Should we call them piglets?
Harley-Davidson has launched a new lineup of small, affordable motorcycles aimed at urban and emerging markets.
The Street 500 and Street 750 are powered, respectively, by all-new 500 cc and 750 cc versions of Harley’s V-twin Revolution engine, dubbed Revolution X. The two-seaters feature six-speed manual transmissions and belt drive.
Harley says they were designed to offer greater agility and response for use on crowded city streets, with a low seat and suspension tuned for bad road surfaces. Along with their compact size comes a low price for the brand, starting at $6,700 in the United States.
Both Streets are built on the first new platform for Harley since it introduced the then radical V-Rod in 2001, which was powered by the company’s first liquid cooled, overhead cam engine. In a big departure for the Milwaukee-based company, the new motorcycles will be manufactured at the company’s recently-opened facility in India and exported around the world, while North American-bound models will be produced at its Kansas City factory.
Sales of the Street bikes begin next spring in the U.S., Italy, Spain, Portugal and India before expanding to other markets in 2015.