KIWI RIDER JUNE 2020 VOL2 | Page 87

ROAD NEWS NEW H-D MODELS DELAYED H arley-Davidson’s move into the popular adventure and street fighter categories has been delayed according to UK based outlet Motorcycle News. The report comes off the back of the official H-D website – harley-davidson.com – altering the expected release date on both the Pan America and Bronx models which were previously slated for a late-2020 release. Both the Pan America and the Bronx are based around Harley-Davidson’s upcoming 60-degree water-cooled engine platform, dubbed the Revolution Max and 1250cc and 975cc sizes respectively. While Harley-Davidson has dabbled in the sportier segments of the motorcycle market previously, most notably through axed subsidiary Buell, the company has never made moves into the increasingly popular adventure touring segment until now. Part of the delay is likely due to Harley- Davidson’s new President and CEO – Jochen Zeitz – stamping his mark on the company as well as the impacts of the global Covid-19 pandemic. Zeitz recently dropped the ‘More Roads to Harley-Davidson’ programme of his predecessor, the very programme that spawned the new models, in favour of the ‘Rewire’ plan which sets to alleviate Harley’s financial woes by refocussing the company. While Harley-Davidson Australia has not commented on the supposed delay in the new models – our regional media access site still retains the original 2020 expected launch – it would make sense from a financial standpoint to see the launch of the bikes moved to 2021 and closer to the northern hemisphere summer to maximise potential sales. KIWI RIDER 87