The long-awaited Harley ADV midsize could arrive as early as 2023.
Harley-Davidson first announced its plans to enter the adventure-bike market with an early glimpse of the Pan America back in July 2018, when only scientists were familiar with the term "coronavirus." A smaller 975cc version was part of that plan from the beginning. The launch schedule may have slipped, but that machine is definitely coming.
As part of the "More Roads to Harley-Davidson" product plan, the Pan America was first revealed as a 1,252cc prototype. The Harley brand was expected to appear on a variety of new models across a variety of classes in which Harley did not traditionally compete, according to then-CEO Matt Levatich.
Levatich resigned 18 months later, before any of the planned new machines were released. Jochen Zeitz, his successor, began dismantling the More Roads to Harley-Davidson plans, canceling many of the new Harley-Davidsons and concentrating on core cruiser models.
Several models have survived. Other designs, like the 338R parallel twin and the Bronx streetfighter, fell by the wayside, like the LiveWire Del Mar and Sportster S.
Despite being far from Harley's standard offerings, the Pan America 1250 survived. It was every bit the success Levatich must have hoped for when he announced it in 2018. In the US, it went straight to the top of the adventure-bike sales charts, a year behind schedule.
What about the smaller 975cc Pan America? More Roads had a clear strategy. In the beginning, there were two bikes, a 1,250cc and a 975cc. Though Harley-Davidson didn't hit its launch target, the smaller bike is still part of their plan, and there are plenty of signs that it's coming soon.
The Pan America RA975 and RA975S were supposed to be released in 2022, one year after the larger RA1250. There's already an NHTSA page for the 2022 Harley-Davidson RA975 and 2022 Harley-Davidson RA975S, which oversees recalls among many other things. In other words, Harley-Davidson told the NHTSA that there's a 975cc version of the Pan America, due in 2022.
Documents from Harley-Davidson prove the bike was due to go on sale. Within H-D's own website, searching for RA975 brings up pages for accessories.
While the links are dead, Google's cached versions of the pages show that the RA975S is supposed to be compatible with at least some of the accessories already available for the Pan America, suggesting the 975cc model will look like the 1,252cc Pan America, since it uses the Nightster engine.
We're still waiting for the RA975. Harley's own Pan America, which debuted in production form in February 2021, might give us an idea. It took two and a half years for the bike to reach dealers after its prototype was unveiled.
Rather than having to wait months for production to start, customers got their orders instantly. They wouldn't be tempted away by rival models before they bought the Harley.
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