Many enthusiasts in our country are no longer worried about the 110% excise duty on imported vehicles. Localization of parts and assembling the vehicles on our soil prevents these huge capacity vehicles from being a prey of the double on-road price. Companies like Audi, BMW, Harley-Davison and Triumph Motorcycles are some of the few companies that are following this strategy to keep their prices competitive in the Indian bandwidth.
Now coming to Harley-Davidson, we all know that the American company is expected to launch the Street 750 and Street 500 in the first and third quarter of 2014 respectively. The Street 500 would be luring enthusiasts as it will be the cheapest Harley available in the market expected at Rs. 4.5 lakhs.
The Harley-Davidson Street 500 has a 494cc V-Twin aluminium heart. This vehicle is beautifully engineered with both the cylinders angled at 60 degrees instead of the conventional 45. More the angle between engines implies lower the vertical height, due to which the oil sump is lowered. The height of the seat is lowered which will eventually reduce the centre of gravity. The Street 500 would be coupled to a 6-speed gearbox. Equipped with telescopic forks in the front and gas charged shock absorbers, the motorcycle would be meeting the street requirement comfortably. The disc brakes with single callipers indicate that there is no ABS in this bike. Harley offers ABS only on Touring, V-Rod, Softail and Dyna models. The curvy exhaust pipes add beauty to the bike. This mini Harley would be running on Michelin tyres and will weigh 181 kgs.
What should we expect from the Harley-Davidson Street 500?
The V-Twin is estimated to pump out 32 BHP of power with an 8000 RPM redline. The new Revolution-X technology is expected to improve the throttle response which is really very important for street riding. The position of the handlebar looks good but one may feel sluggish making a U-turn when starting from zero. The pillion seat looks little problematic as it is inclined towards the rear end. The aesthetic has definitely been spot on for the seat but I doubt it will serve the typical Indian purpose with adults being the pillion. The rider seat is neatly blended into the fuel tank which enhances safety to the rider. We also observed a small aesthetic failure because of plenty of wiring running down from the body to the doom.
Overall the Street 500 looks clean and stylish (if you can ignore the Bajaj Boxer inspired headlight) retaining the Harley brand and would be enthralling our cruiser enthusiasts soon. However with limited power on tap, the Street 500 is more about buying a Harley-Davidson motorcycle than a bike with Harley-Davidson credentials. A Royal Enfield Continental GT outputs similar power, so the Street 500 doesn’t have an upper hand in terms of performance, which is a big disappointment considering you pay more than twice as much. At around Rs. 4.5 lakhs, the Street 500 might be the cheapest way to get a Harley but in essence, you somehow feel you are paying more for the brand than for the bike and that can make you feel short changed.
