[TusharK]

Images of what is believed to be Harley-Davidson's upcoming 500cc motorcycle have surfaced online.



According to media reports, the new model is being developed in collaboration with Harley's Chinese partner QJ Motor. The images were taken while the bike was undergoing tests on a dyno.



The new 500cc model is said to be based on the Benelli Leoncino 500. It uses the same frame and is powered by the same 500cc parallel-twin engine.

The bike has a grey fuel tank with the Harley-Davidson logo and a short tail section with circular turn indicators on either side. It also has a circular instrument cluster.

Source: Bikewale

[mh09ad5578]

I see no logic in this product offering, they already had a great cheap 500cc/750cc V twin motor platform in form of the street. It just needed a bigger and better-finished chassis and design. That motor was a very capable and well-engineered kit. The new direction of the MoCo looks promising and then they go and do something hideous like this. This will be one more meme fest material.

[evilmessiah]

Nice 'Ch'arley Davidson. Eagerly waiting for the an upcoming 100 cc version based on the Hero Splendor.

[Mr.Ogre]

Originally Posted by mh09ad5578

I see no logic in this product offering, they already had a great cheap 500cc/750cc V twin motor platform in form of the street.

True. If I wanted a Benelli, I will buy a Benelli. May be Harley thinks people are fools to not realise that it is a Benelli underneath. If they are aiming for competitive pricing with this sort of arrangement, then may be they do not know that a Benelli is not cheap to buy, in fact servicing a Benelli is one of the expensive affairs. Good luck CHarley.

[bf1983]

Originally Posted by Mr.Ogre

True. If I wanted a Benelli, I will buy a Benelli. May be Harley thinks people are fools to not realise that it is a Benelli underneath. If they are aiming for competitive pricing with this sort of arrangement, then may be they do not know that a Benelli is not cheap to buy, in fact servicing a Benelli is one of the expensive affairs. Good luck CHarley.

Manufacturers outsourcing production to a 3rd party is nothing new. TVS and Bajaj both make bikes for a German and Austrian company respectively.

This is a similar arrangement. The 500cc Benelli engine is nothing special but it's a whole lot cooler than the cooker that was in the Street 750.

I don't think too many people are under any illusions that Harleys like Benellis aren't terribly cheap to service. None of the big brands bar Honda are cheap to service.

[Mr.Ogre]

Originally Posted by bf1983

Manufacturers outsourcing production to a 3rd party is nothing new. TVS and Bajaj both make bikes for a German and Austrian company respectively.

This is a similar arrangement. The 500cc Benelli engine is nothing special but it's a whole lot cooler than the cooker that was in the Street 750.

I do not think it is a similar arrangement. KTM or BMW did not just plonk one of Bajaj's or TVS's engine into their chassis and call it theirs. They did some joint R&D. They developed something together. Same with Triumph and Bajaj.

I am not sure if you got a chance to ride a Benelli. I have a few friends here who ride the 750, and the Benelli 500 is not even a patch. And there is every possible model from Benelli on sale here. I am not a big fan of HD either, however, if I ever had to own one just based on engine and fun, 750 cuts it.

I guess I wasn't clear when I talked about service. The whole point of HD having an arrangement with Benelli was to be more cost effective. But if you go with Benelli alone, they don't cost any less to maintain either. This arrangement does not look like cost effective for buyers.

[bf1983]

Originally Posted by Mr.Ogre

I do not think it is a similar arrangement. KTM or BMW did not just plonk one of Bajaj's or TVS's engine into their chassis and call it theirs. They did some joint R&D. They developed something together. Same with Triumph and Bajaj.

I am not sure if you got a chance to ride a Benelli. I have a few friends here who ride the 750, and the Benelli 500 is not even a patch. And there is every possible model from Benelli on sale here. I am not a big fan of HD either, however, if I ever had to own one just based on engine and fun, 750 cuts it.

I guess I wasn't clear when I talked about service. The whole point of HD having an arrangement with Benelli was to be more cost effective. But if you go with Benelli alone, they don't cost any less to maintain either. This arrangement does not look like cost effective for buyers.

There are plenty of manufacturers that plonk an existing 3rd party engine in bikes. The BMW f850 comes to mind. It's a Loncino engine not made by BMW.

I cars this happens even more frequently like the 1.3 fiat diesel engine being used in multiple cars.

The 500cc engine of the Benelli is used in many bikes and while it's not an exciting engine from any stretch of imagination since it's an A2 engine and the bike isn't a race bike it's still a reliable engine and won't roast your legs like the 750cc engine did. If HD can bring down the entry level costs and make a reliable bike it might work for them.

My point was this sort of arrangement is not really new and lots of manufacturers do so quietly.

[marcussantiago]

So it's basically just a Harley badge... on a Chinese bike... with an engine from Benelli which already produces only about 5 HP more than the Duke 390 / Bajaj Dominar? And it won't be as lightweight as a Duke or Dominar, it's safe to say.

Amazing.

Harley's journey has been a self-fulfiling prophecy of doom. They couldn't innovate because they were too busy pleasing their puritan Boomer crowd who kept complaining that they were going to lose their soul or whatever. And now it has come to this: putting Harley badges on Chinese bikes with underpowered engines. They really DID end up selling their soul as a result.