‘This is just the start’
New 1250 Custom confirmed to quickly follow Pan America
ust weeks after the surprise revelation that was the Pan America, Harley-Davidson have confirmed that the 1250 Custom will be arriving “very soon” and that it will have similar power and torque to the PanAm. When Harley-Davidson first announced the Pan America as part of their ‘More Roads’ programme, they said the intention was for the engine platform to be modular, allowing multiple bikes to be made with different displacements.
At the time they unveiled a 975 Streetfighter, which appears to have been shelved for the time being, and the 1250 Custom. Little has been said about the Custom until now, when as part of the Pan America reveal, Harley confirmed we won’t have long to wait.
“This is the start,” said Jochen Zeitz, CEO of Harley. “We have great plans to expand on the
Pan America. Lots of innovation waiting. This is just a launch into a whole new dimension.”
As Zeitz said this, new images were unveiled of a black 1250 Custom, which has advanced considerably since the first white model was shown nearly three years ago. It has a brand-new dash and switchgear direct from the Pan America, suggesting the unit will have many of the same functions such as smartphone connectivity, mapping and advanced electronics. There’s a new radiator, mirrors, indictators, lights, footpegs and a frame sticker on the headstock, suggesting what we see here is pretty much the final form. As well as the electronics the Custom sports the same stressed member engine as the Pan America, so we should expect lower weights than we’re used to with cruisers (nearer 200kg than 300kg) along with an extra serving of power.
J“We plan to build on [the
Pan America] platform going forward with a product that’s coming out very soon: the 1250 custom cruiser,” said Alex Bozmoski, Chief Engineer for the PanAm. “It’s got a fistful of torque and power, just like the Pan America.”
So how much power and torque can we expect? Well unless Harley want to challenge the Diavel, which is possible, we imagine they’ll change the tune on the 1250 Revolution Max engine to for less power and more torque. Harley
‘We have lots of innovation waiting to go’ JOCHEN ZEITZ, HARLEY CEO
have chased big power on cruisers in the past, with the V-Rod and we don’t foresee them retreading that path. Instead we’d expect a power figure closer to 125bhp and a boost in torque from 94lb.ft to well over 100. That would put the 1250 Custom in a good place to challenge bikes like the Indian Scout, or even the FTR1200 now that the Sportster platform is gone from the Harley range in Europe.
And what about the name? Well Harley recently reapplied for the Nightster name, which was previously used for the stripped back 1200 before they made the Iron. Sounds like a good fit to us.