Harley’s New Small Displacement Bike For Emerging Markets
Harley-Davidson enlists help from China to attract new riders overseas.
Here in America, we do motorcycling a bit differently than they do it in Europe. Here, it’s perfectly legal to get your motorcycle license (or temporary permit), stroll into a dealership, buy the biggest, baddest machine on the floor, and ride it home (hopefully without incident).
The rest of the world does things quite a bit differently. Motorcycle licensing is tiered, and tied to the displacement of the machine itself. This presents an issue for Harley-Davidson as they attempt to expand their market share overseas. Enter this joint effort by Harley and China.
It’s difficult to inspire brand loyalty when your product represents the mountaintop. If you want to own a Harley-Davidson cruiser, be prepared to spend many years and ride a succession of smaller bikes to get to that point.
Smaller Harley-Davidson We’ll Likely Never See
To welcome folks into the fold sooner, Harley-Davidson has partnered with a Chinese firm to build an entry level motorcycle. Qianjiang Motors currently builds a QJ350, an aggressively-styled streetfighter motorcycle powered by a 350cc parallel twin. The Harley version — dubbed the HD350 — will likely feature more “traditional” styling, as shown by Cycle World.
This design is an evolution of their earlier 300cc design, which is marketed here in the US as the Benelli 302S. Having seen the Benelli 302S up close, we were admittedly shocked at its build quality and features. Simply put, we’d never seen a Chinese motorcycle that was this nice before.
Despite its small displacement, the Benelli 302S includes equipment usually seen on much bigger motorcycles. Up front, you’ll find an inverted 41mm front fork and a pair of 260mm disc brakes with four piston calipers. The eager 300cc twin is suspended inside of a Ducati-style exposed trellis frame. The swingarm is damped by a fully adjustable mono shock.
All of this is wrapped up in a package that’s almost as refined as offerings from the Big Four Japanese brands. Simply put, the Benelli 302S was the motorcycle that made us start to look at Chinese motorcycles differently.
Before marching to Milwaukee with pitchforks, though, it’s important to note that this bike will not be sold in the US. Instead, it’s designed to become an inexpensive, attainable Harley-Davidson for riders in Europe and Asia. Think of it as a gateway drug to get them onto the bigger, US-made bikes.
Photos: Harley-Davidson, Chinese Patent Office via Cycle World
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