VOLUME 58 ISSUE 17 APRIL 27, 2021 P73
T
he 2021 Harley-Davidson
Pan America 1250 comes
fighting straight to the pre-
mium end of the adventure touring
motorcycle spectrum. It's throwing
punches and aiming to land more
than a few. It's not pretending,
posturing or hoping. It's perform-
ing. Surprised? Yeah, me too.
Make no mistake, H-D is lining
up against adventure giants here,
putting the modern ADV segment
innovators and brand leaders
to task with an American-made,
hell-bent, high-tech adventure
touring all-terrain weapon. Is that
even possible?
My eyes really opened to the
potential of this bike being a con-
tender when actual specs were
released on the new machine.
Things like Adaptive Ride Height
and an engine spec sheet read-
ing like an engineering dossier
on modern power will do that.
But I still had doubts.
Finally, after two days of testing
this bike in the California desert—
a place I've ridden a lot of off-
road and adventure motorcycles
over the past 15 years—I can admit
nearly all of my preconceived
notions of what Harley-Davidson's
Pan America 1250 would be were
simply wrong.
Harley-Davidson made a real
adventure bike here. And I'm
ready to party.
The Harley-Davidson
Pan America is capable
off-road, although this
looks a little easier
than reality.
AN
T U R E
WE SET SAIL ON THE ALL-NEW
HARLEY-DAVIDSON ADVENTURER
BY JESSE ZIEGLER
PHOTOS BY BRIAN J. NELSON AND ZIEGLER
