Ever since Harley-Davidson went quiet on the way forward for the seemingly ill-fated Bronx streetfighter, we’ve been ready for The Motor Co. to construct one thing really spicy with their 150-horsepower Revolution Max engine. The brand new Sportster S is a step in the suitable route, however it’s held again by confused styling, a hefty visible weight, and cruiser-like ergonomics. Maybe the reply lies inside the Harley-Davidson Pan America 1250 as a substitute.
The Harley Pan America made waves within the journey motorbike market when it launched, however it’s turned out to be extra versatile than we initially thought. Customized Pan Americas have began crawling out of the woodwork, and it turns on the market’s a fairly wild motorbike hiding below all of that bodywork.
Right here to show that time is Chris Scholtka, the person behind Motocrew. The German firefighter-slash-custom motorbike builder has simply labored his magic on the Pan Am, turning it right into a gnarly flat tracker. However we reckon it’d work simply in addition to a avenue bike—offered you set the entrance brake again on.
The mission was conceived whereas Chris was kicking again with Lars Würdemann, a suspension engineer on the German journey equipment firm Touratech. They had been discussing the potential of a {custom} construct to showcase Touratech’s suspension choices, and attempting to choose what motorbike to make use of for the mission.
“After some speaking and a few whisky,” Chris tells us, “we invited Martin Wickert—Touratech’s chief advertising and marketing officer—to the dialog. He allowed us to seize an Harley Pan America from the Touratech growth division. The bike had ridden to Norway and again to check some Touratech elements.”
A few months later, the Pan America arrived at Chris’ workshop in Cottbus. After racking his brains for some time, he settled on the concept of constructing a flat monitor race bike. So he contacted some mates from Germany’s Krowdrace flat monitor racing collection to wrap his head across the laws.
“We would have liked 19” rims, an emergency engine cease, and, after all, no entrance brake,” he says. “For some insider information, I concerned an outdated good friend from my motocross days, Kai Haase. A professional freestyle motocrosser and the primary rider to ever do a nostril bonk entrance flip on an FMX bike, he’s a multi-talented bike nerd.”
“He gave me some information concerning the suspension and seat place. With that data and some hours on YouTube, I had sufficient data of what was essential for this mission.”
Chris sketched out some concepts, then tore the Pan America down and began determining methods to execute his idea. As soon as he’d fabricated an all-new subframe, he shortly realized that the 21.2 l [5.6 gal] gas tank must go. “I wished to construct a sporty flat monitor bike—not an enormous journey elephant,” he quips.
First, he constructed a smaller aluminum reservoir to carry round 9 l [2.4 gal] of gas. Then he took the Pan America’s unique tank covers, minimize them up, and used the items to construct the brand new bodywork. The result’s a slimmer tank that also retains a few of the unique aesthetic.
Subsequent, Chris ditched the Pan Am’s airbox in favor of a brand new 3D-printed consumption. It’s fed by a chunky Ok&N air filter that pokes out in entrance of the tank. It additionally sucks much more air, so Chris turned to the Harley tuning specialists at Don Efficiency to work out a {custom} engine mapping.
That additionally allowed him to ditch the bike’s lambda sensors, and to run exhaust headers with much more girth. Chris tacked a brand new exhaust system collectively out of 90 pie-cut items, terminating in an off-the-shelf motocross-style muffler. The bike now makes 9.9 extra horsepower and 12 Nm extra torque, and weighs 32 kilos [70.5 lbs] much less.
The remainder of the bodywork consists of the modified quantity plate and rear fender from a Husqvarna FC450, and a pair of yellow plexiglass facet covers. Chris fitted a small LED mild up entrance and repurposed the unique Harley taillight on the again.
The facet covers are translucent for a purpose—they provide a peek on the bike’s {custom} Touratech suspension. The remote-reservoir rear shock options an simply accessible dial to set its preload by hand, together with a progressive spring, and rebound and compression adjusters. The entrance forks look inventory, however they’ve been shortened and rebuilt with all-new Touratech internals.
The bike now rolls on 19” wheels, constructed for the mission by Haan Wheels with Excel rims, {custom} spokes, Harley hubs, and Shinko tires. Bumping the Pan America’s rear wheel measurement up was simpler stated than completed; Chris needed to play with the chain size and relocate the voltage regulator, for starters.
Up entrance, he swapped out the bars and grips for brand spanking new Renthal elements and put in the requisite kill change and leash. The construct additionally sports activities the primary Motogadget sprint that may talk instantly with the Harley’s onboard software program. That signifies that Chris can use the bike’s full digital characteristic set, together with its rider modes, with out the penalty of an enormous TFT display. “The bike stood at Motogadget’s headquarters in Berlin for every week to develop it,” he tells us.
Ending the construct in spectacular model is a frenetic livery by Pablo Customized Portray in Gelsenkirchen; a daily Motocrew collaborator. Polsterwerk in Berlin added a seat cowl to match. The entire thing appears quick and frantic, with {custom} H-D badges adorning the brand new tank panels.
Chris has taken the Pan America to Touratech’s sales space at EICMA to indicate it off this week. Nevertheless it received’t keep on the present circuit for lengthy, as a result of he plans to enter it within the Krowdrace collection subsequent 12 months.
We did ask Chris if he ever plans to run the Pan X on the road, however he doesn’t suppose the exhaust will fulfill the native TÜV inspector. And as is customary with builds of this ilk, we’re additionally left questioning; is Harley-Davidson paying consideration?
Touratech | Motocrew Instagram | Photos by Illume
