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Harley-Davidson Street 500 New fighter on the city streets
JP/Awo Seto WardhanaThe Street 500 has hit the road and the lightweight and affordable Harley-Davidson motorcycle is ready to roam the busy streets of Jakarta at a price aimed at attracting younger men and women riders
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JP/Awo Seto Wardhana
The Street 500 has hit the road and the lightweight and affordable Harley-Davidson motorcycle is ready to roam the busy streets of Jakarta at a price aimed at attracting younger men and women riders.
PT Mabua Harley Davidson (MHD), the sole authorized local dealer for the motorbike brand, launched earlier this month the smallest and least expensive bike the company has offered in years.
The Street 500 ' and its brother, the Street 750 ' are built for the new generation and marketed at a different segment of the traditional Harley-Davidson market in Indonesia.
Smaller, lower and designed more compactly, the Street 500 is made for comfortable urban riding through the unforgiving streets and traffic of the capital.
'The series has been postponed, because it is the newest member of the Harley-Davidson family with a very affordable price and competitive edge in its segment,' Irvino Edwardly, MHD director for sales and marketing said during the launch in Jakarta earlier this month.
Irvino said that the Street 500 would pave the way for new users of Harley-Davidson: younger men and women riders.
'This is not the traditional Indonesian Harley owner segment,' Irvino said, adding that the targeted customers were between 20 and 30.
Irvino also said the Street 500's marketing concept of 'urban, authentic and soul', referred to the highly urban design of the ride without moving from the signature Harley-Davidson character and its customizable element to make every Harley ride unique.
The Street 500 is built around a new engine ' the 494-cc, liquid cooled 'Revolution X' 60-degree V-Twin with 4-valves per head, which produces 40 Nm of torque at 3500 rpm.
The ride is 220 kilograms wet, which is still a bit large for a city bike, but with a 1,511-millimeter wheel base and lower center of gravity, the Street 500 is easy enough to maneuver and handle around the city corners, even for smaller drivers, with its 6-speed transmission and belt drive engine.
Its manufacturer claims the Street 500 gets 17.4 kilometers per liter fuel efficiency under mixed conditions.
The Street 500 is supported by telescopic forks on its front wheel and dual shocks, a box-section swing arm at the rear and single-caliper disc brakes, readying it to conquer rough Jakartan roads and weekend rolling thunder tours.
The ride follows Harley-Davidson Dark Custom styling, sporting 'Night Rod' inspired headlights with a café-style speed screen, a short mud guard, teardrop shaped tank and LED tail light at the back with two-in-one exhausts and pull-back handle bars.
However, Irvino said that like all Harley bikes, the Street 500 was made to be customized and its look could be easily change by the owner.
'You can turn it into a full cafe racer or an old school chopper; it's all in your hands,' he said.
The Street 500 is offered for an off-the-road price of Rp 219 million (US$17,300) ' quite low price for its class. It's engine hit a fortunate sweet spot of 494-cc ' just below the 500-cc mark and narrowly missed the dreaded luxury tax.
MHD is ambitiously targeting to sell 500 Street 500s next year, which would comprise half of the total number of Harleys they want to sell for 2015.
