Jan/Feb '13

2013 Harley-Davidson Lineup Limited-Edition Bikes

Michelle Baird

6 min read

Limited-Edition Bikes, Candy Coats, & Blessings from the Pope

The Motor Company is celebrating its 110th anniversary by throwing a dozen parties around the world and offering jazzed-up limited editions of select models. Harley also is launching a styling movement dubbed the Hard Candy Custom and has two new releases from the Custom Vehicle Operations (CVO) department—the CVO Breakout and the CVO Road King. Many other 2013 models get new paint choices, and the Street Bob gets updated.

The kick-off took place on Labor Day weekend at Harley’s birthplace in Milwaukee and will continue around the globe until September of next year. The celebration apexes in June at St. Peter’s Square, Vatican City, Rome, where 1,400 bikes will be chosen by lottery and blessed by Pope Benedict XVI.

Each bike painted in a Hard Candy Custom coating gets a subtle HCC logo on the fender and elsewhere.

110th Anniversary Editions

Limited-edition bikes will be serialized and treated to a special paint scheme and badging as well as other model-specific anniversary trims to ensure exclusivity. Each will have a commemorative, solid bronze fuel-tank medallion that is aged to achieve a unique patina, clear-coated for protection, and embellished with a metal cloisonné.

Hard Candy Custom

“It’s hot, it’s now, it’s global,” Harley’s Media Relations Manager Jennifer Hoyer says of the Hard Candy Custom (HCC) styling movement.

Taking cues from the styles and bikes that started in the SoCal chopper scene of the 1960s and spread to garages around the world, HCC is a throwback to that era. The offerings include 16 rich metal-flake paint options, brilliant chrome hard parts, a long list of accessories, and MotorClothes.

Hard Candy Big Red Flake (as seen on last year’s Seventy-Two model), Hard Candy Lucky Green Flake, and Hard Candy Coloma Gold Flake are the three colors that can be ordered as original equipment paint on five models: Seventy-Two, Street Bob, Blackline, Softail Deluxe, and Forty-Eight. In addition, a dozen two-tone Hard Candy Custom Flake Core Series paint sets and fuel tanks can be ordered for many of the Sportsters, Dynas, Softails, and Touring bikes. One HCC color combo (Hard Candy Gold Dust and Liquid Sun with Pagan Gold) is reserved for the new 2013 CVO Breakout.

Each Hard Candy Custom paint set will be finished with graphics specific to the motorcycle model and features a special Hard Candy Custom logo.

A unique, commemorative, solid bronze medallion is affixed to the tank of all the 110th Anniversary Editions.

Custom Vehicle Operations and the Breakout

There are four CVO models for 2013: CVO Road King, CVO Ultra Classic Electra Glide, CVO Road Glide, and the new CVO Softail Breakout. Anniversary Editions will be available for all but the latter.

All of the CVO models are powered by the Screamin’ Eagle Twin Cam 110 V-Twin engine and will come with electronic cruise control, an Anti-Lock Braking System, the Harley-Davidson Smart Security System, plus a storage cover.

The new CVO editions will also have new Assist & Slip Clutch Packs that provide a slip feature on downshifts to reduce loading of the driveline. Hydraulic-clutch actuation has been updated to reduce lever effort, and the lever was reshaped to reduce reach.

The CVO Softail Breakout was designed to project a tough, hot-rod attitude, and great attention has been paid to the paint. Eight layers of paint, five layers of hand-buffed clear-coat, and hand-polished steel sections on the tank and fenders (with intentional hand-worked marks on two of the three paint schemes) make each part unique. The third paint option incorporates hand-laid lace stenciling.

Every 110th Anniversary Edition is serialized, like a work of fine art should be!

The Breakout also has polished chrome Turbine wheels with spoke ridges on the rims and chopped fenders. Its wide front end is fully chromed and topped with a new mini-nacelle and a chromed headlamp bucket. This CVO also features an internally wired chrome handlebar, an integral riser with a low-mount speedometer/tachometer, a chromed cast-aluminum oil tank, and a leather seat embossed with an alligator pattern.

The CVO Road King gets updated with a factory-installed audio system and an adjustable, detachable Vented Wind Splitter windshield.

Street Bob

The most affordable Big Twin in the lineup, the Street Bob, has been refreshed, but the MSRP remains the same at $ 12,999.

Its triple clamps and powertrain have been blacked out, and the rear fender chopped. A side-mounted license plate was added, and the old taillight was swapped for a cleaned-up stop/turn/tail combo. It still has its distinctive solo seat and mini-ape handlebar, but the bars now have risers for easier customization. New paint options for the production Street Bob include Hard Candy Big Red Flake paint and a scalloped two-tone.

Since the Street Bob is aimed at the customer who wants a relatively inexpensive bare-bones bike to personalize, it has joined the Sportster 1200 Custom on Harley’s Bike Builder website, which has several thousand wheels, paint options, controls, accessories, and engine finishes to select from. A buyer can see what the finished product will look like on their computer screen before having their choices factory installed.

Shown here in a Big Blue Pearl/Vivid Black paint scheme, the updated Street Bob retains its solo seat and mini-ape handlebar.

The Rest of the Lineup

Including the four CVO models and one trike, Harley has 31 offerings for 2013: eight Tourings, six Softails, five Dynas, five Sportsters, and two V-Rods.

Touring

The eight Touring family models for 2013 are the Road King, the Road King Classic, the Electra Glide Classic, the Ultra Classic Electra Glide, the Electra Glide Ultra Limited, the Street Glide, the Road Glide Custom, and the Road Glide Ultra. All of them are powered by Harley’s air-cooled Twin Cam 103 engine with an integrated oil cooler, and they all get new paint. The popular Road Glide gets a Daymaker LED headlamp and 1,750 of this model will be made in the serialized anniversary run. The Electra Glide Ultra Limited will have 3,750 units painted in Anniversary Vintage Bronze /Anniversary Vintage Black.

Softail

The six Softails offered are the Fat Boy Lo, the Blackline, the Deluxe, the Slim, the Fat Boy, and the Heritage Classic. The 2013 Fat Boy now features mirror chrome aluminum, bullet-hole disc wheels as standard equipment. Limited Anniversary Editions include Heritage Softail Classic (1,900 will be made) and the Fat Boy Lo (1,750 made).

Dyna

In addition to the aforementioned spiffed-up Street Bob, the Super Glide Custom, the Fat Bob, the Wide Glide, and the Switchback are the five 2013 Dynas. Special anniversary treatment will be given to 1,450 Super Glide Customs.

Sportster

The XR1200X didn’t make the list for the Sportster family, but the Superlow, the Iron 883, the 1200 Custom, the Forty-Eight, and the Seventy-two did. The Sportster 1200 Custom will have 1,500 Anniversary Editions, and all of them will receive new colors and graphics options.

The Road King, Fat Boy Lo, Electra Glide Ultra Limited, and Heritage Softail Classic in anniversary trim.

V-Rod

The pair of bikes with the liquid-cooled Revolution 60-degree V-Twin engine for 2013 include the power-cruiser V-Rod Muscle and the sleek Night Rod Special, each available in new paint.

Trike

The Tri Glide Ultra Classic Trike is back with 1,450 Anniversary Editions to celebrate a Harley milestone.

Although The Motor Company didn’t shock the motorcycling community by unveiling a totally new machine, it has flung open the door on customization of its lineup with the new HCC program and a long list of other factory add-ons. The serialized limited-editions fill the need for those who want a more exclusive bike. The returning models are refreshed with new paint and accessories. Those not in the HOG fold are invited to the parties around the world. Even the Pope is attending this celebration.