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http://www.advpulse.com/adv-bikes/harley-davidson-pan-america-hit-or-bust/I agree with these comments for the most part. The long-term challenge for motorcycle producers is to attract the upcoming young people as current and future customers. Even BMW faces that issue. Their customer base is aging too, perhaps more than H-D. Even if they want one, young people have a hard time coming up with 23-25K for a new 1200GS. Hence, the coming Chinese 850's from BMW. Anyway, Harley has a chance but their past efforts have been dismal when veering away from the standard (and wonderful) classic H-D 45 degree twin. Maybe H-D's objective is not to compete directly with the likes of the BMW, KTM, Japanese ADV bikes but to offer those riding options to some of their "own kind" by providing such a bike with the H-D slant on it. Time will tell. In the big bike ADV market the cutting edge now seems to be ever-greater, marketing-hyped horsepower.By the way, notice that latest "sketch" of the H-D ADV bike (that looks better than the previous teaser pics). Look at the final drive sketch shown but not mentioned. That looks to be some sort of belt drive, enclosed belt etc and not a chain drive. That would be a novel and useful option for an off-roader if it can handle the conditions..
The photos show chain final drive.
Larry, I don't see a chain in the picture, or write up ( I could be wrong)It might be a belt drive. Although I never had a belt drive, it does seem like a good idea for a lower HP bike.I don't see this bike as a serious "adventure bike" unless most, if not all of your riding is on pavement. Most manufacturers have/had single cylinder, lighter weight, far better suited model for a true adventure bike.
I am transitioning out of motorcycles
The last photo in the article clearly shows a chain, but as Kev has pointed out, it doesn�t appear to be connected to the engine, so it doesn�t mean much. Still, the fact that a chain was chosen for the photographic rendering COULD be significant.
I don't see a chain, but I do see a sprocket
I remember in the 50's and 60's the Sportster was the bike to go off-roading on, even showed in the advertising of the day. No one thought a 450 lb knobby tired torque monster was out of the ordinary.
Go on YouTube and search for Harleys off-road and you see some amazing riding.
Being back in the GS World, I can testify that 90 percent of the 1200GS riders I come across never put them on dirt. Many, many of them even have street-tread tires.I take mine off-road but it's rare to come across other such big bikes in that environment. Yes, you do have them because there are many such bikes out there to begin with but the percent of such bikes on dirt is low.On the final drive. These details are not fully disclosed yet but that little mock-up in my original post looks like a belt pulley/sprocket instead of a chain sprocket. That may mean nothing at this point.H-D could make this a winner. One thing that would trump a lot of negative pot-shots would be an over-the-moon, totally-not-necessary horsepower spec, say 150-180. All the cycle pundits would rave about the bike since that is an item of overwhelming importance to them. (I certainly do not expect such numbers from the motor.)I am transitioning out of motorcycles but I would be sorely tempted by a bike with H-D torque that was dirt-capable..
like this?https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcDWEynefwg
Funny, but more like this.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4_6SRBhCqcand this.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdamc7SZlzw
90+% of Sport Bikes never see a race track.
And probably 90% of their riders will never use most of their ability...
90% of riders can't use all the power a Ninja 250 puts out.