# What is the best Harley-Davidson model of all time?

> Nineteen machines from the shed in 1903 to the adventure bike aimed at BMW. Knuckleheads, wartime WLAs, the Fat Boy, and the water-cooled outliers Milwaukee loyalists argued about.

*By YPB Team · Published September 9, 2026 · https://youpick.best/ranking/what-is-the-best-harley-davidson-model-of-all-time*

---

## Current results (no votes yet)

1. **Fat Boy** — score 1000/1000
   The solid-disc-wheel softail that became the most recognisable Harley silhouette in the world.
2. **Electra Glide** — score 900/1000
   The 1965 full-dress tourer that invented the fairing-and-saddlebags American highway bike.
3. **Heritage Softail Classic** — score 771/1000
   Studded leather bags and a windshield: the nostalgia bike Harley has never stopped selling.
4. **Sportster 883** — score 692/1000
   The small-displacement V-twin that served as most riders' first Harley for four decades.
5. **WLA Liberator** — score 680/1000
   The olive-drab wartime flathead that carried despatch riders across Europe and North Africa.
6. **Road King** — score 600/1000
   The stripped-back tourer with a detachable windshield, equally at home on a commute or a coast run.
7. **Road Glide** — score 600/1000
   The frame-mounted shark-nose fairing that splits the wind and divides the fanbase.
8. **V-Rod** — score 600/1000
   The liquid-cooled, Porsche-engineered outlier that Harley loyalists never quite accepted.
9. **Shovelhead** — score 508/1000
   The AMF-era workhorse, unloved when new and now the cheapest way into a vintage big twin.
10. **Panhead** — score 507/1000
   The postwar engine, and the bike, that the chopper builders of the 1960s cut up first.
11. **Nightster** — score 507/1000
   The modern liquid-cooled Sportster successor, built to bring new riders into the brand.
12. **EL Knucklehead** — score 507/1000
   The 1936 overhead-valve V-twin that set the template every big Harley has followed since.
13. **Fat Bob** — score 400/1000
   Twin headlights, fat tyres and a stance that reads more street brawler than cruiser.
14. **Street Glide** — score 400/1000
   The batwing-faired bagger that has topped Harley's own sales charts for years.
15. **Low Rider S** — score 400/1000
   A blacked-out performance cruiser with a club-style fairing and a following among younger riders.
16. **Pan America 1250** — score 120/1000
   Harley's first serious adventure bike, aimed squarely at territory BMW had held for decades.

Tags: brands, usa, motorcycles, all-time