White Bag Electra Glide Highway King Is the 2023 Harley-Davidson Icon Motorcycle

We've already discussed three of the four motorcycles. I'm talking here about the Low Rider ST, Street Glide ST, and Road Glide ST included by Harley in this year's edition of the Enthusiast Motorcycle Collection.

Wearing the umbrella name Fast Johnnie, the lineup is meant to be a nod to the American muscle cars (and their racing exploits) of the 19670s and 1970s. What that means is a special color scheme in Celestial Blue with white stripes has been devised and pulled over the two-wheelers, and all of that is topped off by the image of Fast Johnnie, a historically relevant piglet for the bike maker.

But the three Fast Johnnies are not the only new, limited bikes presented by Harley this week as part of some fancy limited run. The fourth is the Electra Glide Highway King, a special version of the Grand American Touring motorcycle meant to celebrate a long-gone (but, again, historically important) model: the 1968 FLH Electra Glide.

The Highway King is part of a separate motorcycle program run by Milwaukee, the Icons Motorcycle Collection. That's a coordinated effort to release a fresh interpretation of an existing Harley-Davidson motorcycle each year, with unique features and in very limited numbers.

In the news for a while now, the program has been responsible over the past two years for the release of the Electra Glide Revival and the Low Rider El Diablo. The 2023 Icon is, of course, the Highway King we're here to discuss now.

Based on the current Electra Glide, it comes with a series of features that will make it highly desirable, while at the same time trying to bring back vibes from a long-gone era, thanks to its association with the 1968 FLH.

Back then, this particular model was the top-of-the-range two-wheeled Harley machine. But since the top of the range usually means different things for different people, extra packages were offered to increase the bike's usefulness and appeal.

One of these packages was called King of the Highway accessories group, and gifted the Electra Glide with all sorts of goodies, starting from fiberglass saddlebags and a windshield and ending with a luggage rack at the rear, and engine guards.

The easiest way to make modern-day motorcycle look like a 1968 one is of course to gift it with the same appointments and use the same colors as back then. And that's exactly what Harley did.

The 2023 Icon wears chrome steel laced wheels shod in wide whitewall tires for that extra touch of vintage look. Up front, a two-tone windshield rises above the handlebar and fuel tank, while the rear is adorned with hard-shell saddlebags.

Now, the overall Highway King is offered in two color choices, Hi-Fi Orange and Hi-Fi Magenta, but no matter the choice some white elements will always remain on the bike. I'm talking, obviously, about the whitewall tires, but also about the white saddlebags, made so because the original accessories group from 1968 offered them as such.

According to Brad Richards, Harley-Davidson's Vice President of Design and Creative Director, the idea behind the choice of colors has to do with the message the new Icon is supposed to send, a throwback to a time when riding a bike that looks like this meant going luxury on two wheels. And, in the executive's view, "the result is a thoroughly modern motorcycle that looks unapologetically old school."

The paint scheme is not the only element contributing to the old-school look of the machine. The upper side of the bike shows a fuel tank with a Black Denim panel fitted over it, it too separated from the bike's primary color by a white accent stripe. The solo suspension seat has white sides to better blend in with the overall look of the bike.

The paint is highlighted by several carefully placed elements. The front fender holds on each of its sides an Electra Glide script, while special graphics and each bike's serialization badge are featured on the console insert.

A serial number is needed because each of the 1,750 units of the Highway King to be made needs to be remembered down the ages. That number is divided between 1,000 bikes in Orange and 750 in Magenta, all of them available for the global markets.

No matter the king of Highway King chosen, customers will receive the same Milwaukee-Eight 114 V-Twin engine in the frame, rear shock absorbers, and 49 mm forks. The stock Electra Glide's engine can be further improved with the addition of Screamin' Eagle Stage Upgrade kits.

Harley-Davidson is asking $26,999 for the Electra Glide Highway King.