let it be a peoples ' bike
Pan America 1250 ST - Want One and Want It Now !
Last month I wrote about the first of Harley ' s two-part MY2025 reveal , the one that came out at the very start of January and was basically the returning models , the ' carryovers ', and a ton of paint . Yes okay , it is mostly lovely paint , lovingly conceived and lovingly applied . But when Harley ( or any motorcycle manufacturer for that matter ) runs home to the paint shop it is generally for one of two reasons . Either the R & D cupboard is bare or there is about to a life-changing , corporate era defining reveal that boosts the balance sheet while leaving competitors disappearing backwards in the rear-view mirror . I also mentioned that if the ( then upcoming ) Part Deux MY2025 reveal did have something really , really cool to say about the future direction of travel I ' d be happy for my scepticism to have proven to be misjudged , and happily apologise for being so crass as to think for one moment that ' Milwaukee ' had lost the will to win when it comes to competing for their supper . Well , what happened is not exactly life changing . It certainly isn ' t a new ( and much needed ) platform , or an embrace of the magic ticket that is the $ 10k pricing sweet spot ( ongoing kudos to Indian Motorcycle for its 1,250 cc Scouts ), but it is a sign that maybe the lights are still on . I am talking about the Pan America 1250 ST . Is it just me or isn ' t this a bike that should get the door swings going ? A bike that dealers should be able to sell the crap out of ? It is of course a question of personal taste , riding style preferences and market context , but what am I missing here ? Maybe it ’ s a bit of a European perspective but isn ’ t the 1250 ST exactly the kind of versatile , open access mile-beating , urban-dwelling Sport Touring near naked Roadster that Harley has been lacking ? Definitely since the Dyna and probably since the FXR . Regardless of the lust for legacy among the brand ' s perceived core demographic , the plain truth is that even with Honda now suggesting that they should be converting its 40 percent global Powered Two-Wheeler ( PTW ) market share to nearer half of all units sold , all other manufacturers are now at war . The only place that Harley or anyone else can go for growth is other manufacturers back yards . With the boomers like me and so many of you reading this headed for the exit , and , for whatever reason , the replacements simply ' not getting it ' in sufficient numbers , surely the primary responsibility of Harley ' s management , engineers and designers is to be coming out fighting light a scrappy underdog and ' taking it ' to their competitors . This is the kind of platform Harley needs . I ' m not saying that the time has ( yet ) come to give up on the traditional core brand customer , but failing to equip itself with the weapons it needs to bring other brand buyers into their own balance sheet is brand betrayal . Isn ' t competing for sales with rivals any manufacturers ' day job '? Isn ' t that the ' American Way ' of business ? Isn ' t that the very meaning of what it means to be a capitalist ? On its own , the 1250 ST is not , in and of itself , the solution . But surely it could represent the start of a major new strategic direction of travel . Can it really have been that simple all along ? Take a great bike that , for whatever range
let it be a peoples ' bike
of reasons simply isn ' t selling strongly enough ( certainly not in the USA ), strip as much of the launch segment defining P & A off of it as possible and just let people tear around the city on it , hammer down the freeway on it , and decide for themselves what kind of bike it is . Let it be a ' Peoples Bike '. Famously some 80 percent of the miles ridden on ADV models are on the pavement . Long distance , with not so much as a dirt track in sight , or downturn surviving the rigors of the urban , suburban and peri-urban riding dystopia . A thinking man or woman ' s Hooligan Torque Beast . All of a sudden , less has become more for the Pan America . I ' m serious . Why shouldn ' t every garage have at least two of them in there 25 years from now - one for the week , one for the weekend ? The 1250 ST is exactly the kind of bike that Harley should have been making for decades . Exactly the direction of travel that the Levatich ' More Roads ' strategy was searching for . Exactly the kind of unfocussed focus on hard miles that births a riding icon . Exactly the kind of versatility and freedom for self-expression that riders want more of . Harley has gotten to a ' happy place ' with the ST via a circuitous route , one characterized in part by arrogance and hubris , and in part by simply not being sufficiently dialled into the balance sheet and riding opportunities that still do exist beyond the confines of the shining seas . This is a global motorcycle for a global market that has the potential to allow Harley to genuinely compete on the global stage . Assuming Harley can tool-up for sufficient production ( somewhere , anywhere ) it is a and genuinely flickable and responsive sport tourer . The 1,250 cc liquid-cooled 149 hp , 91 ft . lb torque Pan America ST should sell in the tens and tens of thousands . One tragic irony is that since Harley shifted Rev Max model production to Thailand last year , a move predicated by the fact that the Sportsters and existing Pan America models weren ' t selling well in the US , imports are now likely to cost American riders a hefty import premium while riders everywhere else get to ' throw a leg ' tariff free . I had said I ' d apologise if I called it wrong , where the announcement was concerned , and while simply dumping a bunch P & A is rarely a cause for celebration , what is left is a powerful model that offers a commanding and comfortable forward riding position , the flexible power delivery a liquid-cooled the Revolution Max 1250 engine , a 17 ” front wheel , and premium suspension and braking components . Although it has likely happened by accident and happenstance , by luck and , maybe a touch of desperation , I do none the less apologise . Harley has pulled a rabbit out of the hat with this one and I , for one , want one .
Robin Bradley
Co-owner / Editor-in-Chief robin @ dealer-world . com