What does that even mean, no compromise?
Hear me out. Like you I’ve read all the reviews on Harley’s new Pan America Adventure-Glide and they have been uniformly positive. Surprising is the word most frequently used by the tattered remnants of the moto-press when describing the Pan America. And it is surprising.
I’m not likely to ever test ride a Pan America. I offer Harley-Davidson nothing but suffering and heartache. Why would Harley loan me a bike in a category I pretty much despise? I can’t stand big Adventure bikes. I don’t like them one little bit. I think they are dangerous off road. Anyone who sends me one to test ride is a fool and Harley-Davidson’s marketing department is not populated by fools. Luckily I don’t need to ride one because Kevin Duke, the hardest working man in motorcycle journalism, says the Pan America is a good bike and that’s all you really need to know.
The no compromise hook in this story is the most impressive part of the new Pan America. It’s the first Harley (since the late 1960s) that competes head to head with the best the world has to offer and does it at a competitive price. In all areas the new bike is acceptable, meets expectations and is even, dare I say, good.
Most all the high-end, heavy, dangerously inadequate offroad Adventure bikes clock in at around 20,000 US dollars retail and they all weigh nearly the same ground-crushing 600 pounds. It must be a class requirement. Check out the manufacturer-provided spec sheets on a GS BMW, Ducati Multi Service, and KTM Breakdown. All of the numbers are within spitting distance of each other.
And that’s the amazing part. Harley-frigging-Davidson has made a competent motorcycle for the same price as everyone else. There’s no brand penalty. Harley-Davidson has made a motorcycle that the owner isn’t required to look through leather-fringed, nostalgia-tinted lenses to justify. No more having to tell non-Harley riders that they don’t get it when their questions turn pointed. Like all cults, the Harley cult requires actively looking the other way when hard facts and performance figures per dollar are bandied about.
With the Pan America there’s no need to believe in the Harley mystique. There’s no need to defend anemic performance by waving an American flag. The Pan America stands on its own merits as a motorcycle, nothing more. Is it as good as the other big Adventure bikes? I can’t say but the fact that it’s spoken of in the same breath and held up in comparison to the world’s best Adventure bikes is a stunning turnaround for a company that seemed hopelessly stuck in neutral by its mad marketing genius.
As much as I hate big Adventure bikes, I love the new Harley-Davidson Pan America.
I hope it’s a harbinger of change. I hope it succeeds beyond Harley’s wildest dreams and ushers in a new era of 150-horsepower Sportsters that handle, stop and are as fast as any other guy’s bikes. The late 1960s was the last time Sportsters were hot. That’s a long, long time to rest on your laurels. Let’s hope the Pan American gives stodgy old Harley-Davidson new life and a desire to be measured against the very best. Listen, if there’s any way you can afford to go out and buy one, go out and buy one. Tell Harley I sent you. Maybe they’ll even let me take one for a ride.
Maybe I’ll be able to test ride one at Sturgis this year.
But does it make the “potato – potato” engine sound????
No. The crank pins have a 45* offset, so it probably sounds like a Moto Guzzi.
BTW, I went to a local H-D dealer to check it out. Spent 5 or 10 minutes looking at the one on the floor, 5 minutes looking at the antique Harleys in a display, and another 5 minutes with the PA. No one said a word to me!
But I agree with Gresh; It is a big pig, just like the rest of the ADV Tourers in it’s class.
I’ve had very similar experiences at other Harley dealers in the past.
I have one of the large ADV bikes , not one you mentioned , but , it’s been around a long time , 2014 V-Strom 1000. No not the heaviest , most powerful or most optioned bike out there , still in spirit , fits the category. I also have a 30 ” inseam , which means for me the Strom is too tall , still I’ve added a little over 10,000 miles to it’s total.
I’ll ride smooth gravel with it , no problem . Real off road , rough and rutted ? Nope , don’t want to get pinned under it or face large bills for broken bodywork.
Want to have some fun in the rough ? I have a KLR for mild stuff < any real challenging stuff I prefer a 100 pounds lighter bike.
It's not my fault I wasn't meant to be a 6'6" motorcycle god of the off road. I have to work with what I have.
I know I ended up with a custom made shorter Ohlins on my R1100GS…. 30″ inseam. That did the trick. But in those halycon days of 1999, it was 89 cents US to the Euro and Ohlins would sell to you from the Netherlands at the distributor price, so it was a no-brainer.
The Pan America has a real first: it self lowers as you come to a stop and then rises up as you start riding. That seems like a great idea for us shorties.
Does “KTM Breakdown” suggest you haven’t followed
Paris-Dakar in ages?
Does “KTM Breakdown” suggest you haven’t read the recent
Consumer Report finding BMW to be the
LEAST Reliable popular motorcycle in
America?
What “latest” Consumers Report rating are you referring to? The only one I find is 2014/5. Not recent, but probably still valid.
Didn’t say “latest” and (Time Flies!) not even as “recent” as I thought but —
https://www.consumerreports.org/cro/news/2015/04/who-makes-the-most-reliable-motorcycle/index.htm (which is not “2014/5” either : ) but
“Probably still valid,” as you say, especially with
BMW being so extremely less reliable…
It suggests I read KTM forums and pages…
So why not “BMW Breakdown” too?
Fronk fork stanchion failures…
Rear gearbox failures…
From Forums…
Failures that can
KILL you…
try finding parts for that in South amercia,,,,
I’ll just keep riding my ’07 Tiger 1050….80,000 miles in a multitude of conditions…..plus storage for a sufficient quantity of Yoo-Hoo for every ride.
Totally agree with Joe Gresh that 125occ “Adventure” bikes are like using
SledgeHammers to drive ThumbTacks…
But this IS “Bigger-is-Better” America, the latter the
Land of the Lemmings…
As an old guy who remembers when if you had a Sportster You Were King of the Road. And nobody can keep up with you at the drag strip or on city streets. And since I’m an old guy I can remember this pretty well in fact I had one! Good to see Harley-Davidson going toe-to-toe with the best in the world and just saying, hey look at me I’m an American motorcycle!
While not always the case, new vehicle reviews are often, in hindsight, over-the-top celebrations of mediocrity. I haven’t seen or ridden this new Harley but I’m reminded of the V-Rod which got glowing initial reviews and a year later was finishing last in just about every comparison test. I’ve owned a Ducati Multistrada an HPN replica R100S, and a BMW R1100GS, and the R1100GS was one of the few to live up to the hype at the time. The R1150GS was even better. Anxiously awaiting the 2022-23 comparison tests.