The Harley-Davidson Pan America 1250 is THE most ambitious project that the iconic American bikemaker has come up with in the past few years. It marked a serious departure from the century-long tradition of Harley only making retro-cruisers and roadsters. When Pan America first broke cover, motorcyclists around the world were a bit sceptical about it. Paranoia surrounded the newly launched motorcycle that how could a freaking Harley take on the uncharted territories! But Pan America has proved its might and it has done that on the Indian soil!
The feat!
Harley-Davidson India appointed 5 riders and their respective Pan America 1250s to scale the mighty Kela Pass in the Ladakh region. And the company recently made it official on its social media handles that the riders and their trusty stallions have successfully completed the herculean task of scaling the daunting pass that stands at a meteoric height of 18,600 feet. Moreover, H-D India also confirmed that it is the highest any Harley-Davidson motorcycle has ever gone to.
Kela Pass
What sets the Kela Pass apart from the rest of the passes is the virtually non-existent tarmac road. The route that leads towards the pass is gruelling enough to test the mettle of even the best riders in the world. The riders and their machines conquered challenging terrains – from snowfall to sand traps, dirt trails, and much more over the period of four days.
The Riders
For this mammoth of a task, Harley-Davidson assembled its own team of Avengers because you cannot just trust any other Tom, Duck or Harry with such a huge project now, can you? The motorcyclists who were handpicked for this ride are quite renowned in the Indian motorcycling circle and include the likes of Vijay Thomas, Vijay Parmar, Ankush Gulati, Vir Nakai and Amar Sandhu.
The machine
Talking about Pan America, it is the brand’s first ADV-tourer and is priced at INR 16.90 lakh (ex-showroom). Powering the Harley-Davidson Pan America 1250 is an all-new Revolution Max 1250 engine, a liquid-cooled V-Twin that makes 150PS of power at 9,000rpm and generates 128Nm of torque at 6,750rpm, mated to a six-speed transmission with a slipper clutch.
The Pan America 1250 rides on Show suspension setup with 47mm BFF forks at the front and a piggyback monoshock at the back. This setup is adjustable for preload, compression and rebound.
Pan-Am Special, what makes it so?
The Special variant comes with a semi-active unit that automatically adjusts the damping and riding style and road conditions.
The Special trim level adds a few adventure-oriented perks to the menu of features, including a center stand, a multi-position rear brake pedal that can be adjusted to the riding position (standing or seated), a steering damper, a skid plate, a brush guard, heated grips, handguards, an adaptive headlight, a tire pressure monitoring system, and semi-active front and rear suspension with vehicle load control. The suspension at the back is electronically controlled and comes with five settings for added or reduced stiffness.