Harley Davidson XR338 Street Tracker prototype revealed

KUALA LUMPUR: It is no secret that Harley-Davidson is working on a small-capacity 338R concept as the spied and patent images of the model had been leaked on the internet earlier this year. Initially, the American motorcycle manufacturer targeted its debut in June 2020, but the ongoing pandemic and the company’s other internal affairs left the future of this baby Harley uncertain.

In anticipation of the tiny tracker, an Italian design house ‘Engines Engineering’ has built its own, fully functional prototype of the bike that looks just similar to the model Harley teased earlier. Dubbed as the XR338, the rendering underpins the Benelli 302S as the base.

The designing house is specialized in motorcycle design and development and has already worked with several brands like Yamaha, Honda, Ducati, Benelli, and Suzuki. It was founded by Alberto Strazzari in 1979.

Talking about the design of the XR338, the naked street tracker draws major inspirations from Harley-Davidson XR750; the legendary flat tracker is celebrating its 50th Anniversary this year. “It is not only the most successful flat tracker in history but also one of the most beautiful motorcycles ever made. It was past time that an accessible tracker was made that captures that, and makes it available to a new generation,” says the designing firm.

With most of Benelli’s components on board, the XR338 Tracker gets its own modified frame for a more flowing affair. Aside from the bodywork and LED lighting mods, the company also revised the fuel system, instrumentation, and added 18-inch custom wheels, a new exhaust muffler, and an ECU unit to add more grunt to the XR338.

According to EE, the prototype is fully-functional and 70 percent ready for production. At its core, it uses a 300-cc parallel-twin engine that delivers 37.5 horsepower and 25.6 Nm of peak torque. It even complies with Euro 5 regulations, as well as the USA’s DOT and CARB certifications. 

Engines Engineering further states that so far it took 120 days to build this prototype and in another six months, it would be a production-ready model.

Image credit: Bikeexif.com

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