High Tech
Compared.

H-D CVO Road Glide — 2024 & 2025

IN BRIEF: Premium · Intuitive · Refined

COMMENTS: It’s a long way removed from the chrome bezels, ornate dashboards, radio/cassette and CD players of the early Harley baggers, but the CVO’s integrated screen is very aesthetically pleasing.

It has stunning graphics, customisable layouts, engaging design and excellent legibility.

The whole cockpit says premium.

The high-resolution dashboard offers three configurations of home-screen templates, with layouts for sport, general or touring. Sport has a large tacho and smaller secondary readouts; general has a traditional speedo, tacho and odometer; while touring has smaller dials and a large map.

Numerous data-display options are available within them, plus there is a split-screen CarPlay view.

Navigation through the drill-down menus is quite intuitive, as is making selections with the next-generation multifunction toggles on both switch blocks. The unique switchgear takes a little while for muscle memory to become automatic. It’s quite different from the joystick-and-button style of previous H-D interfaces. These are all-in-one.

Having spent time on both ’24 and ’25 models also proved a good example of the difference a model year and a heap of firmware upgrades can make.

Each year brings better features and reliability. The ’24 display was a breakthrough for Harley; the ’25 model improved on it—significantly.

The later version’s connections were far more reliable, and the layouts and on-screen warnings were upgraded and less intrusive.

The screen’s visibility is generally good night and day, aided by automatic contrast settings and a built-in sunshade. Depending on the sun’s azimuth and elevation, reflections can occasionally wash out the display, but it’s a rare occurrence.

PLUS: Overall, as good as it gets.

MINUS: Loses half a star because the system glitched a few times and needed a full shutdown and a wait of a few minutes to reboot. Firmware updates will no doubt address this. Occasional sun washout.

Specifications
Touch Screen	Yes
Operating System	Harley-Davidson Skyline OS
Screen Type	Full-colour TFT
Screen Size	12.3 inches / 312 mm
Screen Resolution	Not specified
Phone Connectivity	Apple CarPlay; Android via Bluetooth only

H-D Street Glide — 2025

IN BRIEF: Integrated · Beautiful · Practical

COMMENTS: The Street Glide took a huge leap with the 23/24 model and the ’25 version saw the dash layout from the CVO trickle down to the standard Batwing and Road Glides.

It’s possibly an even better integration aesthetically than the CVO’s now that the Street Glide runs the same beautiful display and OS - and it benefited from upgraded firmware and functionality.

My previous experience of the system had been on the two CVOs, and it wasn’t until I rode the Street Glide at night that I appreciated the illuminated switchgear fitted to the top-end machines.

As with the CVOs, it took a short while to develop the muscle memory to operate the rocker switches efficiently – and it was harder in the dark. Once bedded in—not an issue.

The media drawer under the screen with USB plug was the best phone-storage option of any of the systems – by some margin.

As long as a pair of Bluetooth headphones are connected, the Apple CarPlay operation and integration was faultless.

This is now the standard for bagger displays.

PLUS: Highly engaging design and aesthetic, and premium infotainment.

MINUS: Loses half a star for dark switchgear with fewer control options than the CVO, and occasional sun washout.

Specifications
Touch Screen	Yes
Operating System	Harley-Davidson Skyline OS
Screen Type	Full-colour TFT
Screen Size	12.3 inches / 312 mm
Screen Resolution	Not specified
Phone Connectivity	Apple CarPlay; Android via Bluetooth only

Indian Pursuit — 2025

IN BRIEF: Customisable · Comprehensive · Versatile

COMMENTS: Indian has approached the whole design and functionality differently.

The Pursuit stacks two analogue gauges above the RIDE COMMAND touchscreen—in the brand’s best dashboard layout yet.

The gauges are old school: speedo and tacho with LCD insets for the fuel gauge, range and gear indicator.

Below that sits the 7-inch touchscreen.

Indian’s system has the most customisation options for data displays and screen layouts.

It has a series of cascading windows that can be swiped on-screen or advanced using the switchgear.

In some of the windows, a drag-and-drop widget system allows all manner of readouts to be displayed, from trip-computer information and diagnostics to tyre pressures and heaps more. There are so many options that sometimes it takes a while to naturalise where you put everything, but like all of these systems—there’s some muscle memory involved.

There is an array of old-school analogue function buttons beneath it for navigating through the various menu screens and settings, and they work well.

So do the toggles on the switch blocks, which help negotiate the myriad controls available from the screen, including rear suspension preload, heated seats and grips, and fog lights.

All of the touchscreens tested were acceptably responsive with appropriate capacitive-tipped riding gloves worn.

The system offers the most data and display options through its combination of analogue and digital instruments.

Which also means that in RIDE COMMAND mode, a lot of the displayed data can be duplicated, and the electronic speedometer didn’t always match the analogue display exactly—but it could have been parallax error.

But then it all makes sense when CarPlay mode is activated and the phone takes over the screen real estate, as long as a Bluetooth headset or helmet is connected.

PLUS: The system is impressively functional, customisable and comprehensive.

MINUS: Not as visually engaging or ‘luxurious’ as the others.

Specifications
Touch Screen	Yes
Operating System	Indian Motorcycle RIDE COMMAND
Connected Services	RIDE COMMAND+ on equipped models
Screen Type	Colour capacitive touchscreen
Screen Size	7 inches
Screen Resolution	800 × 480 pixels
Phone Connectivity	iOS for CarPlay; Android via Bluetooth only

Indian Chieftain — 2025

IN BRIEF: Safe · Familiar · Integrated

COMMENTS: The Chieftain shares the same systems as the Pursuit in its fork-mounted fairing layout.

It was the first time I experienced lane-change and tailgating warning systems on a motorcycle, and I found them a worthwhile safety addition.

The customisable warnings can be displayed on the mirrors and touchscreen.

The two gauges on either side of the screen, along with the button layout, are essentially the same as on the 2019 model and could probably do with an update.

Conversely, the chrome switchgear and bars are delightful, and Indian has retained the traditional joystick switch-block controls with toggle switches.

I really like the customisable widget options in the RIDE COMMAND system. It offers various snippets of data that can be dragged and dropped into the cascading display screens. Very clever.

It took a few attempts to connect my phone via Bluetooth with this earlier model’s firmware, but once established, the connection proved reliable and reconnected automatically throughout the test period.

Controlling music and playlists was easy, with the option to send the sound to either the bike’s fairing-mounted 100-watt speakers or a wireless headset. Both worked well.

With a Bluetooth headset connected, engaging the CarPlay screen is clear and legible.

And, as with the Pursuit, the analogue dials make a lot more sense.

PLUS: The system is impressively functional, customisable and comprehensive.

MINUS: Still engaging, but feels a bit dated and there’s a lot of plastic in between the information.

Specifications
Touch Screen	Yes
Operating System	Indian Motorcycle RIDE COMMAND
Connected Services	RIDE COMMAND+ available as an upgrade
Screen Type	Colour touchscreen
Screen Size	7 inches
Screen Resolution	800 × 480 pixels
Phone Connectivity	iOS for CarPlay; Android via Bluetooth only

BMW K 1600 B — 2022

IN BRIEF: Clear · Tactile · Focused

COMMENTS: BMW takes a different approach again.

It was the first motorcycle I rode with a large, integrated TFT display, and the wide 10.25-inch screen remains one of the clearest and best proportioned of the group.

Rather than a touchscreen, it uses BMW’s familiar Multi-Controller—a ring on the left handlebar that works a little like a mouse—along with toggle switches for navigating the menus. It takes some familiarisation, but soon becomes intuitive and is easy to operate while wearing gloves.

The screen can be divided between vehicle information, media and navigation, with the BMW Motorrad Connected app supplying maps and route guidance through a paired phone.

It doesn’t offer the same level of touchscreen customisation as the Harley or Indian systems, but the presentation is clean, the important information is easy to find and the physical controller means there is no need to reach forward while riding.

PLUS: Teutonic efficiency. Just the facts, Jack. Full suspension and ride-mode control.

MINUS: Just the facts, Jack.

Specifications
Touch Screen	No
Operating System	BMW Motorrad Connectivity
Navigation Platform	BMW Motorrad Connected app
Screen Type	Full-colour TFT
Screen Size	10.25 inches
Screen Resolution	1920 × 720 pixels
Control Method	Handlebar controls and BMW Multi-Controller
Phone Connectivity	Bluetooth and Wi-Fi via the BMW Motorrad Connected Only.