The most anticipated new motorcycle of 2021 in North America was unveiled today. More attention has been focused on the Harley-Davidson Pan America than any other new model not just because Harley has been teasing it for so long, or because the company has been ginning up interest and hiring actor Jason Momoa to shill it.
No, there are good reasons why the Pan America has a lot of people curious. For one thing, it’s a legitimately important motorcycle for the future of Harley-Davidson, a company inextricably bound up with notions of American identity, but also a love-it-or-hate-it kind of icon. No motorcycle company has more passionate defenders and harsher critics. And even if you don’t fall into one of those two groups, many people are genuinely curious about whether the company can turn around five consecutive years of declining sales. Is the most iconic motorcycle company in U.S. history destined for extinction?
The Pan America will play a role in answering that question because it is the most important departure yet from Harley’s tradition of selling cruisers and baggers and touring bikes to Baby Boomers and quickly giving up on any other market segment if success is not instantaneous (see everything from Buell and MV Agusta sport bikes all the way back to Topper scooters). The success or failure of the Pan America may someday be seen as a turning point in the company’s history.
The Pan America 1250 Special is the up-spec version of Harley-Davidson’s new adventure-touring motorcycle. Harley-Davidson photo.
First glance looks good
So what did we learn today? Well, the two big numbers everyone was looking for were price and weight. Harley-Davidson has a well earned reputation for making those numbers way too big, and while that may not deter a hardcore only-a-Harley-is-a-real-motorcycle cruiser buyer, it will turn off way too many adventure-touring riders who have lots of impressively competent motorcycles to choose from in that category.
Base price on the Pan America 1250 is $17,319 and the claimed wet weight is 534 pounds. My unscientific sample suggests the professional Harley cynics were averaging estimates of $20-$25,000 and 650-plus. Even the Harley sympathizers seemed to be surprised, pleasantly so, by the numbers released today.
The front end of the Pan America is perhaps the most polarizing element, in terms of looks. Harley-Davidson photo.
The Pan America 1250 Special adds $2,700 to the price of the base model but it comes with electronically adjustable suspension. Both models have an IMU that allows for lean-angle-sensitive traction control and ABS. So you can get virtually all the rider aids and advanced features that are available on other premium adventure-touring motorcycles, from the benchmark BMW R 1250 GS to the new Ducati Multistrada V4 S.
Harley-Davidson claims 150 horsepower at 9,000 rpm and 94 foot-pounds of torque at 6,750 from the Revolution Max engine and it also gives you something other adventure-tourers don’t: hydraulic valve adjusters. Ducati went to great lengths, abandoning its trademark desmodromic valves, to lengthen the service interval on the Multistrada V4 S, but Harley-Davidson went one step better and eliminated valve service intervals.
Of course we won’t know for sure until we have the chance to test-ride one, but on paper, at least, it looks suspiciously like Harley-Davidson has entered one of the most contested segments in the premium motorcycle landscape and has built a competitive model on its first try. Something only a few believed likely.
The base Pan America will probably suit most riders. For those wanting more serious off-road abilities, spoked wheels that accommodate tubeless tires are a $500 option. Harley-Davidson photo.
Style and substance
Look, I’ve been as skeptical as anyone. Ever since German CEO Jochen Zeitz took control of the company last year, the buzzword he has been pounding relentlessly is “desirable.” Zeitz reversed most of former CEO Matt Levatich’s plans for growing the company and instead refocused on selling premium motorcycles at high prices. Because they’re desirable. But in Zeitz’s definition, desirability is based on image, not on spec-sheet numbers. Harley-Davidsons are desirable because they are Harley-Davidsons, not because they are faster or more sophisticated or offer features nobody else has.
That approach worked for a long time, mainly with white, male Boomers in the United States from the “Easy Rider” era and a smaller number of relatively wealthy buyers in other countries who admired U.S. style. But it won’t work with young people today, at least not well enough to keep Harley-Davidson as a major player in the industry in North America, much less the world.
A competent motorcycle in a new segment that competes on its own merits, however — now that’s something that could mark a change of course, maybe even a turning point. It’s too soon to say for sure, but to the surprise of many it looks like it’s possible that is just what Harley-Davidson has built.
I still think it’s ugly especially from the front but then the other adv bikes are ugly too with their beaks but then I’m not an adv guy. Now come on Harley and do the same thing with the Bronx.
Wow, maybe Harley is serious about having a long term future as a motorcycle company.
I can’t say anything that hasn’t already been said, but I am rooting for them. OK, that’s not new either!
How about this? I’d love to see this as a second bike in every red blooded American’s garage, be they grizzled old road pirates, or young yuppie coolsters. I could see it happening in a few cases.
HD did a nice job here. It’s got to lead to some new things. No one makes a motor for just one bike anymore. Looking forward to seeing the 975cc too. (cough… BRONX! Gesundheit!)
Oh, here’s something I haven’t seen anyone talk about. They partnered with REV’IT! on their gear. Also a smart decision.
So, while I type, I guess what I’m seeing is that, despite what we all think, HD is not being led by out of touch dummies. What they did here, the decision to spec this bike out like they have, the decision to partner with respected names in the industry, that tells me that they’ve got good direction. Therefore, once again, since we aren’t allowed to see their big picture 5-10 year plan, we’ll just have to hope that the ship steers out of the doldrums. No doubt, I and countless others will feel the need to comment on everything they do along the way.
It surely isn’t guaranteed that Zeitz can do the same thing with H-D that he did with Puma – different market, different product, different times.
But still, and here I tend to differ from the above written, image will always and even more so in the future, be the underlaying driver of sales for H-D. And Zeitz is good in creating that.
That the current image isn’t much overlapping with millennials and younger is certainly true as is that these are looking for a different kind of transportation or hobby. But an image can be developed, shaped and re-interpreted to be more relevant in a contemporary context.
And this needs to happen with H-D – to give new models like the Pan America (I agree, they have done a surprisingly good job in both, tech specs and integrating H-D typical design elements to uphold the DNA) and others to come the chance to build a bridge of evolving products to those younger and different buyers in the future. When a repositioned brand can provide the platform to connect these buyers also with an emotional and intrinsic value, H-D might continue to live on successfully.