Madhatter
Well-Known Member
The looks are different for sure. But not horrible. Will create conversations where ever you go.
Harley Pan American coming 2/21/2021
- Thread starter Xclimation
- Start date
Madhatter
Well-Known Member
just had a thought on a small quirk of the pan America , kick stand is not in a normal position , the tab for your foot to push it down with is in front of shifter lever . easy to use once you find it , but not were most are located.
Well I rode it a couple days ago, unlike Madhatter I was released by myself to ride as I pleased. I believe the sales guys quote was “it’s got a full tank, enjoy it.” Then it wouldn’t start, because they had been abusing the battery and it was toast. Every time you flick on the switch all the electronics turn on and they had been showing many people the dash and such. So after 30 minutes I was good to go. I did about 25 miles or so and definitely came away with an opinion.
First is I kept it in sport mode the entire ride, and in street mode. The power is definitely there and feels great! But I think the TENERE has more torque in the sub 4000 rpms, but crank it up over that and it’ll fly.
I have risers on my s10 but the HD bars feel further forward and higher to me than my s10. I have to say it was a comfortable position and I don’t think it’ll need risers.
The windshield is very wobbly in the up position, can’t say I felt a ton of air in the face. For me the windshield is fine but just needs some better brackets.
The seat is LEVEL, and smaller than the s10, but I have to say very comfortable. I also could not feel when the bike was raising to riding height or lowering to stopped height.
So overall it handled great! I liked almost everything about the bike….. but for me there are two major flaws.
I absolutely HATE where the pegs are! I felt like I was on the ZRX again only worse. They are to far back and to close to the seat. ( I am 6 foot tall) now I have issues with my left knee anyways but the peg positions are unbearable for more than 30 minutes. It needs highway pegs from the get go in my opinion.
The second thing is because the suspension lowers when stopped, when you put out the side stand it is on the ground while the bike is straight up… then I sort of gingerly got off keeping a good hold and the suspension released back up to normal position and the bike sit there fine. Its difficult to explain and is prolly just a quirk that would take getting used to.
As an aside this is the first bike I’ve ridden with cruise control so I felt obligated to test it out….
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Dirtdad what Triumph did you test ?
Madhatter
Well-Known Member
there was absolutely no vibration noticed by the mirrors or me on my test ride . bike was smooth (smoother than my Tenere which tends to blur the mirrors ) . now at 6'2" I felt the the seat bar peg triangle was comfortable in the sitting position (mine was in the lower position , would have liked it raised ) and my Yamaha needs highway pegs at times , pretty sure some will add them .
our favorite ADV bike the super Tenere is long in tooth , and the choices are pretty good out there now . pan America , GS 1250 , KTM 1290 , Ducati multistrada , triumph tiger 1200 . drop down a .2 liter and add honda Africa twin ,Suzuki vstrom 1050 , drop a smidge more ,KTM everything , and Moto Guzzi 850 , and the list goes on ..... lots of choices to consider in a class of bike we enjoy riding . and good to know that as we get older (this is an old mans club ) lighter bikes are there to consider.
find a harley dealer and take a test ride .
our favorite ADV bike the super Tenere is long in tooth , and the choices are pretty good out there now . pan America , GS 1250 , KTM 1290 , Ducati multistrada , triumph tiger 1200 . drop down a .2 liter and add honda Africa twin ,Suzuki vstrom 1050 , drop a smidge more ,KTM everything , and Moto Guzzi 850 , and the list goes on ..... lots of choices to consider in a class of bike we enjoy riding . and good to know that as we get older (this is an old mans club ) lighter bikes are there to consider.
find a harley dealer and take a test ride .
WJBertrand
Ventura Highway
I was curious so ran a poll on the Facebook Pan America page. To my surprise the buyers are more often already Harley owners, many having owned nothing but Harleys. The second group (which I expected to be the largest) are first time Harley buyers, only drawn in by the existence of the Pan America. Even more surprising is that the group of previous or current Harley owners is running about 4X the number of first time Harley buyers!
So the Pan is helping Harley to reach some new riders but has been surprisingly (to me anyway) well received by the traditional Harley owners. Don’t know if that’s what HD was expecting or hoping for or not.
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So the Pan is helping Harley to reach some new riders but has been surprisingly (to me anyway) well received by the traditional Harley owners. Don’t know if that’s what HD was expecting or hoping for or not.
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It is a surprise that previous H-D riders are interested. On the other hand, there's a lot of people own an H-D because of the name. Of course there is that group of "hard core" H-D riders that will never admit they're interested in anything but the cruiser Harley. And, I don't think H-D gives a damn where their customers come from at this point. I wouldn't.
Madhatter
Well-Known Member
that reminds me , the pan America is my first Harley to ride . yep never ridden even a sportster .
It was a version of the new 900
I test rode a FLHTP, or a FLHP, can't remember which. I remember that it shifted smoother than I expected, but was heavy, and not all that fast. It was a short ride, so it was hard to tell anything for sure. That's the extent of my H-D riding experience.
Thanks CW.
Xclimation
Well-Known Member
Here in Dallas Ft. Worth, Texas about 95% of bikes on the road are Harleys. Often when I'm riding on my Tenere and stop, many of these Harley guys ask me about my bike and how I like it. A lot of them say, "I'm looking to go that route next bike." And this was before the Pan America was out.
Dirt_Dad
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It was the dirt oriented version. Even if it didn't have a lot of handlebar vibration it was what I was looking for in my next bike.
cyclemike4
Well-Known Member
I rode the Pan America yesterday. It was a 95 degree day and the bike really didn't put any heat on me. I figured it would roast my leg on the right side but all was good. As a matter of fact I could touch the heads on the right side up by the valve cover with my bare hand just after getting off it and seeing 208 degrees water temps. I thought the chassis was great. It turned easy and pretty quick and was straight as an arrow when going straight down the road. the suspension was controlled and comfortable. The clutch and throttle both were very light and easy to use. The brakes were top notch as well! you could stop it hard and it didn't wallow and pitch even going over ripples and bumps. It did have a lot of front end dive at first but mid stroke on the forks it really tightened up and held the line under braking. Great job Harley. I like the seat pretty well but I think on long runs in the heat it was too soft and would make a pretty good case of monkey butt. On the short ride I took I had no issues with foot peg placement. I did however have trouble with the shifter. there would be no way I could get my winter boots under that thing. I really liked the thinner area in the middle of the bike placing the foot pegs closer together. My knees and feet were at the same width keeping my legs straight up and down. My knees touched the tank at the same width of the foot pegs. It had a good feel for me. I don't know if that bike had the short seat or not but it had a short distance from the pegs to the seat. I am 5'10" and it felt good to me. the Handle bars were another story. they are way out there in space someplace! I could not do a tight turn to save me with that set up. My arms are straight. I have on my Super T rolled the bars back and narrowed them 2" because i had the same issue on it. It looked like that would be easy to do but the whole set up looked one off. Not like you could just slap a set of dirt bike bars on there or something that fit you. they did have the bars rolled way forward though. I have no idea what ride mode i was in and i really didn't know how to get around in that screen. Way too much techy junk for me. In any case i never felt anything near 150 HP. the sales man said it was in standard mode what ever that is. It did rev easy and quick but just didn't have any bottom end. Very soft up to about 4000 rpm then it really picked up great. Still i never felt anything more than seat of the pants 90 or 100 HP. My super T is much stronger below 4000 but the Harley was much stronger on the top. On my bike at the same speeds to be smooth i had to run the Harley about 1000 rpm higher but it didn't seem to mind. the thing that bothered me there seemed to be a step in power. it wasn't as linear as i have heard it was. Of course i am a daily use it all year rider not a weekend warrior that only cares about whacking the throttle open. I like a good strong pull up through the rpm range and useable power. Of course if i understood how to switch the modes i could have shed a better light on the actual power. As is i only know what i had set up. I didn't have any issues with wind buffeting or noise at all. It felt a lot lighter than my super T. Probably is a bit lighter. Over all it is a very good package i could live with just fine with a few mods. Of course i have done the same things to my bike. I don't see the Harley in my future right now. I have a lot of fun miles to run on my Super T. It definitely is on the radar though. Good job Harley.
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tntmo
Well-Known Member
In 2018 I was in Sturgis, SD the week before the rally officially opened on my Tenere along with a buddy on his Africa Twin. Our bikes were filthy from traveling, and we weren't really much better but we parked on main street and walked around a bit. As we got back to our bikes, which were parked among several shiny custom cruisers we were bombarded with questions about them and had a small crowd around us. The Harley riders were really interested in the bikes. We ended up chatting with people for about an hour before we finally had to head out.
I am not surprised that the biggest customer base for the PA are current Harley owners.
I am not surprised that the biggest customer base for the PA are current Harley owners.
~TABASCO~
RIDE ON ADV is what I do !
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Has anyone else seen the FB video of the Harley ADV blow a coolant line (or motor component) in Europe "demo days"... I think I read there were like 10K people there. Anyhow some cough it on video of it going up in smoke ? Definitely NOT the image they wanted that moment.
The front exhaust pipe and the radiator hose are too close to each other. Some have melted a hole in the hose in the first 200 miles.