previously only available on the company’s high-end, hand-built CVO models. Harley draws comparisons with the muscle car period, when large motors built for luxury automobiles were crammed into smaller, lighter, and less expensive vehicles. The STs gain larger rear shocks to increase cornering clearance, as they are all single-seaters with solo saddles and no passenger pegs.

“It’s a generational transition,” Harley PR manager Paul James said of the growing desire for baggers with improved performance and handling. These clients, many of whom have previously owned sportbikes, have a distinct perspective. They’re ferocious riders. They’re looking for a bagger, but they’re performance-minded and they’re riding baggers in that way.”

The new Low Rider ST adds hard bags and a new FXRT-inspired, frame-mounted fairing (an optional Rockford Fosgate audio system can be fitted inside).Harley-Davidson

Let’s start with the Low Rider ST, which is the most distinctively new model. It’s built on an improved version of the Low Rider S, with the 117ci Milwaukee-Eight engine producing 125 pound-feet of torque at 3,500 rpm and 103 horsepower at 4,750 rpm thanks to a 0.069-inch bore increase over the previous 114ci version. The rear shocks on both motorcycles have been lengthened, adding an inch of wheel travel and, on the S, an extra degree of lean angle over its predecessor.

The ST is produced by combining the saddlebags from the Sport Glide (which will be withdrawn in the US in 2022) with a new frame-mounted nose fairing to allow for greater lean angles situated 2 inches higher to allow for greater lean angles, as well as a new frame-mounted nose fairing inspired by the 1980s FXRT, which was inspired by the ambitious, water-cooled Nova V-4 prototype created at the end of the 1970s. Those vertical intakes on either side of the headlight fed ducts to an underseat radiator on the Nova, but they’re for airflow surrounding the rider on the Low Rider ST. A two-piece inner panel inside the fairing allows for easy installation of an optional Rockford Fosgate audio system.

The cockpit of the 2022 Low Rider S places the instruments—now just a single gauge—up on the riser for better visibility.Harley-Davidson

The Low Rider S and ST, like the other new bikes with the 117 V-twin, get the Heavy Breather intake, which instantly distinguishes the new Low Rider S from its 114-powered predecessor. The console-mounted gauges on the preceding Low Rider S have been replaced with a single riser-mounted instrument that combines an analogue tach and a digital speedo. The 117ci Low Rider S weighs the same as its Milwaukee-Eight 114-equipped predecessor, at 679 pounds in running condition, but the ST version’s fairing and bags raise that amount to 721 pounds.

Two new performance baggers, the Street Glide ST and the Road Glide ST (shown), join the Touring series for 2022. Both also come with the M-8 117 engine as standard.Harley-Davidson

Shifting over to the Street Glide ST and Road Glide ST models, it’s important to note that both are new additions to the range, sitting alongside the already-announced 2022 Street Glide and Street Glide Special, and the Road Glide and Road Glide Special. As on the Low Rider, the ST designation represents the addition of the 117 engine, rated for a fractionally higher 127 pound-feet and 106 hp in the two Glide models. Again, the Road Glide ST and Street Glide ST gain taller rear suspension to add cornering ability.