How clever new Pan America helps shorter riders
Harley turn to clever tech to assist the short of leg
Harley-Davidson’s new Pan America 1250 Special is packed to the gills with tech. There’s everything from electronic phasers on the camshafts to advanced traction control. Almost all of this is standard fare among the rangetopping adventure bikes from all the usual players except one thing: Adaptive Ride Height. That’s right – the Pan Am can raise and lower itself and make those red-light shuffles a thing of the past. “The adaptive ride height is a concept that we’ve been dabbling with over time and now is the time when we have the right vehicle and right tech,” says Bjorn Christensen, Suspension Systems Manager at H-D.
When you come to get on the bike, the rear suspension will have backed off the preload entirely so the bike is at its lowest point with a seat height of 830mm. Once you fire it up and pull away, sensors measure how much weight is on the rear end and adjust the preload to suit. This set up isn’t uncommon among high-end adventure bikes and guarantees you’ll always have the right handling characteristics. The problem is that when you come to a stop, or if the passenger gets off, your legs can be left dangling. This is compounded further if you’re not the best part of six foot tall. But on the Harley, once you come to a stop, the suspension winds all the preload off, dropping the bike back down. Depending on how much you have loaded on (and how much preload has been added) it can drop the seat height by up to two inches. “We worked with Showa on the hardware but we built all the software ourselves,” says Pan America Chief Engineer Alex Bozmoski. “We made it user definable, so if you want to turn it off or change the speed depending on the riding conditions, you
‘It can drop the seat height by up to two inches’
can do that too. It’s going to be a gamechanger for a lot of riders.” In the menu you have the option of choosing the speed. As standard the bike alters the speed of the suspension adjustment automatically, with the goal being that by the time the bike has come to a stop, the suspension is at its lowest point. This means that if someone pulls out in front of you and you’re forced to do an emergency stop, you shouldn’t topple over. You can override the settings though, changing the speed at which it activates, so there’s more of a delay. It also means if you’re slowly navigating a car park for instance, it won’t let all the preload off. You can also turn it off completely, for example when riding off-road.