Indian Police Force Gets New Harley-Davidsons
A handful of Street 750s gets pushed into service for ceremonial duties.
You’ve got to admit, you feel a little bit patriotic when you see your local police force out cruising on Harley-Davidson motorcycles. It’s understandable, especially when they’re seen rolling through parades and festivals with the red and blue lights flashing.
While we envision an average Harley-Davidson police bike as being a large cruiser bike, things are a little different in India. That’s because Indian police departments think small–at least small by our standards–when they’re picking out their new mounts.
In India, a 750cc motorcycle is considered an enormous, powerful motorcycle. Circling back to civic pride and patriotism, it makes perfect sense that they’d select the Harley-Davidson Street 750 motorcycle. It is, after all, built in India, and the water-cooled design is beneficial for their hot, humid weather.
That’s exactly what the Kolkata Police department did, as reported by The Indian Express. Kolkata, formerly known as Calcutta when it was under British rule, just added five new Harley-Davidson Street 750s to their fleet.
Their new motorcycles are equipped with special police markings, lights, radio equipment, side cases, and a flyscreen and seat cowl. It’s a familiar look to anyone who has seen a U.S. police bike, just scaled down for a smaller machine. We dig the racy look of these smaller police bikes.
It makes perfect sense that they’d select the Street 750 motorcycle. It is, after all, built in India, and the water-cooled design is beneficial for hot, humid weather.
These motorcycles will mainly be used for special events and parades. Their first outing was at a recent Indian Independence Day celebration.
The bikes’ head-turning good looks will be beneficial for community outreach purposes. We’re pretty certain that policemen in Kolkata will be eager to volunteer for those events so that they can ride one!
Much like in America, Harley-Davidson is an aspirational brand in India. There are several Harley-Davidson dealerships, including Bengal Harley-Davidson in Kolkata. Remember to bring us back a tee-shirt next time you visit!
