THIS Is The Most Affordable Harley In The World

It’s all change on the Harley-Davidson front at the moment. In the last few months, we’ve seen a change of top leadership, the arrival of the Pan America adventure bike, the potential axing of the Bronx streetfighter before it even reached production, and also an agreement with Benelli to build mid-capacity motorcycles in China.

The last of these has finally begun to bear fruit, with images of the upcoming Benelli-based Harley-Davidson 338R breaking cover on social media. The highly-anticipated bike will be Harley’s smallest and most affordable offering, aimed at providing an accessible stepping stone into the brand in Asian markets where motorcycling perhaps isn’t as mature as it is in the west.

It’s based on the Benelli TNT 300 but engine displacement has been bumped up to 338cc by using the pistons and cylinders from the larger Benelli 502 engines. The TNT300 motor produced 38PS back in the BS4 era, but thanks to stricter emission norms, the H-D is unlikely to gain any output despite the increase in displacement.

The single spy shot shows a bike that seems to be production ready, complete with H-D stickering. It looks quite close to the design sketches earlier shown by Harley, and it features the same trellis frame, 12-spoke 17-inch alloy wheels, USD fork/monoshock suspension setup and petal disc brakes as the 302S.

Benelli’s parent company Qianjiang had earlier put together a product timeline which slated the 338R for a launch in June this year, but obviously those plans have been delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Nevertheless, with the bike looking so well finished in this picture, we expect it to officially be unveiled sometime before the end of this year, ahead of a potential India launch next year.