The most famous motorcycle business in America, today has taken a bold step forward in introducing a brand new bike with a brand new engine into a weather-stricken adventure full of robust competitors. With the latest Max engine Revolution, the Pan America concept from 2018 comes into development with Hardwire’s Harley-Davidson strategy and drives the tarmac into the unknown punishment of the adventure bike class!
Last year, Harley-Davidson proved to be a turning point, not because of the pandemic. Shrinking sales figures have plagued America’s iconicest motorcycle brand and that’s a generational problem. If the company cannot pull younger riders into a broader, more diverse market and break out of a cruiser mould, it’s toast.
In 2018, Matt Levatich, then CEO, had revealed More Roads to Harley, a new path involving a range of eyebrow-raising ideas for Harley-Davidson that broke new ground. This was our first insight into the explorer and streetfighter Bronx in Pan America, as well as the potential electric range.
This strategy was replaced by Jochen Zeitz, and Harley-Davidson announced a new two-fold project on February 2020. Their strategy appeared to be reduced. The first phase of the Hardwire project, which is part of Pan America 1250 in 2021 and is now finished by the end of 2020, was restructured, called “Rewire” and follows the five-year Hardwire project.
Harley-Davidson took two audacious steps in developing Pan America, deepened in a very challenging segment of the motorcycle without previous knowledge, and did so with a brand new motor that flies away from Harley’s track.
The Max Revolution is a lightweight 1.252- cc (76.3 cc), a liquid- cooled, 60-degree V-twin with variable timing of the valve on cameras, a maintenance-free hydraulic valve actuator with an amazing output of 150 hp at 9.000 rpm and 94 ft-lb at 18.750 rpm, and an impressive output of 127 Nm.
The Pan America 1250 is now in the adventure-class ballpark, weighing 242 kg (534 lb) in working order. We do not know how much fuel the 5.6 gallon (21 lbs) tank is when measured, but the “wet” figure is 15 pounds (7 kg) lighter than the BMW claims on the current R1250GS. It also produces a fast 15 horses.
Harley-Davidson has fully adjustable Showa suspension for its new adventure bike which offers a very decent 191-mm (7,5-inch), and has chosen the most traditional dual-purpose machines wheel set-up; a 19inch front, a 17-inch rear.
