Remember the test bike (pictured above) which was spotted a couple of months back on test in NCR. Some people thought it’s a Hyosung test bike while others said it is a Harley. Our source confirms it’s a Harley-Davidson motorcycle which is under rigorous testing. The bike is in advanced stage of development but is not yet ready for production. This motorcycle from the American company is a low cost one, designed and developed specially for short and less heavy Asian riders.
Harley-Davidson will price this upcoming low cost motorcycle at around Rs. 4 lakhs, which is considerably cheaper than their current cheapest bike (Super Low). This entry-level Harley-Davidson motorcycle is underpinned by the G-Platform which is a low cost design for emerging markets. Powering this cruiser is a 500cc, V-twin engine (the smallest engine employed by Harley currently is a 883cc engine) which is expected to belt out around 45 BHP of power and 50 Nm of torque. The company will rely heavily on local components to come to the aforementioned price.
Harley-Davidson currently assembles bikes in India via the CKD route but the upcoming 500cc machine will be locally manufactured. It will also be exported to other markets where demand for lower capacity performance bikes is on the rise. Currently there are very few alternatives for Indians who want a cruiser motorcycle. The cheapest cruiser is the Bajaj Avenger while there are quite a few of them in the Rs. 1.20 – 1.90 lakh bracket (Royal Enfields). Hyosung will soon launch the GV250 Aquila which will be priced around Rs. 2 lakhs.
Spy Picture Source – Team-BHP