Harley-Davidson Pan America 975 speculations are high with latest accessories listing again hinting the ADVs are just around the corner…
So, It was a new beginning for the historical Harley-Davidson and a statement that the Milwaukee-based company is ready for the future when they first launched the Pan America 1250 and Pan America 1250 Special powered by a modern Revolution Max engine.
The new Revolution Max or Rev-Max engine is a brand new power-unit which is in total contrast to big bulky thumping engines from the yesteryears. It is sporting modern tech like hydraulic valves which do not require any service in the entire engine’s lifetime, short stroke configuration, new non-clunky 6-speed transmission and so much more. And the new motor has been specifically designed to be modular & versatile – spawning the new 975T motor powering the new Harley-Davidson Nightster.
And ever since the new 975T motor made its debut, people have been asking – In which bike we will see the 975T Rev-Max motor next??
Thanks to an accessory listing that surfaced – the answer is that H-D will be using the new 975T motor on a smaller Pan America very soon.
Also read – Spotted – 2023 KTM 890 Adventure R ADV Captured In India; Launch Planned or Personal Import??
Harley-Davidson themselves mistakenly or deliberately revealed through a fuel cap listing the model designations of the existing and upcoming Pan America models – RA965S, RA975, RA1250 & RA1250S.
For context – Harley-Davidson’s designation for the Pan America 1250 & 1250 Special are RA1250 & RA1250S respectively. This means that the ‘RA965S & RA975’ will be the Pan America models powered by the smaller 975T Rev-Max engine.
This listing was later taken down hastily by H-D. It was very similar to what Royal Enfield did a few months ago – when they listed the Thunderbird X650 on their official service booking website, and later took it down. By then the internet was already a raging storm with speculations.
Coming to the latest detective work by Motorcycle.com, this month itself they shared screenshots of accessory mirror installation instructions from 9 different countries (Bulgaria, Croatia, Estonia, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Slovenia, and Ukraine) which mentioned the same RA975 and RA975S model designations. Furthermore, they also found 3 National Highway Traffic Safety Administration service bulletins that are linked to the existence of the 2022 Harley-Davidson RA975 and RA975S models
This means that H-D was either planning to launch the middleweight Pan Americas this year, but were deterred by the ongoing supply chain and semiconductor shortage issues. Or are still buckled down on their plan and might make the announcement of new models with the MY23 moniker in the remaining 2 months of 2022.
It will be interesting to see what persona the new Pan America 975s Adventure-tourer machines will carry. Will it rival the likes of the hardcore KTM 890 Adventure R and Triumph Tiger 900 Rally or be a street-friendly model to rival Yamaha Tracer 900 GT.
