Bagger racing, through the MotoAmerica’s King of the Bagger series, pits highly modified ‘bagger’ cruisers, primarily from Harley-Davidson and Indian, against each other in some of the most unlikely racing in living memory.
The very first ‘King of the Baggers’ was a one-off invitational held at Laguna Seca in October 2020. It proved such a sensation (with over nine million social media views) it quickly grew into an official class with a three-round American national championship 2021.
Its popularity continued to grow thereafter, with factory teams from Harley and Indian and ex-GP riders like Jeremy McWilliams and Loris Baz taking part. By 2024 the series had expanded to eight rounds (with an additional exhibition race at the US MotoGP round) and in 2025 Kyle Wyman reclaimed the title for Harley to take a 3-2 series lead after Indian won in 2022 and 2024. Now they’re taking on the world.
The race bikes themselves are based on either the production Harley-Davidson Road Glide or the Indian Challenger. The regulations demand the retention of panniers and touring fairings, but they are so highly modified they’re unlike any road or race bikes you’ve ever seen – in fact they’re probably the trickest bikes you’ll find outside of MotoGP.
Engines are enlarged (in Harley’s case up to 131 cubic inches, or a massive 2151cc!) and tuned to an estimated 200bhp. Lightweight wheels wear race slicks, suspension and brakes are uprated to superbike levels, race seats, ‘pegs and tank pads are added, and standard bodywork is swapped to silhouette carbon fibre items. In fact, apart from (mostly) standard frames, mandatory belly pan ‘catch’ tanks and a minimum weight limit of 620lbs (that’s about 280kg outside of the USA), pretty much anything goes…
All of which is refocussing world attention on baggers generally, so what are they exactly?
Although the term ‘bagger’ is sometimes applied to older American touring bikes, following Harley’s first hard panniers in the mid-‘50s on the Hydra then Duo Glide, the ‘bagger breakthough’ arguably came with its successor, the electric starter-equipped 1964 Electra Glide, especially after 1969 when it began to be equipped with the ‘Bat Wing’ fairing, which created the first ‘full dress bagger’.
The modern definition of ‘bagger’, however, is one which refers to a more custom-looking, ‘chopped-down’ full dresser, but one that retains its signature fairing and panniers (or ‘bags’).
This type of bagger emerged in the mid-2000s and the bike that started it was designed by no less than Harley’s VP of Design, Willie G. Davidson. Legend has it that the great man created it because it was the type of bike he himself wanted to ride. The result, essentially a ‘cut down’ Electra Glide with the screen chopped down and the top box removed to make it leaner and more stylish, made for a bike with (most of) the comfort and practicality of a tourer but still with a strong custom image.
That first production bagger, the 2006 Street Glide, proved a US sales sensation and, in turn, spawned a host of imitators and whole US bagger scene which came to include dedicated magazines, shows, websites and, eventually, King of the Baggers racing.
That 2006 machine (with fat 16” front wheel), evolved into the 2012 version (now with an 18-incher and other changes) which, reputedly, proved so popular it outsold all other bikes in America put together. Considering the sheer scale of the US market, especially back then, you really can’t underplay just how significant this kind of bike is to the American manufacturers.
The first version with a frame-mounted fairing, the Road Glide, came in 2010. When historic US brand Indian relaunched in 2013 one of its first three models was the Chieftain bagger, and both marques have subsequently improved, updated and added to their ‘bagger’ offerings to the extent they now form the backbone of their respective ranges.
Today, Harley’s line-up contains six different ‘baggers’, all dating back to that original 2006 Street Glide, with Indian now offering four more, headed by its frame-mounted fairing-ed Challenger, complete with its liquid-cooled Powerplus V-twin engine, which also forms the basis of its racer.
To UK and European riders, of course, a US-style bagger may still not have that much appeal: they’re designed for cruising arrow-straight American highways rather than carving our curves, after all. But if you get the chance to see the racing versions – and one of those ‘Harley-Davidson Bagger World Cup’ rounds is at the British GP at Silverstone on August 9 – you won’t regret it. It really is a unique experience.
