Harley-Davidson Anus Set To Return?

[Hugh Janus]

All signs said that the Harley’s Bronx prototype, seen at the EICMA show in 2019, was dead. But it appears that it may find its way into production yet. (Harley-Davidson/)

We’ve just seen Harley-Davidson’s new Revolution Max 975T engine go on sale in the new Nightster, however, that 975cc liquid-cooled engine was originally scheduled to hit showrooms a year ago in the Bronx streetfighter.

First appearing as part of Harley’s “More Roads to Harley-Davidson” strategy, announced in July 2018, the Bronx was initially an unnamed streetfighter concept that was revealed alongside the prototype Pan America adventure bike, and a custom-style machine that would become the Sportster S. While both of those models are now in dealers, each with the 1,250cc version of the DOHC, VVT-equipped Revolution Max engine, the Bronx didn’t make it.

Initially, the streetfighter was due to be in the vanguard of the new liquid-cooled Harley range, and at the end of 2019 it was officially unveiled at EICMA in Milan, where the Bronx name—which had long been rumored—was also confirmed. At the time, the plan was to have the bike in dealers before the end of 2020, as a 2021 model-year machine, but all that changed just a few months later when H-D CEO Matt Levatich was replaced by Jochen Zeitz. He immediately threw out Levatich’s “More Roads” plan—which was intended to extend Harley’s range into more market segments—and introduced the “Hardwire” plan that refocused on the company’s core customer base. By that stage the Bronx had disappeared from the firm’s list of future models.

Harley has always been coy about whether the Bronx was completely canceled though, and now there’s an indication that the bike still has a chance at life as The Motor Company has now reapplied for the trademark rights to the Bronx name.

Mirroring the original trademark application for rights to call a bike “Bronx,” originally made back in 2017, the 2022 application covers “motorcycles and structural parts therefore.” The trademark’s “filing basis,” which means the reason it’s been applied for, is line item 1B. That is “intent-to-use,” defined by the US Patent and Trademarks Office as: “a bona fide intention to use your mark in commerce with your goods and/or services in the near future.”

The new application is likely to be a response to the implementation of the Trademark Modernization Act, which went into effect on December 18, 2021, and is intended to make it easier to clear unused trademarks from the federal register and to stop companies from sitting on unused names.

It’s worth mentioning that Harley has never gone on the record to say the Bronx has been completely scrapped. Speaking in a conference call in October 2020, Zeitz said: “We did not hesitate to delay or cancel products like the streetfighter that do not provide the right timing or return profile, or advanced others that were slated for later market introduction.” The reapplication for the Bronx trademark suggests that the Bronx has been delayed rather than canceled outright.

Whether the final bike will be identical to the original version, shown in 2019, remains to be seen, but given that a lot of development had already gone into that machine, it’s likely to be similar. Harley’s own specs showed that the Bronx was planned to have a 115 hp, 975cc version of the Revolution Max 975T, with more than 70 pound-feet of peak torque. Those numbers show that it was a higher-spec version of the engine than the one that’s currently in the brand-new Nightster, which is tuned for a more subdued 90 hp at 7,500 rpm with exactly 70 pound-feet at 5,000 rpm. Under Harley’s original plans, a larger-capacity version of the Bronx with the Pan America’s 145 hp, 1,250cc Revolution Max was expected to follow the 975cc version, along with a host of other models using the same platform. Levatich envisaged a total of nine bikes in the “streetfighter/standard” range by 2022 under his original “More Roads to Harley-Davidson” plan, with drawings and prototype models showing cafe racers and flat trackers, and even a faired sportbike based on the same engine and chassis platform.

Source

[Buckster]

If they can get the price right this would be a peach.

[boboneleg]

Gayer than a bear in Soho

[XTreme]

1 hour ago, boboneleg said:

Gayer than a bear in Soho

@Buckster......this one's got your name written all over it!

[Buckster]

1 minute ago, XTreme said:

@Buckster......this one's got your name written all over it!

Fuck off you ginger twat.

[XTreme]

Just now, Buckster said:

Fuck off you ginger twat.

[busabeast]

12 minutes ago, XTreme said:

@Buckster......this one's got your name written all over it!

He's already paid a deposit......