Harley Davidson has finally launched their new entry level 350cc motorcycle called the X350
With classic motorcycle craze on the rise, Harley-Davidson intends to swarm the market. An attempt at the same was done by Harley in the past with Street 750 and Street Rod 750. They failed to deliver expected results and Harley’s dream of conquering the lower end of classic bikes, stayed at large.
Harley-Davidson Launch X350 in China at Affordable Price Point
Now, Harley-Davidson is coming at it with a new wave of 500cc and 350cc motorcycles. This time around, Harley seems to be playing it safe. Powertrains have been sourced from QJ and have strategically signed partnerships that can cater to developing markets like India. Result of this is Harley-Davidson X500 and X350 motorcycles. Of these two, it is the Harley Davidson X350 that has now been officially launched.
Harley Davidson X350 has been launched in China at a starting price of 33,388 Yuan, which is approximately Rs 3.93 lakh as per today’s currency conversion rate. This makes the X350 the most affordable Harley Davidson on offer today by a big margin. To reach a larger audience, Harley Davidson is offering attractive loan too. You can buy the new HDX350 by paying a down payment of 8,888 Yuan (including additional fees and insurance) and remaining via EMIs.
Speaking about dimensions, the New X350 Harley Davidson is 2110mm long, 785mm wide and has a height of 1110mm. Wheelbase is at 1410mm. In the front it has 120/70Z R17 tyre while at the rear is a 160/60Z R17 tyre. It has a kerb wt of 195 kgs while gross vehicle wt is at 355 kgs. Braking is via dual disc at the front and a single disc at the rear. ABS is standard.
With this new budget motorcycle, Harley Davidson customers are sure to miss the V-Twin rumble and smooth power delivery of a belt drive. By taking this route, Harley-Davidson intends to tackle another legacy brand that is currently dominating this space. What they will get, though, are neo-retro-styled motorcycles with Harley-Davidson branding.
Harley-Davidson X350: A New Model with Impressive Horsepower and Top Speed
Later, Harley Davidson will launch X500 based on this same machine. There are a lot of parts sharing between the two as well, keeping costs down further. These include componentry like USD forks, alloy wheels, rear mono-shock, headlights and instrument clusters. Design is slightly different between both bikes. The rear subframe and tail section are starkly different, while the fuel tank bears slight differences.
Other differences are in braking hardware. Harley-Davidson X500 gets larger conventional discs as opposed to smaller petal discs. Both get a dual disc setup at front and single disc at the rear. Both of them get liquid cooling, but only the X350 bike gets a smaller radiator, flanked by tank shrouds.
The main difference is in the engine department. The smaller offering is powered by a 353cc motor developing around 34 bhp of power. Weighing around 195 kg, X350 can hit 143 km/h top speed. X500, however, will get the same parallel-twin motor powering Benelli 502C, kicking out 45 bhp and 46 Nm. Weighing in at 207 kg, X500 will hit 159 km/h.
Harley X350 India Launch
The 350cc segment sees almost 60k-70k sales every month in India. 90% of this market share is with Royal Enfield. With a combination of factors including design, appeal, nostalgia, feel and more, RE is currently the champion in the 350cc segment and middle-weight 650cc segment as well. India launch of Harley Davidson X350 has not been confirmed. But considering the growing demand for mid-displacement motorcycles here, chances are very high of this new bike coming to India, thanks to Hero MotoCorp.
Source: Bike - rushlane.com
