Looking at some of the images, it seems that Harley-Davidson X 440 has stupendous lean angles, which could translate to a sporty character
Hero and Harley-Davidson partnership has unveiled their first new motorcycle – the X440. It will take on the Royal Enfield motorcycles upon launch. In typical American fashion, this affordable Harley-Davidson Roadster comes with a larger engine than Royal Enfield. Going by past Harley offerings, the 440 in X440 will be its displacement.
It is a single-cylinder unit with oil-cooling setup and fins for air-cooling. Even though Hero MotoCorp manufactures it in India, Harley-Davidson likely designed the X440. Launch is still distant, but a starting price of Rs. 2.5 lakh (ex-sh) for a barebones model and Rs. 3 lakh for all the bells and whistles is possible.
New Harley Davidson X440 Debuts
We see a lot of inspiration from Harley’s Nightster in its muscular fuel tank, round headlight, round speedo on top of its headlight, wide handlebars and minimal body panels. Headlight gets ring-like LED projectors with a horizontal pill-shaped element above them, reading Harley-Davidson.
Circular turn indicators have a Harley-Davidson logo in them, a nice attention to detail. At the rear, there is a pill-shaped LED tail light. The circular instrument cluster seems to be a negative LCD unit. But we hope it is a TFT unit with Bluetooth connectivity enabling navigation, calls and notifications.
From a lot of angles, this affordable Harley-Davidson looks like a smaller Iron 883. This might literally be true where the engine is concerned. Hero MotoCorp might use this new powertrain on their upcoming Xpulse as well.
Powertrain & Componentry
Made by Hero MotoCorp in India, Harley Davidson X440 is powered by an air/oil-cooled single-cylinder unit with a single exhaust. We expect it to have a 4V head and make around 30 bhp and much higher torque (around 40 Nm), spread primarily in the mid-range. A 6-speed gearbox is very likely. Rear sprocket gets a chain drive, over a belt drive. Refinement could slightly take a hit.
Componentry include USD front forks, single disc setup at both ends with dual-channel ABS and equipment by Bybre, twin shock absorbers at the rear, neutral footpegs, alloy wheels, 17″ rear and 18″ front alloy wheels. All this is mounted on a tubular trellis frame. A single stepped seat, blackened engine bay, blackened exhaust are notable elements.
Foot peg positioning looks pretty neutral and slightly higher set. This should enable impressive (from Harley’s standards) lean angles. Street Rod 750 with 210 mm ground clearance is revered as the sportiest Harley. Maybe X 440 can match it.
Launch & Pricing
Given the larger displacement and Harley-Davidson badge, we expect it to be priced at around Rs. 50K to 80K more premium than Royal Enfield’s 350cc portfolio. That is not a bad proposition, considering Royal Enfield doesn’t pose the same novelty factor as it used to before with large volumes already on road.
A base variant costing around Rs. 2.5 lakh and a top-spec variant costing around Rs. 3 lakh is a good proposition for Harley-Davidson X 440. Hero MotoCorp will be its official distributor in India. Harley-Davidson X440 is different than X350 and X500 motorcycles launched in China recently. Those are based on QJ motorcycles and are China-specific.
