2026 Harley-Davidson Bagger World Cup: A Global Stage for American V-Twin Racing

The 2026 Harley-Davidson Bagger World Cup is bringing forth an evolution in American motorcycle racing as Harley teams with MotoGP to launch the first-ever global championship exclusively for high-performance bagger machines. The racing series will feature V-Twin-powered touring bikes in legendary tracks across the United States and Europe, showcasing radical engineering, racing pedigree, and the unique character of Harley’s bagger bikes on a worldwide stage.

A New Era For the Bagger World Cup

Harley-Davidson and MotoGP announced the Bagger World Cup at Austria’s Red Bull Ring, with a six-round calendar that runs across the world’s most iconic Grand Prix circuits. The races will include double-header events each weekend, offering fans dynamic close-quarters competition and guiding bagger racing to a MotoGP-level prominence.

The 2026 calendar features stops at the Circuit of the Americas (USA), Mugello (Italy), TT Circuit Assen (Netherlands), Silverstone (UK), MotorLand Aragón (Spain) and culminates with the championship round at Austria’s Red Bull Ring.

Six to eight teams, each with two riders, will compete for the title, everything supported by Harley-Davidson Factory Racing. The spec-bike format ensures that every machine is identical, providing a test of the rider’s skill, strategic acumen, and the motorcycle’s excellence.

Harley-Davidson’s Racing Heritage and Current Bagger Racing

Harley-Davidson’s journey into bagger racing is a story of cultural evolution, technical innovation, and competitive spirit. The roots of Harley’s racing pedigree go back over a century, as far as 1904, when the first Harley-Davidson prototype entered a local Milwaukee race, foreshadowing Harley’s future in motorsport. The prototype featured a 405 cc engine, tubular loop frame, single-speed belt drive, and an estimated top speed of 64 km/h.

By 1905, the Model No. 1 stayed close to this layout: a single-cylinder inlet-over-exhaust engine, direct belt drive, and a weight just over 84 kg, requiring pedal power assistance when engine torque fell short. These early bikes were far closer to bicycles with engines than to modern motorcycles, but their strong construction made them suitable for the rough dirt tracks and board tracks of the early racing era.

As racing evolved, so did Harley’s bikes. By the late 1910s, models like the “Silent Grey Fellow” brought improvements in frame and engine design, but the single-cylinder engine persisted in early competitive models. In the 1930s and onwards, more powerful V-twin engines emerged, which would ultimately define the brand for decades. Flathead V-twin engines of this period typically came in 61 cubic inch (1,000 cc) and 74 cubic inch (1,210 cc) displacements, offering more robust power and speed needed for racing. However, early racing regulations and production limitations often meant that engines were tuned “by hand” for maximum output, with modifications like high-compression pistons, revised timing, and free-flowing short exhausts.

By the postwar era, the Harley-Davidson KR and later the XR-750 became legendary for their raw power on the track. The XR-750, introduced in the late 1960s for flat track and road racing, was powered by a 748cc air-cooled V-twin motor producing up to 82 hp at 7,700 rpm. Weighing just 134 kg dry and built on a lightweight twin-loop steel cradle frame, the XR-750 featured front Ceriani telescopic forks, Girling rear shocks, a minimalist tank, and spoked wheels with aluminium rims. The KR series flatheads, and later overhead valve designs, faced constant innovation to remain competitive as racing rules evolved, all while maintaining the distinctive Harley thunder.

The “bagger” as a class is defined by fully dressed touring motorcycles fitted with saddlebags and large front fairings that emerged from Harley’s long heritage of building bikes for comfort, style, and long-distance journeys.

To summarise history, early Harley-Davidson racing motorcycles spanned a continuous arc from pedal-assisted singles to iconic V-twin dirt trackers, each stage characterised by advances in power, handling, and durability that propelled Harley to the forefront of American motorcycle racing.

Bagger racing was virtually unimaginable until the third decade of the 21st century. The spark came in October 2020 at Laguna Seca, California, with the inaugural “King of the Baggers” event. What began as a supposed one-off, tongue-in-cheek race turned into a phenomenon, pitting Harley-Davidson and Indian touring models, heavily modified yet retaining the essence of true street baggers, against each other. Harley’s Screamin’ Eagle factory effort and the participation of renowned riders like Kyle Wyman, James Rispoli, and Troy Herfoss rapidly pushed the sport from a novelty act to a fierce motorsport. The rivalry reignited the historical Harley-Indian competition, holding bagger racing as a legitimate new motorsport category.

The 2026 Harley-Davidson Bagger World Cup Bike Specs

All championship motorcycles will be based on Harley’s Grand American Touring platform, primarily the race-prepped Road Glide. These machines undergo transformation for performance, safety, and racing agility.

The bike’s specifications are as follows:

Engine: A Screamin’ Eagle Milwaukee-Eight 131 V-Twin, which generates a power output over 200 hp and approximately 245 Nm of torque.

Weight: Minimised to around 280 kg (617 lbs), down from the standard bagger weight, which has been achieved through aggressive lightweighting and carbon-fibre bodywork.

Top Speed: The bikes are capable of exceeding 300 km/h on straightaways with a factory rev limit of 7000 rpm.

Brakes: Racing-spec pads, oversized rotors, and braided steel lines for capable stopping power under extreme conditions.

Suspension: Premium racing shocks and fully adjustable setups to handle the mass and dynamics of a full-size bagger at speed.

Aerodynamics: Streamlined panniers, reworked fairings, and optimised airflow features balance drag with stability.

Electronics: The spec ECU ensures parity across the field, with fine-tuned fuel mapping and traction control for race conditions.

Chassis: The bikes remain visually true to Harley’s FL form, with luggage panniers and the basic silhouette that fans recognise and love, even though every underlying part is overhauled for competition.

The Legacy and Racing Future

The Harley-Davidson Bagger World Cup in 2026 will strengthen Harley’s reputation as an innovator, combining classic American V-Twin muscle with contemporary racing technology and a global platform. The event will introduce millions to the thrill of bagger racing, inspire new generations of riders, and further solidify baggers as the centrepiece of Harley’s modern motorsport ambitions.