4 Of The Heaviest Harley-Davidson Motorcycles Ever Made

Compared to other forms of motorized transport, weight becomes a bit more of an important factor when thinking about a motorcycle. It's an odd little idiosyncrasy; until you've actually owned a motorcycle yourself, they don't seem especially heavy. However, you will learn exactly how heavy they are the first time your bike topples over and you have to right it with your own strength. It may not weigh as much as a car, but motorcycles are still pretty hefty, to say the least.

All motorcycles are heavy to a degree, but if we're talking about some real bruisers, a good place to look is in Harley-Davidson's wheelhouse. After all, the Harley brand prides itself on its beefy chopper image, so naturally, it's put out some pretty weighty hogs over the years. We're talking hundreds of pounds, possibly even reaching into the thousands, thanks to their powerful engines, robust bodies, and various bells and whistles. If you don't believe us, we can think of several Harley-Davidson bikes that'd probably break a small scale.

Harley-Davidson's touring bikes are where you'll generally see the heaviest weights. After all, if you want a bike that can safely endure the rigors of the road while keeping you at least somewhat comfortable, it's going to take a hefty, robust body. One of the more robust motorcycle models that Harley-Davidson currently offers is the CVO Road Glide, one of the cooler offerings of its Grand American Touring series of choppers.

The CVO Road Glide is the top-of-the-line model of the Grand American Touring series, weighing in at 862 lbs. in running condition. A good chunk of that weight comes from the Milwaukee-Eight 117 V-Twin engine and its 121 cubic inch displacement. Interestingly, the 2024 model of the CVO Road Glide actually weighs a little less than the 2023 model, though not by much. You can put a steer on a diet, but it's still going to be a gigantic beast of burden, after all.

Here's a fun fact: the French King Louis VI had the nickname "The Fat" because, by his mid-40s, he was so heavy that he couldn't even mount a horse. Being a king may not be synonymous with being heavy, but you can definitely see the line of relation, especially when you consider a hefty motorcycle like the Harley-Davidson Road King Special.

The 2024 model of the Road King Special weighs in at 807 lbs. in running order. It's a beefy bike with touring in mind, coming standard with a Milwaukee-Eight 114 engine, stretched hard-shell saddlebags, and nine-inch mini-ape handlebars. It's a fully loaded chariot of a motorcycle, perfect for anyone of a royal countenance. Even if Louis VI sat his sizable rear on the Road King Special, it's got more than enough muscle in its engine to ferry him across the French countryside.

We're admittedly not entirely clear on how Harley-Davidson decides on the naming schemes for some of its vehicles and vehicle series. For example, we don't know why the Harley-Davidson Ultra Limited is named as such. It is certainly "ultra" in size and weight, but it's most definitely not "limited" in either of those departments. It's not limited in availability, either, though it did get a pretty swanky limited edition variant. A mystery to ponder another day, perhaps, but here and now, the Ultra Limited brings the mass.

The 2024 model of the Ultra Limited weighs in at 917 lbs. in running order. This is an old-school touring motorcycle featuring electronic cruise control, large batwing-style fairings, and a set of Tour-Pak luggage carriers for assorted possessions and helmets. Naturally, all this works alongside the Milwaukee-Eight 114 engine to cart all of that bulk around. The Ultra Limited is one of the biggest bikes you can get from Harley while still sticking to two wheels.

If you wanted to give your motorcycle a little extra girth, the simplest way to go about it would be to slap another wheel on the side. As it happens, Harley-Davidson maintains an entire series of trike motorcycles with three wheels and powerful engines to carry you across the highways with a little extra confidence. The biggest and meanest of the modern Harley-Davidson trikes is the Tri Glide Ultra, a bike you most likely would not be able to lift under your own power unless you were a bodybuilder.

The 2024 model Tri Glide Ultra, when in running order, weighs in at a titanic 1,237 lbs. For reference, the average adult male in their 30s in the United States weighs around 200 lbs. In other words, you'd need to stack six dudes on their shoulders to even get near the Tri Glide Ultra's weight. With its Milwaukee-Eight 114 engine, six-speed cruise drive transmission, and even a Tour-Pak integrated storage trunk, this ride has got weight, muscle, and space to spare. If you're looking to get really carried away with riding, there are few better bikes to do it with.