Cycle News

Cycle News 2021 Issue 17 April 27

Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles

Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/1365688

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 73 of 131

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

Articles in this issue

Links on this page

Archives of this issue

view archives of Cycle News - Cycle News 2021 Issue 17 April 27