2006 Harley-Davidson CVO Bikes

When the call came in from Harley-Davidson's communication department, asking if I would like to test ride the 2006 Harley CVO bikes, I didn't want to appear overanxious. But I blurted out a "yes!" before their sentence was finished. I'd be one of the first nine journalists to get to ride the three new offerings for next year, in West Point, New York. I'd also get a chance to meet and ride with the director of the CVO Operations, the team managers for the individual bike models, and a few of the other guys who worked on the projects. God, I love this job!

For the uninitiated, CVO stands for Custom Vehicle Operations. The CVO department at the Motor Company is a relatively small "skunkworks," which, since introducing the first CVO FXR2 in 1999, has been producing small numbers of very special Harley-Davidsons, whose street names might be more familiar to you as the "Screamin' Eagle" bikes.

All models of Screamin' Eagles have three things in common: they have hot performance engines, they have enough stylish brightwork to outfit a dozen rap artists, and they're hand-built in limited numbers like fine collectibles. So I was really anxious to meet the guys who come up with these bikes each year.

If Tim "The Tool Man" Taylor was a motorcycle guy, instead of a car guy, he'd be perfect to head up a CVO team. That's not to say these guys spend all day standing around grunting like pigs; sometimes they sit down. But seriously, if you mention words like performance, torque, or horsepower, you'll get more than a few knowing hog snorts out of this crew. Use words like billet and chrome, and you'd better have your sunglasses on, or you'll be blinded by the glint from their eyes and gleam off their shining teeth. Yeah, all these guys have a terminal case of "Screaming Eagle-itis" and they ain't looking for a cure.

Who would? They have the best jobs in the company and they know it. They're the "what if" guys. They sit around with each other and say things like, "What if we got 20% more power from the stock motor?" "What if we put a fatter swingarm and tire on that model?" "What if we covered the tour pack in leather?" Or, "What if we build a line of small-displacement, fuel-efficient motor scooters?" Okay, so that guy is working in the shipping department now, but you get the idea of how cool it would be to brainstorm about how you can take a cool bike and make it a really, really cool bike. And then to have the juice to tell the engineers, just get it done! Yeah, life is good for these wild and crazy guys.