Here Are The Top 5 Things We Know Of Harley-Davidson’s Most Affordable India-made Bike

UPDATE: Harley-Davidson has launched the X440 and it comes with a very competitive price tag! Check it out here.

We got the first look of Harley’s most affordable made-in-India bike and going by its HD4XX codename, it will likely be called the Harley-Davidson HD400. The bike is developed in collaboration with Hero MotoCorp and here’s all that we know so far.

Design

With roadster styling, the HD400 dons a muscular design featuring a beefy fuel tank. It is tempered with retro touches to the round headlight, indicators, console and even circular rear view mirrors. That said, despite the roadster styling, it is quite different from the recently launched Harley-Davidson X350 jointly developed with QJ Motor. It’s evident Harley is steering away from the cruiser genre in the affordable segment as a naked bike will be able to appeal to a much wider set of audience.

Engine

The license plate on the teased bike displayed the name HD 4XX, signifying that the upcoming bike will be powered by a 400-450cc engine. From what we could gather from the pictures, it is a single-cylinder air-/oil-cooled mill. This is very different from the X350’s twin-cylinder motor and the upcoming Hero XPulse 400’s single-cylinder liquid-cooled engine. Interestingly, the TFT console shows the rev ceiling is at 8000rpm. This implies that the mill will be relatively peaky, unlike the relaxed nature of Royal Enfield bikes in its segment. 

Hardware

In terms of underpinnings, the HD400 sports a USD fork and dual gas charged shock absorbers suspension setup. Brakes are discs at both ends with an axial ByBre front caliper, and a ByBre rear unit. It rolls on premium-looking dual-tone alloy wheels with a likely 18/17 inch setup, wrapped in CEAT Zoom Cruz tyres.

Features

On the features front, the HD400 comes equipped with a fully digital circular TFT console displaying basic readout like speedometer, odometer, tachometer, fuel indicator and time. It remains to be seen whether it will get smartphone connectivity or navigation. Oh, and it also features all LED lighting. Dual-channel ABS is pretty much a given. The bike also gets a single-piece seat along with a wide handlebar, ensuring comfortable, upright ergonomics.

Expected Launch & Price

The bike in the leaked images looks completely production ready, and quite desirable too, so expect it to make its debut around July-August 2023. Once launched, we believe the Harley-Davidson HD400 could come with a price tag of around Rs 2.5-2.7 lakh, (ex-showroom). It will go up against the likes of  Royal Enfield Hunter 350, Yezdi Roadster, Jawa 42 2.1 and the Honda CB350RS. That said, at this expected price bracket, the 400cc Harley bike will also lock horns with the Honda CB300R as well as the KTM 250 Duke.