Harley-Davidson café racer and flat tracker patents leaked; launch expected in 2022

- Harley-Davidson files patents for a café racer and a flat tracker

- Likely to be powered by the Pan America’s 1250cc V-twin motor

- Were shown in an investors’ presentation last year

Harley-Davidson’s future plan, touted as ‘More Roads to Harley-Davidson’ seems to have more excitement in store for us than we already know. We are aware of its upcoming Pan America adventure bike, Bronx streetfighter, high-performance Custom model along with other electric concepts. Our recent report had also covered about two more bikes in Harley's future line-up including a cafe racer and a flat tracker. Now, patents of these bikes have appeared online, giving us more details about them. 

The patent images show that both the bikes are based on Harley’s new modular platform. The design of the engine looks closely similar to that of the Pan America’s 1250cc, 60-degree, V-twin engine. Besides sharing the same motor, both bikes also appear to be based on an identical steel trellis frame which uses the engine as the stressed member while the front suspension setup is also common. 

Where both bikes are majorly distinctive is in the styling department. The café racer apparently takes inspiration from the Harley-Davidson XLCR of 1970s with a bubble fairing, rounded yet sleek fuel tank and a tiny underseat cowl. The motorcycle also features dual shock absorbers at the rear and a box-type swingarm, similar to its forefather. 

On the other hand, the flat tracker sports a compact, oval-shaped headlamp, a skid plate, larger 19-inch wheels and tubular swingarm. The highlight of this design is the side-mounted dual-barrel exhaust setup which will give it a distinctive appeal. The overall design of this model harks back to the XR750 and XG750R, the bikes with which Harley would compete in flat track racing. 

Harley-Davidson had given us a glimpse of these models in an investor’s presentation last year. The fact that it didn’t give any launch timeline about these bikes back then makes us believe that they won’t break covers before 2022. Considering their expected displacement and purpose, the café racer will compete against the Triumph Thruxton while the flat tracker will go up against the Indian FTR 1200.