Harley-Davidson Pan America 1250 adventure bike, coming soon

MANILA: The 115-year old American motorcycle maker, Harley-Davidson, has just unleashed its “More Roads to Harley-Davidson” initiative onto the motorcycling world. The Milwaukee-based company announced its plan to launch Pan America 1250 (an adventure bike), a streetfighter, and a new custom model along with the electric motorcycle, LiveWire which was revealed previously.

With this historic announcement into the adventure bike segment, Harley-Davidson plans to produce the Pan America 1250 and launch in the market by 2020. Harley-Davidson has not released any specs yet for this adventure beast, but sources close to them say that it will be sourced by a 60-degree V-Twin, liquid-cooled engine with a power output of more than 160 hp. With the few photos available online, we guess that Harley-Davidson plans to take on the adventure segment leader, BMW R 1200 GS.

Harley-Davidson has planned two more models - a 1250 cc Custom model, designed on the lines of a Bobber and a Streetfighter with a 975 cc engine as well. All three models, including the Pan America 1250, are to be launched by 2020. The company has already released the prototype images, but the models that make it to the production, may be different in terms of features and design. Harley is not planning to move away from the V-twin architecture, as all three concept models are shown to have V-twin engines. To broaden their coverage, they will also introduce more models by 2022.

According to Matt Levatich, president and chief executive officer, Harley-Davidson, Inc, "The bold actions we are announcing today leverage Harley-Davidson's vast capabilities and competitive firepower - our excellence in product development and manufacturing, the global appeal of the brand and of course, our great dealer network." He also added, "alongside our existing loyal riders, we will lead the next revolution of two-wheeled freedom to inspire future riders who have yet to even think about the thrill of riding."

Harley-Davidson will also be developing 250- 500 cc range of motorcycles for the Asian emerging markets. For years, the Milwaukee-based company has been challenged to expand from more than just big and loud chrome cruisers; so that they can stay ahead of Ducati, Triumph, and BMW - the market leaders in premium motorcycles. Harley-Davidson now has listened and has big plans to introduce new offerings outside its usual cruise realm.

Photos courtesy of John Matrix, Bike List