2022-2023 Harley-Davidson FLTRKSE CVO Road Glide Limited — Twin-Cooled Milwaukee-Eight 117 CVO Touring Flagship

The Harley-Davidson FLTRKSE CVO Road Glide Limited was the factory’s high-content, frame-faired luxury tourer for the 2022 and 2023 model years. It combined the fixed “sharknose” Road Glide fairing and full Limited touring equipment with Custom Vehicle Operations paint, audio, lighting, luggage trim, and the 117-cubic-inch Twin-Cooled Milwaukee-Eight engine. In Harley-Davidson terms, it sat at the top of the long-distance FL touring hierarchy: not the stripped hot-rod CVO Road Glide, but the full-dress CVO made for distance, luggage, passenger accommodation, and show-floor presence.

Best Known For: the FLTRKSE is best known as the factory CVO Road Glide Limited powered by the Twin-Cooled Milwaukee-Eight 117, pairing Harley’s largest regular-production CVO touring engine of the period with the frame-mounted Road Glide fairing and full Tour-Pak touring package.

Quick Facts

The FLTRKSE is best understood as a specific CVO variant rather than a broad family name. The table below keeps to factory-identifiable features that matter to collectors, buyers, and restorers.

For identification purposes, the letters matter. FLTRK denotes the Road Glide Limited platform; the SE suffix marks the CVO execution. That distinction separates this motorcycle from the standard FLTRK Road Glide Limited and from the lower, less luggage-focused FLTRXSE CVO Road Glide.

Why It Matters

The FLTRKSE matters because it represents a very specific moment in Harley-Davidson touring development: the mature Milwaukee-Eight CVO era before the next wave of larger-displacement and liquid-cooled-head redesigns reshaped the CVO Road Glide line. It was not a new basic platform, and it did not pretend to be. Its significance lies in the way Harley applied its most expensive factory-custom treatment to the established long-haul Road Glide Limited formula.

For enthusiasts, that makes the model interesting in three ways. First, it is a factory-built, high-spec Road Glide Limited rather than a dealer-built bagger or aftermarket show bike. Second, it uses the Twin-Cooled Milwaukee-Eight 117, the premium CVO touring engine of the period, with a specification distinct from the standard Milwaukee-Eight 107 or 114 machines. Third, its originality is defined by paint, electronics, audio, luggage trim, and CVO-specific equipment that are expensive and sometimes difficult to return to factory condition once altered.

Historical Context and Development Background

By the early 2020s, Harley-Davidson’s touring line was built around the Milwaukee-Eight engine family and the modern Touring chassis architecture introduced for the 2009 model year and refined repeatedly thereafter. The Road Glide’s frame-mounted fairing had become its own identity within the brand: more stable in crosswinds than the fork-mounted batwing for many riders, visually more aggressive, and strongly associated with long-mile riders who preferred the steering feel of a fixed fairing.

CVO, or Custom Vehicle Operations, occupied a different role from ordinary option packaging. A CVO was Harley-Davidson’s factory answer to the custom-touring market: premium paint, exclusive finishes, high-output engines, advanced audio, limited availability, and factory warranty integration. In the touring category, CVO motorcycles often acted as rolling showcases for features that later filtered into broader production, although the FLTRKSE itself was very much a finished luxury-tourer rather than a prototype for a new chassis.

The competitor landscape was also changing. Indian’s Challenger and Pursuit placed more pressure on the American V-twin touring class, especially in power output, cooling strategy, and chassis performance. Harley’s response in the CVO Road Glide Limited was not to chase sport-touring numbers; it leaned into torque, mass, finish quality, electronics, passenger comfort, infotainment, and the unmistakable Road Glide silhouette. The FLTRKSE therefore sits in a market space where mechanical specification, brand identity, and factory customization carry equal weight.

Engine and Drivetrain

The heart of the FLTRKSE is the Twin-Cooled Milwaukee-Eight 117. The Milwaukee-Eight architecture retained Harley-Davidson’s traditional 45-degree V-twin layout and pushrod valve actuation while using four valves per cylinder, dual spark plugs per cylinder, and a more modern combustion package than the preceding Twin Cam. In Twin-Cooled form, liquid cooling is applied to the cylinder-head area while the engine remains visually and mechanically rooted in an air-cooled big-twin idiom.

Fuel delivery is electronic fuel injection with electronic throttle control. Ignition is electronically managed, and lubrication is by a dry-sump system, consistent with modern Harley big-twin practice. The engine drives through a primary chain to a wet multi-plate clutch and six-speed Cruise Drive transmission, with belt final drive to the rear wheel.

Harley-Davidson’s U.S. factory literature for these models emphasized torque rather than horsepower. Because official horsepower figures are not consistently published in the same way across markets, horsepower is deliberately omitted here rather than substituted from dyno reports or third-party claims.

Engine and Drivetrain Specifications

The following specifications are the figures most commonly associated with factory documentation for the 2022-2023 FLTRKSE CVO Road Glide Limited.

The 117 engine gives the FLTRKSE its mechanical reason for being. A standard Road Glide Limited of the period did not deliver the same displacement or CVO-specific engine finish, and that difference is central to both the riding experience and the bike’s market identity.

Chassis, Suspension, and Braking

The Road Glide Limited chassis is defined by the separation of steering and fairing mass. Unlike the Electra Glide and Street Glide batwing models, the Road Glide’s fairing is mounted to the frame rather than to the fork assembly. That changes the sensation at the handlebar, particularly at highway speed and in turbulent air, and is one of the reasons serious high-mileage Harley riders often choose the Road Glide over the batwing touring models.

The FLTRKSE uses the full touring dress: frame-mounted fairing, hard saddlebags, Tour-Pak, fairing lowers, passenger backrest, floorboards, and the large touring fuel tank. Suspension follows the modern Harley Touring layout with a telescopic fork and twin rear shocks. Braking is handled by dual front discs and a rear disc with Harley’s linked and ABS-equipped touring brake systems, supplemented on these CVO models by the brand’s electronic rider-aid package of the period.

Chassis and Equipment

This table concentrates on chassis and equipment details that distinguish the FLTRKSE as a factory luxury tourer rather than a modified Road Glide.

The quoted weight explains much about the machine’s behavior. This is a nearly half-ton touring motorcycle in running order, and Harley’s engineering solution is not lightness but low-speed balance, torque, floorboard ergonomics, steering leverage, and a fairing that does not load the fork assembly.

Riding Experience and Mechanical Character

The FLTRKSE starts like a modern Harley touring motorcycle: proximity fob, ignition switch logic, fuel pump prime, and a thumb on the starter rather than any ritual of enrichers or kickers. The engine settles into the familiar Milwaukee-Eight cadence, smoother than a solid-mounted big twin yet still deliberately physical. Rubber mounting removes the worst of the mechanical harshness at speed while leaving enough pulse to remind the rider that the engine is a large-displacement 45-degree twin, not an anonymous touring appliance.

Throttle response is broad and torque-led. The 117 does not need to be revved to move the motorcycle with authority; its useful character is the way it pulls from low rpm under luggage and passenger load. The six-speed gearbox is typically Harley in mass and action: deliberate rather than delicate, with a long-legged top gear suited to interstate running.

The frame-mounted fairing is the Road Glide’s defining sensory difference. At parking-lot speed the FLTRKSE still carries real mass, especially with the Tour-Pak and full fluids, but once rolling the handlebar is not carrying the same fairing weight and wind load as a fork-mounted batwing. On open roads the bike feels planted and directional, with the engine working below the rider rather than demanding constant gear changes.

Braking performance must be understood in the context of weight. The linked ABS system gives the motorcycle more control and consistency than earlier touring Harleys, but physics remains physics: the FLTRKSE rewards riders who plan entries, trail gently, and avoid treating it like a sport-tourer. Its best rhythm is fast, composed mileage rather than sudden corrections.

Identification and Originality

The most important identification clue is the factory model code: FLTRKSE. FLTRK identifies the Road Glide Limited platform, while SE denotes the CVO version. Collectors should look for the model code on factory paperwork, VIN-related documentation, warranty records, original sales material, and the motorcycle’s compliance and identification labels rather than relying on appearance alone.

Visually, the FLTRKSE should present as a full-dress Road Glide Limited: frame-mounted sharknose fairing, Tour-Pak, hard saddlebags, lower fairings, touring floorboards, premium seat, CVO trim, and exclusive factory paint. The CVO finish package is not incidental; on these motorcycles, paint and finish are part of the identity. A repaint, missing Tour-Pak, changed wheels, substituted audio components, or non-original lighting can materially alter the motorcycle’s collector appeal even if the mechanical condition is good.

Common alterations include aftermarket exhaust systems, engine calibrations, handlebar swaps, audio upgrades, wheel changes, seat replacements, and de-chroming or blacking-out. None of these are unusual in the modern Harley world, but they complicate originality. A buyer seeking a collector-quality FLTRKSE should place particular value on factory paint integrity, all CVO-specific accessories, original take-off parts, owner’s manuals, keys/fobs, service records, and documentation showing the bike’s original configuration.

Model Code and Variant Breakdown

The FLTRKSE is often confused with other Road Glide and CVO touring models because the names are similar and the silhouettes overlap. The table below separates the most relevant related Harley-Davidson touring codes for research and buying purposes.

The key split is fairing architecture and touring intent. An FLTRXSE may appeal to riders who want the CVO Road Glide look in a leaner package, while the FLTRKSE is the more formal long-distance machine with passenger and luggage equipment built into the model’s basic purpose.

Performance and Dimensional Specifications

Harley-Davidson factory specifications for the FLTRKSE commonly list the Twin-Cooled Milwaukee-Eight 117 at 125 lb-ft of torque at 3,500 rpm, with displacement of 117 cubic inches, bore and stroke of 4.075 x 4.500 inches, and a 10.2:1 compression ratio. Running-order weight is commonly listed at 963 lb and fuel capacity at 6.0 U.S. gallons. Those figures are useful because they describe the motorcycle’s real-world touring character: large displacement, substantial torque, long range, and considerable mass.

Factory literature in the U.S. did not consistently present horsepower, 0-60 mph, quarter-mile, or top-speed figures for this model in the way a sport motorcycle specification sheet might. Dyno numbers exist in the owner community, but they depend on test method, break-in condition, exhaust, calibration, fuel, and atmospheric correction. For collector and restoration purposes, torque, displacement, original engine configuration, and factory equipment are the more defensible reference points.

Compared With Related Models

FLTRKSE CVO Road Glide Limited vs. FLTRK Road Glide Limited

The standard FLTRK Road Glide Limited gives the same basic fixed-fairing, Tour-Pak touring formula, but the FLTRKSE adds the CVO layer: larger CVO engine specification, exclusive paint, premium audio, specialized trim, and a more expensive factory finish package. For a rider who intends to customize heavily, a standard FLTRK may make more practical sense. For a collector or originality-focused buyer, the FLTRKSE’s value lies precisely in the factory-executed specification.

FLTRKSE CVO Road Glide Limited vs. FLTRXSE CVO Road Glide

The FLTRXSE CVO Road Glide is the more performance-bagger-flavored sibling in the CVO Road Glide world. It is visually and mechanically close enough to create shopping confusion, but the FLTRKSE is the full touring version, built around passenger comfort, Tour-Pak luggage, and Limited equipment. The FLTRXSE is often chosen for a lower, cleaner bagger stance; the FLTRKSE is the one for riders who want the CVO treatment without giving up the long-distance touring architecture.

FLTRKSE CVO Road Glide Limited vs. FLHTKSE CVO Limited

The FLHTKSE CVO Limited occupies a similar luxury-touring role but uses the fork-mounted batwing fairing associated with the Electra Glide family. The Road Glide rider usually prefers the fixed fairing’s highway stability and different steering feel. The choice is less about equipment level and more about which touring front end the rider considers correct.

Restoration and Ownership Notes

Because the FLTRKSE is a modern CVO, restoration is less about fabricating obsolete parts and more about preserving a complex factory specification. Paintwork is the major issue. CVO paint schemes are expensive, multi-stage, and model-specific; a damaged saddlebag lid or Tour-Pak panel can become a significant originality problem if repaired casually or replaced with a non-matching component.

Mechanical support is generally strong because the Milwaukee-Eight touring platform is well represented in dealer and specialist networks. Engine work, cam chest service, compensator inspection, clutch service, belt replacement, brake work, and electrical diagnosis are all within the normal range of modern Harley specialist knowledge. The caution is that modified examples may have altered calibrations, exhaust systems, audio wiring, lighting circuits, handlebars, and suspension, all of which can complicate return-to-stock work.

Documentation matters. A clean title, original purchase paperwork, service history, recall or campaign completion records, factory accessories list, spare fobs, manuals, and original take-off parts all help establish that the motorcycle is a true FLTRKSE and not a modified standard Road Glide Limited wearing CVO-like parts. For a high-dollar CVO touring motorcycle, provenance is not academic; it affects both buyer confidence and long-term desirability.

Buyer and Restoration Inspection Points

A good FLTRKSE inspection should treat the motorcycle as both a modern touring machine and a factory collectible. The goal is not simply to find a running Road Glide, but to determine whether the CVO-specific identity remains intact.

The best examples are usually not the most heavily accessorized. They are the ones that still look, function, and document like factory CVO motorcycles, with tasteful maintenance rather than a trail of irreversible customization.

Collector and Market Relevance

The FLTRKSE is collectible in the modern Harley sense: limited-production CVO status, distinctive factory paint, high original MSRP, premium equipment, and a major-displacement factory engine. It is not rare in the prewar or racing-special sense, and exact production numbers are not consistently documented in public factory material, but it belongs to a category that Harley collectors follow closely because each CVO year has its own paint and equipment identity.

Collectors typically value low mileage, original paint, unmodified engine management, stock or included original exhaust, complete luggage, functioning electronics, and complete paperwork. A CVO with missing paint-matched components, aftermarket audio rewiring, mismatched panels, or heavily altered engine specification becomes harder to evaluate. Conversely, a carefully kept FLTRKSE with all original parts and documentation has appeal beyond ordinary used touring-bike demand.

The market term most commonly attached to this motorcycle is simply “CVO Road Glide Limited” rather than a nickname. Unlike early Harley singles, board-track machines, or Knucklehead-era customs, there is no historically meaningful collector nickname equivalent to “Strap Tank” or “Hydra-Glide” that properly belongs to the FLTRKSE. The important enthusiast terms are FLTRKSE, CVO, Road Glide Limited, sharknose fairing, and Milwaukee-Eight 117.

Cultural Relevance

The FLTRKSE belongs to the culture of American luxury touring rather than racing, military, or police history. Its world is long interstate mileage, owner gatherings, H.O.G. touring culture, custom-bagger influence, and the premium end of Harley-Davidson dealership presentation. The bike also reflects the way factory customs absorbed ideas once left to aftermarket builders: high-end paint, audio, lighting, large-displacement engines, and integrated electronics.

Road Glide culture is particularly strong among riders who cover distance and among custom-bagger builders who prefer the sharknose fairing’s long, low visual line. The FLTRKSE is the factory’s fully dressed interpretation of that identity. It is not a minimalist performance bagger; it is the version with the trunk, the passenger accommodations, the painted luggage, the sound system, and the big CVO engine.

FAQs

What years was the Harley-Davidson FLTRKSE CVO Road Glide Limited produced?

The FLTRKSE CVO Road Glide Limited was offered for the 2022 and 2023 model years. It should not be confused with the standard FLTRK Road Glide Limited or the FLTRXSE CVO Road Glide.

What engine is in the 2022-2023 CVO Road Glide Limited?

It uses the Twin-Cooled Milwaukee-Eight 117, a 117 cu in / 1,923 cc 45-degree V-twin with pushrod-operated overhead valves and four valves per cylinder. Factory specifications commonly list torque at 125 lb-ft at 3,500 rpm.

Is the FLTRKSE the same as a CVO Road Glide?

No. The FLTRKSE is the CVO Road Glide Limited, meaning it has the full touring package with Tour-Pak and Limited equipment. The FLTRXSE CVO Road Glide is a related but different CVO Road Glide variant with a less full-dress touring emphasis.

How do you identify a genuine FLTRKSE?

Confirm the FLTRKSE model code through factory documentation, VIN-related paperwork, service records, and identification labels. Visually, it should have the Road Glide frame-mounted fairing, full Limited touring luggage, CVO paint and trim, premium audio equipment, and the correct CVO-specific features for its model year.

Did Harley-Davidson publish horsepower for the FLTRKSE?

Harley-Davidson’s U.S. factory specifications emphasized torque rather than horsepower for this model. Because horsepower figures vary by source, market, and test method, the most defensible published performance figure is the commonly listed 125 lb-ft of torque at 3,500 rpm.

What are the main buyer concerns on a CVO Road Glide Limited?

The main concerns are originality, paint condition, completeness of CVO-specific equipment, service history, electronic functions, engine modifications, exhaust and calibration changes, and whether original take-off parts are included. CVO paint and trim are expensive to replace correctly.

Is the 2022-2023 FLTRKSE collectible?

Yes, within the modern Harley-Davidson CVO touring market. Its appeal comes from the short model-year run, FLTRKSE code, Milwaukee-Eight 117 engine, factory CVO paint, premium touring equipment, and the Road Glide Limited configuration.

Collector Takeaway

The 2022-2023 FLTRKSE CVO Road Glide Limited is important because it captures Harley-Davidson’s mature Milwaukee-Eight luxury-touring formula at its most lavish: fixed sharknose fairing, full luggage, 117-cubic-inch Twin-Cooled torque, CVO paint, and a long-distance chassis built for loaded mileage rather than showroom minimalism. It is a factory custom, but not a fragile ornament; its whole point is to cross states with the authority and ceremony expected of a top-tier Harley tourer.

For collectors, the bike’s value is in correctness. A clean, documented, unmolested FLTRKSE is a very different proposition from a modified Road Glide wearing expensive parts. The model deserves attention because it is one of the clearest expressions of the pre-121 CVO Touring idea: big displacement, big equipment, big paint, and the Road Glide fairing in its most formal long-haul dress.