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Harley-Davidson and Hero Motocorp introduced a partnership again in 2020 for the distribution of current Harley bikes and the event of a brand new vary of fashions for the Indian market. We haven’t heard a lot from that association… till now, when a choice of “spy photographs” of a Harley-Davidson-branded motorbike with a 400-ish cc Single landed within the fingers of the Indian press.
EVO India printed the photographs, spinning a yarn about photographs arriving on their doorstep in a brown envelope marked “prime secret” and an nameless be aware. We’ve run sufficient of them on Motorbike.com and seen the suggestions from readers scoffing on the “spy picture” trope, however these suspiciously effectively composed photographs with a grainy black and white filter photographs had been clearly despatched out from Hero Motocorp.
Earlier than we get into the photographs, right here’s what we all know in regards to the Harley-Davidson/Hero deal. Hero will function the official distributor of Harley-Davidson bikes in India, dealing with gross sales, service and merchandising throughout the nation in its current vendor community and brand-exclusive Harley-Davidson sellers. Hero will even be creating “a spread of premium bikes below the Harley-Davidson model title,” as a part of a licensing settlement.
In different phrases, the engineering for the motorbike pictured right here is by Hero, with Harley-Davidson probably offering some enter on the styling. In one of many photographs, exhibiting the bike from the rear in entrance of a white wall, you’ll be able to spot Teofilo Plaza Garcia, Hero Motocorp’s head of design, crouched down in entrance of the motorbike. Within the shot of the bike on the dyno, we spy somebody in a white shirt that’s doubtless Pawan Munjal, Hero’s chief government officer.
The thriller motorbike attracts inspiration from Harley-Davidson’s air-cooled Sportsters, with the wheels wanting practically an identical to the wheels of the Iron 883. Using twin rear shocks is one other nod to the Sportster components, however up entrance, the bike sports activities inverted forks.
The motorbike seems to be powered by an air- and oil-cooled Single-cylinder engine. The license plate reads “HD 4XX”, which leads us to imagine the engine has a displacement within the 400-ish cc vary. Hero doesn’t at the moment have an engine of that dimension, so it’ll be fascinating to know if it’s a model new design or an evolution of an current engine. A shot of the spherical instrument cluster exhibits a totally digital show, with a tachometer suggesting an 8,000 rpm redline. The oil cooler is mounted vertically on the left facet of the engine, with the header pipe occupying the identical area on the fitting facet.
A detailed-up shot of the entrance wheel confirms the presence of a single ByBre entrance brake caliper, and an ABS sensor ring. Mumbai-based CEAT provides what seems to be its tubeless Zoom Cruz tires. The entrance seems to be an 18-inch tire, whereas the rear tire is marked as a 140/70-17, with a 66H pace score indicating a most pace of 130 mph.
A single round headlight sports activities a horizontal LED place mild with “Harley-Davidson” branding, with extra LEDs above and beneath it for the headlight and excessive beam.
There’s nonetheless quite a bit to be revealed, together with whether or not it is going to be exported outdoors of India. Earlier this 12 months, Harley-Davidson and QJ Motors launched the X 350 in an identical partnership, with QJ offering the engineering and Harley dealing with the styling, and the X 350 is to date solely out there on the market in China, with a detuned model dropped at the U.S. for Harley-Davidson’s driving academy. Not like the X 350, a Hero-produced Harley could be a extra attractive product for different markets.
We additionally don’t know the mannequin’s title. We all know that Harley-Davidson has beforehand trademarked the title “48X”, and based mostly on the styling, the title seems to be a greater match for this bike than it does the brand new Revolution Max-powered Sportsters. After all, we’d simply be leaning that method due to the “HD-4XX” code title.
The motorbike within the photographs seems near-production prepared, so we suspect Hero and Harley-Davidson will formally reveal it quickly. EVO India suggests a late summer time reveal, however we wouldn’t be shocked if it comes earlier.
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