We have already talked on several occasions about the Harley X350, the ‘small’ of the Milwaukee brand that will be manufactured in India by Hero MotoCorp, which is also in charge of distributing the different models of the Milwaukee brand in India.
The initial intention of this project is to compete in the Asian market, the most powerful in the world. There is an intense war between Royal Enfield and Honda, with their different 350s.
We’ve seen photos of the Harley 350 and 500, both powered by parallel twin-cylinder engines already found in some QJ Motors and Benellis. Both bikes (a ‘flat-tracker’ the 350 and a naked the 500) seem to be ready for series production.
Focusing on the 350, the twin engine of the bike in the photo is the 353 cc that mounts the QJ Motor SRK350 and the Chase 350. In this engine it yields 36 CV.
However, now a patent registration document has appeared with all Harley-Davidson models for 2023. Among other novelties, an X350RA appears, with a power of 23 CV.
This figure is far from the 36 CV of the parallel twin and is more typical of an air-cooled single-cylinder. In fact, it seems logical that if this motorcycle is destined to compete with the Royal Enfield and Honda, it would do so with their same weapons. The displacement, however, remains 353 cc, as in the ‘bi’ engine. Does it make sense to remove 13 CV? Not much…
An air-cooled single cylinder is much easier and cheaper to build than an LC twin, obviously, and one of the main arguments for competing in the Asian market is, of course, price.
On the other hand, the Hero-Harley X350RA offers, with its 23 CV, practically 3 CV more than its rivals, another argument in its favor. So will the Harley X350 ultimately be a single cylinder, or a very watered down twin?
We will have to follow this issue very closely.
