The new Harley Davidson Pan America 1250 locks its horns with BMW R1250 GS, KTM 1290 Adventure and BMW Multistrada
Harley Davidson has officially revealed its flagship adventure motorcycle Pan America 1250. A direct rival to BMW R1250GS, Pan America 1250 was first announced three years ago and is part of the manufacturer’s new product expansion strategy.
Available in two variants standard and Special, Pan America 1250 is a completely new bike that has been designed and developed from scratch. The engineering team of H-D has crafted this bike keeping in mind the utility and ability of iconic American adventure motorcycles.
Design
Speaking of its design, Pan America sports a design that is completely unique to contemporary adventure tourers. The most attractive highlight being the flat LED headlight beam which can cover a very wide aperture of what’s ahead.
Two-piece split seats, upswept muffler and exhaust pipes finished in gold are other attractive highlights. The bike has been predominantly covered in matte finishes.
Mechanical Configurations
The ADV is underpinned by an exposed frame with a bolt-on rear subframe and a cast-aluminium swingarm that shrinks unsprung weight. The suspension setup is a fully adjustable one from Showa that has been tuned for preload, compression and rebound damping at both, front and rear ends.
At front it gets 47mm USD forks while the rear gets a mono-shock, both having an impressive travel of 190mm. Special variant is equipped with a semi-active unit that automatically adjusts the damping and riding style in accordance with road conditions.
Braking power is received from Brembo radial monobloc four-piston calipers which are chewed down by twin 320mm discs at front and a single 280mm disc at rear. It rides on 17-inch front and 19-inch rear 5-spoke alloy wheels that are wrapped around by tubeless tyres of 120/70 and 170/60 profiles respectively.
Underneath that sturdy frame is an all-new 1250cc V-Twin DOHC engine that spits out 150 bhp at 8750rpm and a peak torque 128 Nm at 6750 rpm. It is mated to a six-speed gearbox with a slipper which unlike its BMW nemesis, sends power to the rear wheels rather than front.
The engine also performs more duties than just producing energy. It has been integrated as a stressed member of the chassis and has been bolted to the front frame, mid-frame and tail sections.
Features on offer
Being a flagship, it comes with a bunch of electronic aids to enhance its off-road and ride capabilities. These include ride-by-wire, cornering ABS, traction control system and multiple riding modes namely- sport, rain, road, off-road and off-road plus. Riders also get the option to customise an off-road mode for themselves that lets them configure TCS, ABS, torque delivery, throttle response and suspension settings as per their preference.
These can be selected through the bike’s 6.8-inch TFT touchscreen unit which is compatible with navigation, Bluetooth connectivity for calls and music. However, the touchscreen gets disabled once the bike starts moving and then it needs to be toggled through the switchgear. Other features on offer include an adaptive LED headlight, cruise control as standard and heated grips on the Special trim.
Even though the American bikemaker has quite independent operations in India, this new adventure tourer is expected to make it to Indian shores at a later stage and retailed by Hero MotoCorp. Harley has priced this new beast at £14,000 ( equivalent to INR 14.27 lakh) for the base variant and £15,500 (Rs 15.80 lakh) for the Special variant.
