Harley-Davidson Announces New Movie Telling Origin Story Of Adventure Motorcycles

It’s real, and it’s spectacular. Fastest I’ve ever clicked “buy.”

Wait! Not so fast. What are you talking about Mac?

Today was historic. The original film starts out greeting thrillseekers, music lovers and conversationalists all across the frozen plains.

You had me at; “You’re here by the grace of your lineage.”

But, I’ve wandered off the main trail.

Our “movie hero,” Jochen Zeitz, chairman, president and CEO Harley-Davidson, was an actor riding — yes, RIDING — an actual motorcycle.  That in of itself might be a first?!  There he was in the scenic landscape of Kenya, Africa no less.  Traveling to the vast wildlife preserves to lasso the FIRST twin Adventure Motorcycle and bring it back to Made in America!

Nothing to see here Buell owners.

The emotional exhaustion of this past year must have gripped Mr. Zeitz’ soul, as he peered out onto the Segera Retreat, where a herd of zebra graze, swishing their tails in unison to keep the flies away.  Where a long giraffe at the outer edges of the garden keeps him company as he ploughs through a lengthy to-do list waiting for the Milwaukee employees to wake up.

Today Mr. Zeitz must be just thrilled of simply being alive and to share his wisdom with the motorcycle adventure world.

At the film preview, Journalists cheered… remotely of course.  There were tears and applause, then more tears as the press fell apart during the historical Harley-Davidson Pan America launch today.  Harley-Davidson told a syrupy sympathetic story with dramatic musical overdubs on how the motor company always made off-road bikes. The film narrator described that this isn’t Harley’s first dirt rodeo. You might recall, that back in the 1960s and 70s, Harley offered a variety of small dual-sports, and even briefly got into the motocross game. Harley filled the gap in their lineup by purchasing the Italian motorcycle manufacturer Aermacchi. Not too long after, Harley gave up on the idea of small dirt bikes and sold Aermacchi, which eventually became the company we know today as Cagiva.

It’s fairly evident that the motorcycle press has become nothing but “exhausting love letters to consumerism.” I’ll save my cynicism as a more legitimate response to a product launch once I have a chance to fully review the stats vs. just post another emotional reaction.

We all know that Harley-Davidson is trying to break into the popular adventure motorcycle scene with the 2021 Pan America 1250 and Pan America 1250 Special. The motorcycle and dealer network will compete with some of Europe’s top players, including the BMW GS 1250, KTM 1290 Adventure, and the Ducati Multistrada V4. Harley-Davidson pricing begins at $17,319 for the base model and $19,999 for the Special. The models will arrive at Harley-Davidson dealerships in spring 2021.

For me, it was an immense privilege both physically and spiritually to witness the Pan America launch via film/video. #sarcasmalert

Image courtesy of YouTube: Harley-Davidson Original Film (25:45 minutes)

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‘Coronavirus’

I truly hope you all are healthy while staying safe.

To state the obvious: we are all drowning under a steady drip of negative and sometimes outright terrifying news.

With social media and cable television, we can get this drip, drip, drip of dangerous news 24/7. And given the intense competition between the different “news” sources, it has created an environment of doing whatever it takes to increase clicks and views in support of more ad revenue.  Adding to this are the bad actors out there.  They have goals to take advantage of the current structure of social media to excite, energize or anger audiences making it very difficult to stem the tide of disinformation.  In fact, according to some news reports, Russian trolls are already engaged in disinformation campaigns around COVID-19.

There are three factors that seem to encourage the pessimism spiral. The first is a belief that the events that have occurred are permanent. In other words, if things are bad, things will stay bad. The second is a belief that what has happened will have a pervasive and apocalyptic effect on our lives. And the third is the issue of blame, finding someone, not just someone who is accountable, but someone who can be blamed with all the emotion that goes along with that process.

I want to avoid the temptation to play armchair psychologist, but recognizing that inside voice that is making those negative remarks and arguing against yourself, while putting things in true perspective can help to be more optimistic.

There is relief and why, perhaps now more than ever, motorcycle blogs are essential. I hope you agree.

Blog dispatches from across the country about motorcycle wanderings—this can provide a welcome diversion, a brief reprieve from the current restrictions we’re all living under, and a reminder of the thirst for motorcycle adventures we’ll all need to sate when this pandemic has finally passed.

One day soon, this crazy time of social distancing and sheltering at home will be behind us and we’ll be immersed riding with the sun on our backs and the wind in our face!

Photo taken by author — “The Valley Isle” Sunset, Hawaii (March 2020).

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