Harley-Davidson's Best Seller of 2025: The Street Glide

The Street Glide led Harley's lineup again in 2025, in a year that was hard on the company and hard on the bike's own case. Global retail sales fell 12% and North America fell 13%. Harley itself flagged weakness in the Touring category in the first half of the year, as customer traffic declined and affordability became more of a focus. The Street Glide's base price went up $1,750.

Sourcing got worse this year, and that is worth saying up front. Harley publishes shipments by family and no model level units, so this was always going to be a consensus pick. What changed in 2025 is that the annual release names no models at all. The company statement that backed the 2024 answer has no 2025 equivalent, and the 74.5% US Touring share figure belongs to 2024 and should not be carried forward into this year by anyone, including us.

The 2025 Street Glide

Mechanically this is the 2024 motorcycle. Milwaukee-Eight 117, 1923cc, 130 lb-ft at 3,250 rpm, 811 lb, seat 26.1 inches laden and 28.1 unladen. What changed is the price: $25,999 became $27,749.

Around it, the range widened at the top. A Street Glide Ultra joined at $30,749. Four CVOs were on sale: CVO Street Glide and CVO Road Glide at $45,999, CVO Road Glide ST at $44,999, and a CVO Pan America at $29,249. Elsewhere Harley added a Pan America 1250 ST at $19,999, and the Sportster S gained 60% more rear travel at $15,999.

Jochen Zeitz, who ran the restructuring that opens this series back in 2020, announced his retirement in April 2025. The period that began with The Rewire and ended with a $27,749 Street Glide is, in leadership terms, one continuous stretch.

The year the price and the market moved in opposite directions

Put Harley's own description of the year next to its own price list and the tension is obvious. The company said customer traffic declined and affordability became more of a focus. The best selling motorcycle in its lineup went up $1,750, taking back all but $250 of the $2,000 the 2024 redesign had knocked off.

The numbers around that: 124,477 units shipped, down from 148,862. Grand American Touring 69,252, Cruiser 41,172, Sport and Lightweight 9,638, Adventure Touring 4,415. Global retail 132,535, down 12%. North America 89,132, down 13%. Every family fell.

The lineup additions pointed the same direction. A Street Glide Ultra at $30,749 and four CVOs between $29,249 and $45,999 widened the range upward in the year Harley said affordability had become more of a focus. The clearest move the other way, a Sportster S at $15,999 with 60% more rear travel, landed in the segment that had already fallen to 9,638 units.

So 2025 is a mirror of 2024. Same motorcycle, more money, into a market Harley had publicly described as more price sensitive than the year before. Whether the price rise caused any of the decline is not something the public data can answer, and we are not going to pretend otherwise. What it does establish is that the affordability argument and the pricing decision were happening in the same building at the same time. For the industry wide picture that year, see our best selling motorcycles of 2025 roundup.

How to read a win in a down year

Best seller is a relative measure, and 2025 is the year to remember that. The Street Glide leading the lineup does not mean it sold more than it did in 2024. On the family numbers it almost certainly sold fewer: Grand American Touring shipped 69,252 against 85,757 the year before. Leading a category that shrank is still leading, and it is still the correct answer to the question asked, but it describes position rather than momentum.

The practical version for a buyer is simpler than the corporate version. The 2024 and the 2025 are the same motorcycle. Same engine, same torque, same weight, same seat height, same screen. The 2024 launched $1,750 cheaper. That leaves the 2025's case resting on condition, mileage, color and whatever warranty is left, rather than on anything mechanical, which is an unusual position for the newer of two model years to be in.

If you are weighing a used 2024 against a used 2025, the specification sheet will not separate them, so the separation has to come from how these bikes behave once they have miles on them. That is the ground covered in owner reports on living with the Street Glide. For where Harley sat against Indian, Honda and BMW as the market turned, see Harley vs Indian vs Honda vs BMW, 2025.

Six years, one answer, and a $27,749 version of the bike that started the run at $27,699. The Street Glide never lost the lineup. It just stopped being cheap to be the one that wins.

Cover photo: "Harley-Davidson Street Glide parked at Hogs for Hospice, Leamington, Ontario, 2025-08-02 04" by Chris Woodrich, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.