Harley-Davidson has officially lifted the curtain on the X350, the little Harley that developed together with Qianjiang Motor, better known as QJ Motor. However, the X350 is currently only confirmed for the Chinese market.
At the end of last year, we wrote that Harley-Davidson had received type approval in China for the X350, the first result of the collaboration that the Americans entered into with QJ Motor in 2019, at the time as part of CEO Matt Levatich’s ‘More Roads’ business plan , which aimed for 50% international growth.
However, as a result of the trade war that former president Triumph had started with Europe, Harley had ended up in a corner where hard blows were dealt, causing the company’s results to fall sharply and Levatich to be sidelined and ‘More Roads’ to be dumped. However, the collaborative project with QJ Motor remained intact.
QJ and Harley have been working on the X350 since 2019. The engine was based on the Benelli TNT300, also part of the QJ group. The X350 is powered by the same liquid-cooled eight-valve parallel twin, except that the bore has been increased from 65mm to 70.5mm, giving a displacement of 353cc.
Harley claims a top power of 36 hp with the twin, without mentioning rpm, and a maximum torque of 31 Nm at 7,000 rpm. That’s less than a Kawasaki Z400 or Yamaha MT-03, but more than a BMW G 310 R. As a purebred Harley, weight has not been looked at a kilo more, the curb weight of 195 kilos is clearly above that of the competition.
On the other hand, the X350 is equipped with a real 41 mm upside-down front fork, the rebound damping of which can be adjusted. At the rear is a central monoshock, of which both the spring preload and the compression and rebound damping can be adjusted.
The lattice tube frame seems to have been carried over from the TNT300, but the shape of the tank, seat and butt make the bike clearly inspired by the XR750 flat track racer in design. It is also remarkable that double discs with 4-piston calipers are fitted in the front wheel, which seems a bit overkill for a 353cc twin.
The X350 is currently only being marketed in China, where it will be available in three different colors for the price of ¥33,388, about €4,535 at the current exchange rate.
– Thanks for information from Motorfreaks.