Harley Davidson Pan America reaches the Kela Pass – India’s highest motorable road

Pan America is the first adventure motorcycle that Harley Davidson has made. So, everyone was a bit sceptical about it. However, now Pan America has reached the Kela Pass which is located in Leh. It is India’s highest motorable road. This should bust some myths about the motorcycle’s capability.

The pictures are shared on Facebook by Vijay Thomas. He, along with other riders took the Pan America to the Kela Pass. They also took an Isuzu D-Max V-Cross as their backup vehicle to carry luggage, extra fuel and spares. 

Kela Pass has an altitude of 18,600 ft from sea level. It was used by trekkers and shepherds till now and then the army connected it to a motorable road. Kela Pass will also help in reducing travel time and distance between Leh and Pangong. The distance has now been reduced by 41 km. There is an Umling-la pass that has an altitude of 19,300 ft and is located above Kela Pass but it is not open to the general public.

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Harley Davidson Pan America

Pan America is not your conventional low-slung, cruiser Harley Davidson. It does not even get Harley Davidson’s iconic grumble that comes from the engine. It is an all-new motorcycle from the ground up. In India, we get two variants of Pan America. There is Standard and Special. The Standard costs Rs. 16.9 lakhs ex-showroom and the Special costs Rs. 19.99 lakhs ex-showroom. Pan America has to compete against other flagship adventure tourers like Honda CRF 1100L Africa Twin, Ducati Multistrada V4, BMW R 1250 GS and Triumph Tiger 1200.

The new adventure motorcycle uses an all-new engine. It is a 1252 cc, 60-degree, V-twin engine that is now liquid-cooled. Harley Davidson calls it Revolution Max. It gets a counterbalance to iron out the vibrations and it also comes with  Variable Valve Timing so that the torque is spread throughout the rev range. The engine produces 152 PS of max power and 127 Nm of peak torque. It comes mated to a 6-speed gearbox with a slip and assist clutch that drives the rear wheel through a chain drive. This is the most powerful engine that Harley Davidson has ever produced for mass production.

The Special variant adds spoked wheels, heated grips, a steering damper, crash guards, two additional custom riding modes, adaptive lights, cruise control, metal bash plate and much more. There are no differences between the engine of both the motorcycles.

The motorcycle gets a semi-active front and rear suspension. There are up-side-down front forks and a rear mono-shock at the rear. You can also get it with adaptive ride height which reduces the seat height when you come to a halt and as soon as you start moving, the seat height increases again.

The Pan America also comes with hand-wind deflectors, brush guard, centre stand, tyre pressure monitoring system, suspension modes, six-axis IMU, ride modes, Bluetooth connectivity, 6.8-inch TFT display and much more. It gets an LED headlamp that has three LED elements inside. The lamps illuminate based on the lean angle of the motorcycle.

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