Small capacity Harley-Davidson details published in US documents

HARLEY-Davidson’s small capacity bike built in partnership with Qianjiang out of China has been in the works for almost three years now, but it continues to come closer to reality.

Motorcycle.com reports that the new American-Chinese production will be called the Harley-Davidson 338R, and “may be getting closer to launch, thanks to vehicle identification number (VIN) decoder information Qianjiang submitted to the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.”

Motorcycle.com detail how the VIN code determines certain characteristics of the bike. From the VIN, we can tell that the engine will be 353cc, fuel-injected, liquid-cooled, parallel-twin. They also say that the “VIN pattern does not match QianJiang’s typical VIN structure. It does, however, match Harley-Davidson’s.”

There are VIN decoders for two models, both to be produced in China by QianJiang for Harley-Davidson, with one being a ‘base’ model, and the other expected to be a ABS-equipped, according to Motorcycle.com.

It is also notable that the models in the decoders are from previous years, suggesting that the bikes are ready for production but require the solution of remaining problems before that production can begin. The VIN decoder is one of those problems that had to be overcome but, as Motorcycle.com say, it is not likely to be the only one.

However, the decoders do guarantee that what is expected to be the 338R Harley-Davidson is coming closer to the production phase. Precisely when we can expect the bikes to enter production is of course impossible to know at this stage, and further to that it is impossible to say when we might see a physical version of one, or when it might appear in a dealership. But, it remains true, the 338R is closer than it was before the release of these VIN decoders.