Best Cruiser/Bagger of 2024: Harley-Davidson Street Glide

I didn’t get much of a chance to experience all that the standard Harley Street Glide had to offer at the launch of it back in February because Mother Nature decided to rear its ugly head and cut our ride short. Other than feeling very comfortable with the ergonomics and satisfied with the torque from the Milwaukee-Eight 117ci V-Twin, I left the event feeling a bit unsatisfied.

Fast forward to October and I found myself putting 1,000 miles on a Street Glide all over beautiful Ontario, Canada. And the more I rode it, the more the bike endeared itself not just to me, but to my riding companions, Ryan and Neil Graham. It’s hard to explain why a bike so big and heavy works as well as it does, but it just…does. Maybe it’s because it just, well, glides along so effortlessly, with that big V-Twin torque pulling you through without a care. And even though the exhaust was bone stock, the distinctive Harley loping exhaust note has a way of hitting the right parts of the ear holes.

Or maybe it was that comfort mentioned earlier. Assuming you don’t have excessively long legs, the riding position is fairly comfortable for a long ride. I’d personally go for bars that were extended a tiny bit more towards me, but that’s a small gripe coming from someone with short arms. Of course, sitting in the saddle for long periods of time means you’ll inevitably have to look at the dash – and boy, what a beautiful dash the Harley has. Vibrant colors with a dark black background to provide sharp contrast even in broad daylight, the Street Glide instruments are a joy to use in an era when some bikes have electronics that can confuse a rocket scientist.

Riding the Street Glide wasn’t all roses, as we’ve well documented the lack of rear suspension travel and the effects it has on one’s spine, but that’s presumably something the aftermarket can fix fairly easily. Overall, as a sum of its parts, the Harley-Davidson Street Glide proved to us once again why it’s one of the best selling bikes in Harley’s lineup. It’s surprisingly competent, and let’s not forget, it just plain looks good, too.

It’s for these reasons (and more) that we’re glad to honor the title of Best Cruiser/Bagger to the 2024 Harley-Davidson Street Glide.

Honorable Mention

Of course, winning the honors means beating out others. In this case we’re talking about the Indian Scout, Triumph Rocket 3, and Royal Enfield Shotgun 650. Naturally, no conversation about Harley-Davidson is complete without mentioning Indian, and the 2025 Indian Scout family was a formidable challenger for the Top Cruiser award. As former MO staffer Tom Roderick pointed out, the five new Scouts offer a lot of bang for the buck, and as far as the Scout 101 goes, offers a lot of performance too. We’re obviously fans of getting the most for your dollar, and Indian has delivered once again in the new Scouts.

When we rode the Triumph Rocket 3 against the Ducati Diavel V4, it was the first time either Ryan or I had ridden the massive three-cylinder Rocket. Without knowing what to expect, both of us couldn't stop smiling each time we hopped off of it. Yes it handles like a cruise ship, and it’s almost as big as one, but none of that matters once you twist the throttle and let those coffee can pistons go to work. The Rocket is so smooth and comfortable, and yet still capable of going deceptively fast. Sometimes a bike is judged as a sum of its parts. Other times the engine is so cool none of the rest matters. The Rocket 3 is definitely the latter.

Is it blasphemous to consider an Indian bike like the Royal Enfield Shotgun 650 in the running for a cruiser award? Something so quintessentially American? We don’t think so. If anything, it took some guts to approach this category, and to do it as well as it did with the Shotgun 650 is the entire reason we had it in the running in the first place. No, the little 650 was never going to upset Harley or Indian, but as more of an entry-level cruiser, the RE has done well. The bike has character, it runs smoothly, and Royal Enfield deliberately made it attractive as-is, or as a starting point for customization. Those pillars may sound obvious for the category, but it’s harder to put into practice than it sounds, especially for a new(ish) player. The Shotgun 650 does it nicely.