Obviously Tanner’s plan was not only to have a totally personalized bike he would enjoy just staring at and drinking in all of its baked-in Harley goodness, but a bike he could hop on in a moments notice and ride down to the local Quickie Mart or head across country without the least bit of trepidation. “I wanted a bike that is simple and timeless. I felt a CVO Street Glide with nice upgrades will always be cool. ,” said Tanner.

  With that seemingly simple plan in mind, he headed down to his local purveyor of Harley-Davidsons, wrote out a big check for a 2012 CVO Street Glide, and rode his unfinished canvas home. Even with a limited production bike festooned with as many factory upgraded parts and pieces both the engineers and sales team could possibly replace over the standard FLHX, it was not enough for Tanner so he promptly got to work.

   First off was something that was running around in his head that he had a bit of hesitation doing, but he forged ahead anyway. “This is my first bike with ape hangers and I did not know how I would like them,” he said. “They have turned out to be my favorite aftermarket part.” For what it’s worth, it’s a pricey change that you might be wise to check out on somebody else’s bike so you don’t almost double your cost to get back to where you started in case it’s not your cup of tea. Luckily, things worked out just peachy for Tanner and hopefully it would be the same for you.

  There are other small, but noticeable changes like the solo seat or removing both the fairing lowers and crash bar for a trim and slim appearance. Removing the lowers also shows more of that wear–your-sunglasses–for-safety shiny palooza of an engine, in this case the FLHXSE3 CVO 110 replacing the basic FLHX’s 103 mill. Tanner had an itch he could scratch, though, and replaced the boring stock intake and air cleaner with something just a little more rad. Remember, this bike is all about little things, not throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

   Where things went up a notch or two or three was Tanner’s wallet –busting changes to rolling stock and suspension. First off, the stock hydraulic rear suspension was replaced with an air ride setup while the front end met a different fate. Instead of just lowering it to some unusable, but “cool” look, Tanner went for better performance. A call to Progressive Suspension provided him with a complete front end internal component swap to get better handling and braking with their Monotube fork kit. Complimenting that front end modification change is a 17” wheel replacing the stock 19” along with a set of new rotors. This is possibly the one area I disagree with what Tanner did as the new rotors are not floating units like the stockers, but hey, it’s Tanner’s bike not mine so maybe I should just shut the hell up. “I ride it all over, mostly day trips. It handles great, better than stock. The Monotubes in the front and air ride rear with a 17″ wheel are perfect!” said the man who doesn’t give a damn what I think.  

  So is Tanner done and done with changes to this bike? “More changes are planned. I’m looking for a new low profile two-up seat and some new gauges,” he said. Oh, there are a couple other things I would like to do to it but for now, its all good.” Tanner’s that proverbial kid in a candy store with his Street Glide and I’d safely venture to guess that he’ll be making quite a few more trips to his local parts counter before he’s through. In the meantime, the best part of all this is that he gets to ride his bike there instead of having a long term project in pieces in his garage.