Motor Company Finds Partner to Create a New 338cc Motorcycle
By Bruce Montcombroux

Harley-Davidson to ply its brand cachet in Asia with the new HD350 Project.

 

"Harley-Davidson is following in the footsteps of BMW and KTM. Hopes are that the Chinese Harley-Davidson x Benelli bike will be a better success than the Street Rod. If the affordable HD338 makes it to America, it might well attract the sought-after younger rider base, but for now, it will only ply its brand cachet in Asia. "

BMW and KTM both chose India rather than China, so the MoCo better their QC people on top of Qinjiang. They'll sell a ch!tload of these in Asia.
Here in the U.S.? Not so much, I think.

 

is "338 " sort of like "883" backwards...?

 

If the MoCo thinks they will get away with building motorcycles in Red China and importing them here they got another think coming. Especially after closing the KC plant.100% tariffs. PDJT already warned them.

 

Here's the bar.

https://www.yamahamotorsports.com/hy...d/models/mt-03


I checked out the KTM 390 duke as a possible hooligan commuter. I'm only 5'6" with my shoes on and it felt cramped as ****. Also the plastic looks like the cheap stuff they'd use on a Barbie House, not a motorcycle. The controls were cheap as well. The brake and clutch levers flopped around as well something awful.

 

yeah, settle down there. they don't have any intention of marketing those in the us. those are directly aimed at the asian market.

 

Maybe building shitty motorcycles is like population control in China...

 

The smaller powered bikes are very popular in the Asian countries, India and even some middle eastern countries. There's a large population to tap into that they haven't been able to touch yet. If that's what it takes for them to turn things around, I'm all for it and I hope its suscessful. Its a changing world and those companies that don't change with the times, well you know what happens to them.

 

I checked out the Duke 390. too, and at the time there was only one within 100 miles of my home. Apparently KTM is less than reliable as far as availability and parts. The dealer told me that they were no longer being made in India (BS detectors buzzing loudly!) but in Austria, and they wouldn't budge a nickel on the price. One thing that impressed me negatively is that the 390 has throttle-by-wire, but no cruise control! Which is crazy-once you have TBW, cruise control is just software, with a marginal cost of $0, and would be a great selling point, even on a small bike like the 390.

I went down the street and bought me a Yamaha MT-07 (no cruise control LOL!) for a few dollars more. Glad I did, almost twice the displacement, better performance, and build quality far superior.

That said, I saw the BMW 310 and the build quality was very good, considering, although I wasn't in the market for a small BMW (the S1000RR is a VERY hard act to follow!). I hear good things about the Royal Enfields, too, although I haven't seen one in person. It looks like India is a better choice for outsourcing manufacturing, motorcycles at least. MoCo, take note.

 

The Kawasaki Ninja 400/Z400 are hard to beat in that class. HD has their work cut out for them.