Recently, Harley-Davidson and Indian Motorcycle launched their 2025 lineup in India and that got us thinking about comparing the big Harley and Indian against an even bigger BMW. For this story, we have chosen the Harley-Davidson Street Glide, Indian Chieftain Limited (with the air-cooled Thunderstroke motor) and the BMW R 18 Transcontinental - all three fully-faired touring motorcycles with big, air-cooled, twin-cylinder motors - to see which one gives you the most - on paper at least. While bikes like BMW’s own K 1600 models and Honda’s venerable Gold Wing GL1800 are also comparable, for this piece we have limited ourselves to bikes that have air-cooled, twin-cylinder engines.
Harley Davidson Street Glide vs rivals: engine & output
Street Glide only one with liquid-cooled motor (partially)
In typical American fashion, the Street Glide and Chieftain Limited have 45-degree, air-cooled V-twin engines bigger than your average family SUV. The BMW, in typical German fashion, uses a horizontally-opposed (or boxer, if you will) motor that displaces ‘only’ 1,802cc - making it the smallest engine here. All three engines are very unstressed - the focus here isn’t outright horsepower but rather, a tidal wave of torque and all of them succeed at that. These engines have a redline that’s below 6,000rpm and peak torque comes in at 3-3,500rpm so there’s no need to rev them out.
For 2025, H-D’s new 117CI motor uses liquid-cooled heads, which helps it have the highest peak output among this trio. While the R 18 Transcontinental may have been overshadowed by its American peers on paper, its motor is actually the friendliest in chaotic Indian traffic and has no trouble staying below 2,000rpm. The V-twin engines on the Street Glide and Chieftain, meanwhile, don’t like low speeds and because of the motor’s layout, will also throw off more heat onto the rider than the R 18.
Harley Davidson Street Glide vs rivals: weight & dimensions
R 18 Transcontinental is 54-59kg heavier than the American cruisers
Let’s make no bones about it - all three are immensely heavy bikes and aren’t for beginners nor the faint of heart. Even so, the R 18 Transcontinental weighs over 50 kilos more than the Harley and the Indian! At 740mm it also has the highest perch although it's still very low compared to a mainstream motorcycle or scooter. Its wheelbase is also by far the longest here, which only accentuates its hefty feeling, especially apparent at slower speeds and while making a U-turn. None of these three have masses of ground clearance on offer (and BMW doesn’t share exact ground clearance for its bikes) but with a little bit of caution you should be able to work around the multitude of bumps that abound on India’s road infrastructure.
Harley Davidson Street Glide vs rivals: suspension, tyres & brakes
Street Glide uses different hardware compared to the others
The cycle parts these bikes use are also properly prodigious in keeping with their size, and in keeping with their intentions, the purpose here is to provide stability and comfort, rather than outright performance. The R 18 Transcontinental and Chieftain Limited have similar hardware in terms of suspension and wheel sizes, but the Street Glide differs from these two. The Harley is the only bike here to have an 18-inch rear wheel and uses twin shock absorbers to handle rear suspension duties.
Harley Davidson Street Glide vs rivals: features
BMW only one to come with a top box as standard
The features list on all three will put quite a few cars to shame and all are top-tier luxury touring bikes that are loaded to the gills. For starters, you have a comprehensive suite of riding aids including cornering ABS and traction control, riding modes, cruise control and even reverse assist (only on the BMW). Then you have keyless ignition and huge touchscreen TFT displays (10-inch in size or more) which allow you to pair your phone to them and play music via the onboard music system.
Where the R 18 Transcontinental has a leg up on the Street Glide and Chieftain Limited is that it comes standard with a lockable top box in addition to the pannier system which is common across all. This brings the BMW’s onboard storage space to nearly 100 litres which is 20-30 percent more than the Harley and the Indian.
Uday Singh
Ved Janve
Viraaj Bhatnagar
Hormazd Sorabjee
Rivan RS 
