Harley-Davidson teases updates for premiere of 2026 line-up
Harley’s teasing the first of its 2026 bike reveals, with updates apparently coming to at least three platforms.
A new Sportster, an upgraded Low Rider ST, and a refreshed Street Glide – these are the models that we’re pretty sure we’re seeing in a video teasing “Chapter 1” of Harley-Davidson’s 2026 line-up.
This first premiere is set to take place Monday at 6pm Central Standard Time, ie, Milwaukee’s timezone. That’s midnight in His Majesty’s United Kingdom and, from what we’re seeing, this one may not be worth staying up for.
With Harley-Davidson having recently shuffled long-standing members from its board, taken on a new CEO, and promising an entry-level motorcycle costing less than £4,500, all eyes are on the American brand for 2026.
“Now’s the time to see what we’ve been building toward,” declares a blurb of copy promoting Harley’s teaser video. “This is your chance to be there from the start.”
However, this first round of announcements looks more like the “bold new colours” kind of refresh that are common with cruiser manufacturers. There appear to be three bikes featured in Harley’s 30-second video: a Sportster, a cruiser, and a bagger/tourer.
The Sportster platform has largely been a disappointment for Harley-Davidson since being overhauled at the start of this decade. Looking at the silhouette of this new offering, it appears Harley is attempting to recapture some of the old spirit with a stripped down, more classic look.
In other words, it’s probably an updated Nightster – a model that Harley has been having so much trouble shifting out of dealerships that its price was dropped at the start of this year. If at first you don’t succeed…
Far more desirable in our opinion is the Low Rider ST. A motorcycle that we recently described as “the best of all of Harley’s big twins”
(You may want to read our review of the 2025 Harley-Davidson FXLRST Low Rider ST)
The video shows a silhouette of the Low Rider ST, but not for long. We’d guess that means that updates for 2026 are minimal. New paint. Some extra tech. Probably not much beyond that, unless it’s a CVO model – in which case it will have really nice paint and a capacity boost.
Also likely to receive minimal updates is the Street Glide that appears. Or, at least, a bike with Street Glide fairing. It could be that Harley will try again with the bare-bones Electra Glide Standard concept that it offered from 2019-2022, but we doubt it. A no-frills bagger wouldn’t have that fancy lighted trim on the fairing.
(You might want to read our review of the 2025 Street Glide Ultra)
The video shows similar lighted trim on a set of panniers, either on the Street Glide or the Low Rider ST or both. This would be a new feature for Harley – its panniers have remained charmingly old-school for quite some time.
Absent from this first round of premieres is anything from Harley’s ‘Adventure Touring’ line-up, ie, the Pan America platform. We’re aware that’s another area where sales performance hasn’t been great, and can’t help but fear that the new CEO might give it the boot (which would be a shame because it is, actually, a really good platform).
But perhaps it will feature in a different premiere chapter, along with the aforementioned entry-level machine.
When that next chapter will be is uncertain. Harley has a media presentation scheduled for 5pm UK time on 4 November at EICMA, but it’s been a while since the USA-focused company has shown interest in revealing things in Europe. We’ll be there just in case.
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Chris Cope is a fourth-generation journalist, originally from Texas. He has lived in the UK for roughly two decades and has been writing about motorcycles for most of that time. He has written for dozens of publications and websites in the UK, US, Canada, and Australia.
