Ah, yeah, good point.

Yeah, I thought the PA would be a joke, glad to be wrong about that. HD definitely has some engineering talent working for them.

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I stopped at their York vehicle operations plant for a picture over the summer and was mighty tempted to go inside and stand on someone’s desk until they listened to my gripes lol. But I figured that would be rude and I’d probably get taken out in handcuffs lol

It’s true. My Ducati is the same story. Yet my Suzuki Savage actually has a good low 1st gear which was ideal the few times I was dumb enough to ride it off-road lol!

On lower ADV’s like the Versys 300 it gives you a lott of room to keep the seat low. The 21′ wheel is not only higher, but also comes further rear. Comming close to the radiator etc. 21′ 17′ is also a nice setting as 17′ tires wordwide are far more common.

Any big off-road bike with the room for it should have a 21 i guess.

There’s is probably just as many (if not more) Chain driven BMW’s overlanding around the world than their Shaft Driven big brothers, I’ve done both and here’s one thing i don’t like about Shaft Drive, once you ford a Stream that is higher than the breather you will have water in your gear oil, ask me how I know…

Per Consumer Reports, BMW is THE Least reliable mass-produced motorcycle in America, including rear gearbox failures…
No longer first choice of World Circumnavigators…

Interesting, the guys at Bozeman are all over the ADV. series.

For some reason no one in the engineering department listens about a low first gear.

yes, and the one thing other than the fuel pump that will let you down…the shaft drive.

Man, I finally found somebody that agrees with me about needing a Maintenance free final drive. I have been against chains being on an ADV touring bike from the get-go. And I have received all kinds of grief and unholy names because of that. LOL. But all you have to do is look at the bike that has been so successful in ADV around the world….BMW GSA1250…SHAFT drive.

If the Pan Am would have been a belt drive, I would own one and would have traded in my ULtra Classic Electra Glide. Harley could encase the belt drive so rocks and sand couldn’t get to it…..That’s a lousy argument that belt drives don’t work on ADV bikes. I am not going to take a 550-600 lb ADV TOURING bike anywhere that has rough road type terrain anyway. That stuff is for the little 250-500cc bikes.

People here are buying it and realize in a couple of months it’s not a Street glide and trade it. Have seen a Pan Am with a stereo on it

Never had that experience at any Harley dealership. The local Indian dealership on the other hand looks down their nose at every non Indian

Interesting that they wouldn’t lighten the crank, and rods at least. But I agree, same block, smaller bores, more weight. I figured it might be a small block.

As a serious question, why would an adv bike with actual off-road aspirations come with wheel sizes other than 21/18?
There are options for pavement based tires, and those sizes clearly work better off road, and I don’t see any other real reason to use 19/17.

Nothing else is smaller. It’s physically the same engine. Cams, crank, rods, starter, cases, etc all weigh essentially the same, and a block with a smaller hole in it weighs MORE than a bigger one. They may save some weight elsewhere on the bike, but not much will come from the engine.

Just the sleeved down engine should shave 30lbs off weight. If smaller everything else to match smaller engine, even more weight savings. But, I guess we’ll need to see the specs when they come out.