Harley-Davidson has revealed a road-focused adventure touring bike built around its excellent (and woefully underappreciated) Pan America 1250 platform. The bike itself is interesting, but its very existence also tells us some interesting (and, I think, positive) things about the MoCo’s direction.

The Pan America 1250 ST was revealed this week amid a flurry of 2025 announcements, all pitched within a marketing campaign that leans heavily into the Harleyness of it all. I don’t think anyone would ever accuse Harley-Davidson Motor Company of being a member of the Woke Brigade. But, in the last decade it’s arguably placed a little more emphasis on the “Motor Company” part of its identity.

When the Pan America 1250 was first introduced, for example, there was a focus on features and comparison against other brands. It was portrayed in a badass way, of course, but not in a way that screamed: “THIS IS AN AMERICAN-MADE HARLEY-DAVIDSON FROM GOD’S OWN MOTORCYCLE COMPANY!”

Take a look at this ad from seven years ago. There are a lot of familiar Harley themes ─ freedom, independence ─ but notice that the emphasis is on family (children, in particular), community, the future, and innovation. At no point does the ad mention that Harleys are made in the United States. Instead, it references “the world” no less than six times.

(Man, it’s wild to see how many of those ideas from 2018 have since been scrapped.)

Even in launching traditional models, like its overhauled Softail line-up, Harley focused journalists’ minds on the modernity of the bikes’ engines and chassis. It portrayed itself as a global brand, on the same stage as, say, Triumph or BMW or whatever.

Compare that with the tone in its 2025 marketing. 

“Alright, listen up,” the ad begins. “For over 120 years, we’ve made the best damn motorcycles in the world.”

That’s the only time the rest of the planet gets mentioned and it’s done in a pretty aggressive way. Thereafter, you get reference to an American city (in what Sarah Palin would have called “Real America”), American workers, and the American spirit – all amid images of bikes tearing through quintessentially American landscapes.

“We live life… on our terms,” growls the voiceover. “No agendas. No drama. No bullshit.”

That’s Harleyness turned to 11: America, America, America, a disregard for grammar (it should be “more than 120 years”), and an emphasis on exceptionalism ─ both in the sense of superiority and separateness. If you want to call it nonsense I won’t disagree, but I’ll admit that some part of me likes it.

Harley-Davidson is never going to produce the equivalent of a Honda CB1000 Hornet. You can argue yourself blue in the face over whether that’s good or bad, but at some point you have to accept that it’s true. And I find that, emotionally, I like Harley-Davidson most when it embraces that reality, when it’s arrogant about it.

Indeed, when I worked for Harley’s UK PR team I regularly pitched an idea for a print ad that would have simply been a picture of a badass model ─ eg, Low Rider S ─ and the strap line: “YOU’RE FUCKING WELCOME.”

No one ever bought it, for obvious reasons, but Harley’s use of “bullshit” in this ad makes me feel there might be a place for me in Milwaukee.

A legitimate sport tourer

Anyhoo, back to the new Pan America 1250 ST. In many ways, it’s the bike you know, but one that abandons off-road pretense.

From an engine standpoint, it’s the same Pan America 1250 that came out in 2021: 1252cc liquid-cooled 60-degree V-twin, promising 150 horsepower and 91 lb-ft of torque. But Harley has slimmed down the bike’s look (largely by removing adventure paraphernalia, like crash bars), and given it 17-inch wheels and a lowered suspension to make it far more road-focused. 

If we accept that the 150hp Suzuki GSX-S1000GX is a sport tourer, I think we have to accept that Harley’s not out of line in giving this bike an ST designation. Although, it does have a 246 kg wet weight. So, more tourer than sport.

Some of that weight is coming from Harley’s Adaptive Ride Height system, which comes standard on the ST. The system magically and imperceptibly lowers the bike’s ride height by up to 5 cm at stops, making it easier to throw a leg over. Which is something that may not actually be necessary, because Harley has reduced ride height on this model to just 805 mm, or 31.7 inches. That is less than a Cheerio taller than the seat height on the Royal Enfield Classic 650 (according to the internet, a Cheerio is 8 mm wide/thick, whereas the difference between the Harley and the Royal Enfield is 5 mm).

The presence of that ARH system is probably also to blame for the ST’s £16,995 starting price ─ £1,000 more than the base model Pan America 1250. For the sake of paying less, the standard version is still the one I’d go for but I genuinely do believe Harley when it says these changes make for a better road vehicle. 

What it means

What I love most about the ST, however, is that it exists. Harley has never been precious about its models; if something doesn’t work, it usually gets the boot. Indeed, I can think of a few examples (XR1200, Bronx 975), where I’ve felt HDMC was a little too quick on the gun to kill a project. So, to see the company not only keeping the Pan America 1250 and Pan America 1250 Special, but expanding the platform to the ST ─ as well as rolling out another CVO Pan America for 2025 ─ is encouraging.

Rah-rah Harleyness aside, the Pan America platform offers one of the best takes out there when it comes to the adventure touring idea. Riders have been slow to embrace it because to buy one inherently means having to visit a Harley-Davidson dealership, but that’s changing. Just look at the series of glowing articles that MCN published about the 2024 CVO Pan America it had on loan last year. One writer was so enraptured that he ended up telling everyone they should join a HOG chapter.

Another thing to note – which, admittedly, may not mean anything – is that Harley is still referring to it as the Pan America 1250. I don’t remember the details of the NDAs I signed when working on Harley’s PR team, so it’s probably safest if I don’t discuss whether I saw plans for such a thing… But… you know… one interpretation of continued use of the “1250” part of the name might be that there are plans to offer Pan Americas in different displacements. After all, Harley already has a 975cc version of its Revolution Max engine, which it used in the Nightster.

Certainly such an idea was floated almost nine years ago, when Harley first revealed that it was working on an adventure machine. Keeping the “1250” in the ST’s name makes me wonder if it could still happen.