The all-American ingenuity behind the Harley-Davidson Screamin’ Eagle Road Glide.

By Michael Gilbert, www.cycleworld.com

There’s no better example of American ingenuity than American motor racing. A mix of cleverness and passion drives the idea to build something into what it’s not and send it around the racetrack as quickly as physics allow. Who would have thought that racing full-sized family cars would turn into one of our national pastimes? It wasn’t built to be, but that’s why it is such a spectacle.

But even though modern-day racing has evolved into contests for highly sophisticated and specialized machinery, Americans still nurture a grassroots passion for racing just about anything. Case in point: The Harley-Davidson Screamin’ Eagle Road Glide factory racebike.

You may ask yourself exactly why such a machine exists, and fair enough. The answer is that this is the weapon the Harley-Davidson Motor Company has aimed at the MotoAmerica King of the Baggers national championship, an unlikely but thrilling race series born from the underground high-performance V-twin bagger trend that’s been gaining traction on American asphalt for many years. What started as a one-off exhibition grew into a three-round championship in 2021, which saw MotoAmerica superbike regular and Daytona 200 winner Kyle Wyman and Harley-Davidson stamped their names into the history books as inaugural champions. This year the series expands to six rounds at venues ranging from the forbidding high banks of Daytona International Speedway to the four gorgeous miles of Road America.

The rapid growth of the King of the Baggers championship exemplifies the ingenuity and competitive spirit of American racing. The run-what-ya-brung rules format is a breeding ground for all sorts of backyard engineering, resulting in weird, wonderful racing contraptions including turbocharged V-twins. Any racing enthusiast can appreciate the sight of riders hurling themselves down Laguna Seca’s corkscrew on these machines.ADVERTISEMENT

Kyle Wyman’s Harley-Davidson Screamin’ Eagle Road Glide is a touring rig turned factory-built superbike, the ultimate expression of performance available out the backdoor of the Milwaukee factory. The bike project, which began last year as an after-hours project for H-D employees, becomes a true factory effort in 2022. Lap times are priority, so only the fundamental parts remain, complemented by massive amounts of exotic materials. It’s beautiful, but it’s no art piece, and it’s anything but subtle.

I recently had the opportunity to throw a leg over Wyman’s 2021 Screamin’ Eagle Road Glide and put in a few laps at Inde Motorsports Ranch. In King of the Baggers trim, the Road Glide is roughly 200 pounds lighter than the production model. But it’s still a behemoth of a bike, weighing in at the 2021 class minimum of 635 pounds without fuel (2022 rules drop minimum mass to 620 pounds) and featuring a freakishly tall 36.5-inch seat height. That alone makes this one of the most intimidating motorcycles I have ever ridden, especially in pit lane. Add to that my lack of familiarity with the 21-turn racetrack, which features more blind corners than not, and an audience made up of the skittish engineers who built the bike, and you can imagine my own nervousness. And let’s not forget that after our test the bike was headed for induction into Harley-Davidson’s museum.

But when the Screamin’ Glide is in motion it doesn’t seem either as heavy as the numbers indicate or as nervous as I feel. Although the basis of the project is a production Harley-Davidson Road Glide Special, the experience is closer to riding a modern-day superbike than touring rig. That’s easily the most impressive aspect. Of course, the racebike rides on Dunlop KR448 and KR451 MotoAmerica-spec racing slicks and is fitted with a top-shelf Öhlins FGR 250 superbike fork and specifically developed Öhlins shocks. Its trick billet aluminum swingarm is carved from a 400-pound chunk of solid metal. Geometry is “not far” from the production models, say Harley-Davidson engineers.

Without riding the Road Glide for yourself it’s hard to imagine just how responsive it is to steering inputs. The effort required to smash side-to-side transitions, which the bike does with absolute confidence, is minimally more than the exertion needed on a supersport. A modified cockpit plays its role here; a wide one-piece motocross-style handlebar offering serious leverage, while custom rearsets attached directly to the engine cases mimic a superbike’s ergonomic triangle. All this allows riders 55 degrees of maximum lean angle, every one of which Wyman gladly uses.

Powering the factory-built Road Glide is the almighty Screamin’ Eagle Milwaukee-Eight 131 Performance Crate Engine, modified to fit the task. Peak performance isn’t the challenge, but Harley did it anyway. The engine features 1,073cc pistons with a unique crown to increase compression ratio, more aggressive cam profiles, and improved fuel injectors for a claimed 150 hp and 150 pound-feet of torque at the rear wheel; over 120 of those pound-feet are available at almost any rpm. Power is silky smooth; initial throttle response is soft, with delivery that soon becomes tractorlike, making it readily usable at corner exit. That usability makes head-turning acceleration possible, impressive considering there’s nearly a third of a ton of bike hauling around the track. It’s quick in a straight line too, as demonstrated by Wyman’s 161-mph top speed during Daytona testing.

The real engine development challenge is keeping it all cool, difficult when average race rpm is over 6,000 rpm—above the production bike’s redline. To combat extreme engine heat, there are a forward-facing-mounted oil cooler housed inside of the Road Glide’s carbon fiber bodywork in place of its headlights; extended cylinder cooling fins on the left side of the engine; and a custom “horn fang” cooling duct, which replaces the horn and pushes air to the rearward cylinder.

Stopping the Road Glide at the end of Inde’s medium-length back straight turns out to be a challenge. The sheer energy puts the superbike-spec radial-mount Brembo front calipers to good use; a 300mm disc helps out at the rear. Habitually feathering the rear brake becomes mashing the lever in effort to squeeze out every available ounce of stopping power. The remainder of the rider’s mental bandwidth is focused on nailing downshifts; the bagger comes without an autoblipper, so deliberate, forceful footwork is required for smooth shifting.

As with any purebred race machine, the harder the Road Glide is pushed, the better it performs. More feel, better composure, and a 131ci can of American kickass. By the time the checkered flag flew on my two short stints, I felt I had run the Harley hard enough to experience it in its glory.

Still, in the end, I only rode the Screamin’ Eagle Road Glide Special at a spirited press-day pace, so I may not be the best judge of its ultimate capabilities. Then again, I don’t have to be. Kyle Wyman’s record lap of 1:31.9 at Laguna Seca—a time right on the edge of qualifying for a true superbike race—and the Screamin’ Glide’s red-white-and-blue No. 1 plate say it all.