Punchy Promise for the 2021 Bronx Streetfighter
The Bronx needs to deliver performance and handling at a competitive price.
Neophyte Middle-Weight
The Bronx Streetfighter is Harley-Davidson's latest gambit to attract a new rider segment. Aptly named after New York City's rough and tumble borough, the Bronx might be the Motor Company's toughest sell to date. Slated for a late-2020 release, it enters the well-established and competitive sport bike arena. Does this neophyte middle-weight have what it takes to survive elimination?
Prototyping Deviation
The Bronx is a significant design deviation for the Motor Company. Their last foray into sport bike territory was the unsuccessful Buell Motorcycle partnership, and the race-only 1994 VR1000. Still in prototyping, the Bronx has already received a lukewarm reception from the MoCo faithful, yet the moto-media has offered the MoCo praise for branching out from traditional cruisers.
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Fight Club
Harley-Davidson is throwing down the gloves with its soon-to-be brawler. Under the banner of 'Fight Club,' the Motor Company is boasting an “unapologetic attitude with the performance necessary to back it up.” The Bronx may indeed deliver on its swagger with the new Revolution Max motor, but it has a critical flaw, according to a 2019 RideApart article titled: Not Much Rumble In The Bronx.
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Distinctive Look
RideApart states that the Bronx's Achilles heel is its looks, but they waver. While it “looks rather good, especially that big engine in the small frame...there's also nothing all that distinctive about it, either. Remove the Harley-Davidson name from the gas tank, and you wouldn't be able to tell who made it.” Quelling criticism, RideApart follows with another poignant observation.
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Family Forte
The Bronx needs a dose of traditional styling — Harley-Davidson's forte. RideApart's plea is for the Bronx to demonstrate that it is “still part of the Family,” by making it “stand out a bit more from its competition.” The prediction is that Motor Company dealers are going to have a hard time explaining why the Bronx is better than the competition it so closely resembles.
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Andy Sparrow
Streetfighters have utilitarian roots. They originated in Europe during the mid-1980s. With narrow streets, dense city traffic and legal lane splitting, the plastic fairings of new sport bikes presumably took a beating. Even before smashed 'Gixxers' were being resurrected as 'naked bikes,' Andy Sparrow drew what is considered to be the first Streetfighter template in his edgy cartoon: Bloodrunners — commissioned by Bike magazine in 1983.
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Metallurgical Art
Harley-Davidson's stripped-down aesthetic is a smart design choice, with an innovative and rebellious history. Streetfighters quickly became popular with 'stunters' and 'hooligan' riding. By the early-1990s, custom shops were building stronger lattice-style frames — since dubbed 'metallurgical art.' By 1994, the Streetfighter trend went mainstream and factory-built examples emerged, beginning with the Triumph Speed Triple and more recently, the 2009 Ducati Streetfighter.
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Different Segments
The Bronx promises to be exciting, but it faces the challenge of straddling two radically different segments of the motorcycle riding population. Looks and pedigree aside, the Bronx must deliver performance and handling at a competitive price. If it works out for Harley-Davidson, Bronx riders just might face the dilemma of which group to park with at bike night — sportbikes or cruisers?
>>Join the conversation about 2021Bronx Streetfighter right here in Harley-Davidson Forum!
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