Harley-Davidson Invades The X Games
Paul Carruthers | January 23, 2014
And now for something completely different: How many of you equate the Winter X Games with Harley-Davidson? Probably not many. But that may change today as the Motor Company brings out its all-new Harley-Davidson Street 750 for a little ice-racing exhibition at the annual event in Aspen, Colorado, with AMA Grand National Champion Brad Baker, former champion Jared Mees and Mees’ flat-tracking wife, Nichole Mees.
“While the Street was designed to handle urban environments, its instant throttle response, lean chassis and super-low seat height make it perfect to ride anywhere,” said Dino Bernacchi, Director of North American Marketing Communications, Harley-Davidson Motor Company in a release. “We modified several Street motorcycles by adding steel screws to the tires and let the world’s best flat track racers tear up the ice at high speeds. We think fans will be captivated by the extreme attitude and beauty they’ll see on the ice.”
The Street 750 is Harley’s first all-new motorcycle platform in years and the Motor Company is hoping that the bike catches on with X-Games fans. After all, it’s the demographic that the new bike has been built for.
As part of its marketing approach with the new bike, Harley-Davidson will showcase the ice-racing exhibition during ESPN’s X Games Aspen today. Then it will watch what influence the bike had on the X Games fans as fans are being encouraged to share their comments via the Twitter (hashtag #XGIceRace). ESPN will share comments from fans during the last day of the broadcast, according to Harley.
The Street 750 from Harley-Davidson features the all-new liquid-cooled Revolution X engine – housed in a narrow and chassis built more for agility than the other Harleys. It gets a new suspension package, big handlebars and features minimalist styling so owners can easily customize.
“The attitude and capabilities of the Street were influenced by thousands of young adults in cities around the world,” added Bernacchi. “So while we think ice racing is hardcore, it’s only fitting that Harley-Davidson is having extreme sports fans around the world help decide the X Games fate of the sport.”
Paul Carruthers | Editor
Paul Carruthers took over as the editor of Cycle News in 1993 after serving as associate editor since starting his career at the publication in 1985. Carruthers has covered every facet of the sport in his near-28-year tenure at America’s Daily Motorcycle News Source.
