Harley-Davidson is working on a smaller version of the Pan America 1250, according to documents from the US National Highway Transport Safety Administration. Those documents also indicate that the Pan America 975 would be put on the market as early as 2022.
It has been rumored for some time that Harley-Davidson is working on a 975 version of the Pan America 1250, a rumor that gained momentum after it was revealed on Harley’s own website that the accessories list suddenly included the codename. RA965 was listed.
With the Pan America 1250 codenamed RA1250 and RA1250S, it was therefore easy to guess that the codename RA965 had to stand for a smaller version of the Pan America, although that number 965 was confusing. Shouldn’t that have been RA975, or had Harley managed to hide something completely new?
The answer to that question now comes from the US National Highway Transport Safety Administration, abbreviated the NHTSA. The Safety Issues and Recall page of the website contains three service bulletins relating to the RA975 and RA975S.
Two of those bulletins cover all Harley-Davidson models with the Revolution Max V-twin, the 2021-2022 RA1250 and RA1250S, the 2021-2022 RH1250S (Sportster S), the 2022 RH975 (Nightster), and the RA975 and RA975S. The third service bulletin covers the 2021-2022 Pan America 1250 and 1250 Special, as well as the two RA975 models. There is no harder proof than this.
Remarkably – and interestingly – both RA975 models are listed on the NHTSA’s website as 2022 models. That, plus the fact that those code names were erroneously listed on Harley’s own website early this year, suggests that the Pan America 975 should have been launched by now.
It’s not inconceivable that the launch delay is related to the problems Harley-Davidson had with supplier inventory problems earlier this year, which forced production with the exception of Livewire to be shut down for almost 3 weeks.
The exact reason, however, remains a mystery, but the good news is that a little Pan America is on the way, powered by the Revolution Max 975 that made its debut in the Nightster earlier this year. The expansion of the Allroad platform with a 975 is a logical and necessary step if Harley wants to gain even more foothold in this popular segment.
– Thanks for information from Motorfreaks.