I don’t know about you guys, but this new video Harley-Davidson released showing its Pan America eating up some high country trails is not a turn off. In fact, seeing – and hearing – that big V-twin harmonizing with dirt spray is quite the opposite.

We’ve learned some interesting new things about the 2021 Pan America, expected in dealerships late 2020, since its official unveiling at the International motorcycle show going on this week in Milan, Italy. 

Firstly, there can be no doubt, the Motor Company is dead serious about this model being a true off-road-ready adventure bike, as illustrated by its spoked wheels, Michelin/H-D co-branded knobbies, burly skid plate, crash bars, bolt-on rear sub-frame and brush guards. 

Harley has further revealed the Pan America will be powered by an all-new, liquid-cooled 60-degree 1250cc V-twin engine dubbed the Revolution Max, the largest in a series of Revolution powerplants destined to power the entire Harley line.

Harley claims the Revolution Max will generate a very impressive 145 horsepower, a huge leap in top-end over its current big gun, the torque-heavy 1868cc Milwaukee Eight, which delivers less than 100 hp. Promised torque from the engine will be “more than 90 ft-lbs,” plenty of grunt for trials-speed trail gunning. Harley describes the Max’s powerband as broad as it builds “to a surge of high-rpm power.”  Interestingly, these numbers are right in the ballpark with performance outcomes from BMW’s R1250GS, the bike and audience that’s most likely Harley’s target. 

Press materials describe the Pan America’s powertrain as physically “narrow” and mentions that it features an “internal counter balancer” to dampen vibration as the huge V-twin does double duty as a stressed frame member. Appropriately, the bike’s final drive will be chain. 

Stopping power will be supplied by two big custom-for-H-D Brembo discs with four-piston calipers up front and a single disc out back. Suspension appears to be semi-active and we expect the bike to offer a raft of rider aids and switchable modes navigated via the big TFT screen we see in the photos. Other notable features evidenced by the cockpit view is a trim, manually adjustable windscreen and switchgear that promises cruise control and also hints of a full infotainment capability. 

The sideview of the rider ripping around on the Pan America gives the impression the bike will offer a low seat height, a sure way to get in the door with new riders and brand loyalists wanting to try their hand at adventure riding.

Harley calls the Pan America its “two-wheeled multi-tool. Equal parts campfire, wanderlust and grit.” It also says the bike has been “Engineered for the unknown,” which is far more profound than their marketing team intended. 

Indeed, the Pan America, Harley’s unlikely adventure bike, is on course to touch down on a foreign planet, before an audience of motorcycling’s hardest-to-please customers. What’s “unknown” is how the newcomer will fare in the “perform-or-go-home” adventure bike market. 

Queue the popcorn, as the next model year promises one heck of a show.  

Author: Jamie Elvidge

Jamie has been a motorcycle journalist for more than 30 years, testing the entire range of bikes for the major print magazines and specializing in adventure-travel related stories. To date she’s written and supplied photography for articles describing what it’s like to ride in all 50 states and 43 foreign countries, receiving two Lowell Thomas Society of American Travel Writer’s Awards along the way. Her most-challenging adventure yet has been riding in the 2018 GS Trophy in Mongolia as Team AusAmerica’s embedded journalist.