H-D set to launch all-new, more ‘accessible’ Sprint at under $6K
According to reports by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and several other news publications, Harley-Davidson is planning on the release of a smaller, more affordable, entry-level motorcycle.
The company says the Harley-Davidson Sprint will be priced around $6,000 and will be available in 2026. However, U.S. dealers will get a sneak-peek of the new bike in October.
Reports say the Sprint will target both domestic and international markets. It will likely be a small-capacity motorcycle, aimed at attracting new riders and growing the company’s global footprint in the lower-displacement segment.
Harley-Davidson CEO Jochen Zeitz mentioned in a July 30 2Q conference call with investors that the Sprint has been in development since 2021.
“Inspired by our heritage and the spirit of the iconic Harley‑Davidson Sprint motorcycle, this new bike embodies boldness, irreverence and fun, capturing the rebellious energy that defines the Harley‑Davidson experience,” says Zeitz.
“This bike has been in development since 2021… We believe this motorcycle will not only be highly accessible, but also profitable, marking a significant step forward in driving Harley‑Davidson’s future profitable growth and opening up a new path… in future years for its key markets.” – Jochen Zeitz
Related reports add that the new Sprint will revive a bike first introduced in 1961 under Harley’s Aermacchi partnership, which featured a 250cc single-cylinder engine. This bike evolved into the Sprint 350 in 1969 before being discontinued in 1974. Similar to its 1961 predecessor, the Sprint reflects a broader plan to release a second entry-level cruiser in 2026.
Didn’t they try this with the street 500 and 750?
Who remembers Harley crying to the feds about imported motorcycles stealing their customers which resulted in a tariff on all bikes over 700 cc?? I sure do.. and I dislike it just as much now as I did back when they did it. As a motorcycle fanatic and rider with over fifty years of riding experience AND a motorcycle dealer of Japanese brand motorcycles I think* I have a pretty good feel for rider’s wants and needs. Very few teenagers who just passed their written motorcycle license examination desire a Harley – they want a sport bike or (like me) they want an on and off road motorcycle. IMHO Harley is suffering from a self inflicted and likely fatal disease caused by disenfranchising their core customers. The problem they are having stems from the old air cooled, chug-a-chug-chug-a century old technology based bikes not being capable of ,meeting the ever increasingly stringent emissions regulations. Don’t get me wrong, the newer liquid cooled and fuel injected models were a breath of fresh air (no pun intended) for Harley but it only served to further alienate their die hard customers. This new six thousand dollar entry level bike is NOT going to save the dealers, who have essentially become clothing boutiques for officially authorized harley garb. I can’t feel sorry for them as I have experienced their arrogance first hand, having a bag of rice placed on the seat of my old ’77 TS-250 while I looked around their store, and being ignored as I meet one going down the road and I throw out the universal motorcycle hand wave. I hate it for all the employees and their families but you have to agree that it is somewhat deserved…
Agree 100% with all the above as *I do* recall those tariffs Reagan put in place to save Harley from Honda. I have owned many motorcycles from USA, Japan and Italy for the last 48 years, most recently, both 2020 FLFBS and a highly modded Aprilia RAV4 after defecting from my 2008 1098 Ducati. IMNSHO, HD is unfortunately dying off like their customer base. Years ago I also ride competitive moto-x at Saddleback Park in Orange Co. Calif. riding,you guessed it, an Italian 2-stroke PoS called a “Sprint” which accompanied my iron head sportster I rebuild from rusty junk. That Sprint, like its name ran fast and died hard from a melted piston (still on my desk) after which I went with a Hodaka Wombat and actually started willing races ! We’ll just have to wait and see how the reincarnated Sprint will do – in the meantime, watch HOG stock..
The Sprint wasn’t a 2-stroke. The 2-strokes were Rapido, Baja, Shortster, TX-125, SX-125,SX-175,SX-250, MX-250. And others. The early Sprints were 250 horizontal cylinder 4-stroke, like the early Moto Guzzi. Later Sprints were 350, along with SX-350 and SS-350.
I also started riding streetable motorcycles at 15…that was in 1970…I still ride my heritage classic harley to this day.
My first harley was a 1966 magneto ignition sportster, that I bought for 100.00 and came in half a dozen boxes. After putting together this bike as a rigid chopper with money I saved from paper routes ,at 18 I cruised around the country. Years later bought a superglide built that up with s/s performance parts and rode that for over 20 years. For me harley was a learning experience both mechanical and spiritual. I could never afford the upfront price of a brand new Harley….but with patience I could rebuild one and ride it with PRIDE! This is still the only brand close to my soul, and always will be
The Japanese motorcycle industry did what the Japanese car manufactures did, back in the 80’s. Flooded the market with cheap bikes. Because they paid their employees next to nothing. The Motor Company couldn’t compete, thus the tariffs. And they saved a great American company. I’ve owned Asian bikes, they’re nice, efficient and basically reliable…with absolutely no soul, compared to HD.
You are correct. Worse HD doesn’t do tech well. My nephew has a PanAmerica continually fraught with sensor/tech issues. Its nearly unrideable. Now, I’ve been a customer of my local dealership for 40+ years, my current 96 1200 Sportster C I believe was Harley’s peak. The dealer says my bike isnt worth their time to work on. I was going to do tires and fork seals.No. They wont work on anything more than 5 years old. So, I asked a mechanic there outside the dealership, what that’s about. He said they were booked solid on warranty work for months in advance.
Couple this with serious engine issues with the M88 motor, inadequate oil pump, inadequate top end cooling, that addressing requires an additional investment of $5-8 grand (S&S parts) on top of a purchase price starting in the mid $20,000 range and who wants that? Danny Peterson wrote extensively about this in American Iron magazine. New HDs have expensive problems right off the showroom floor and HD lets them go out like that.
Any objective dealership employee is literally brainwashed into defending The Motor Company and the Harley Davidson Legacy at all costs. An objective question yields a blank stare and a conditioned reply. Screw That.
I’m old school, a frame, 2 wheels and an engine. No tech.reliable as I maintain her to be.
Further on Corporate Pissision Making, Seitz sank $25 billion into Live Wire and stated at a shareholder meeting he projected sales of 100,000 units by 2026. They sold 55. Not 55,000, not 5,500, 55 units sold at a loss of $18 billion to The Motor Company.
They killed themselves, their sales force are dealing with being released from a literal cult of a delusion that no longer exists.
Any comparable Honda will be 3 times as reliable at less than 1/2 the cost.j
Is it made in the USA, Jochen?
There is no motorcycle company nor auto company that is completely made in the usa. Majority of the auto parts are made overseas. Otherwise our bikes would cost more than $100k.
Let’s change that.
OK. Around $6K means $6999. Plus freight. Plus dealer setup. Plus Doc Fee. Plus tax and other fees. Plus extortionate interest rates. Be lucky if it comes in under $10K in real life.
What a field HD is entering! The Triumph Speed Twin. The Royal Enfield Classic 350. The BMW F310. The BSA Bantam? The Moto Morini 3-1/2. Of course the Japanese makers too.
If history is any guide, HD will have an overpriced, overweight, underpowered and unreliable offering.
. The unfortunate part is, it probably will be a 6990 bike and in the end, it’ll end up being at least 7500 to $8000 for the bike with lackluster performance.
It’d be great if HD made a competitor for the new MotoMorini 3 1/2. I know a 350 V-Twin is a fraction of their normal displacement, but it would allow some history to be retained, and the MotoMorini looks fabulous, so why not have a choice of small V-Twins?
Man it like this I bought a 2019 2020 limit special edition road glide brand new and it’s almost been in the shop more than I have gotten to ride it hell try to get my head light fixed because a screw fell out now I look at the tops of trees but got a line of shit now that the warranty is out and the dealership that I bought it from closed now they want me to pay out of pocket to fix it hell once from the shop then working on it I had to stop at a friend’s house and bolt everything back up because my tank was about to come off and she’s going down the road so if they think this Sprint is going to save their ass take out another thing coming
6k for 250cc? With how heavy Harley’s tend to be, might as well get a bicycle with a custom gear set up to go 30mph by foot. They cost way too much, they don’t have the power, and why so damn heavy when it’s going to get totaled out the first wreck it gets in? That 250 should be 4k. And honestly they should have taken buell back and made them their Japanese sport bike competitor instead of junking the plan because they got scared.
To ask the government for protection against more modernized competition is yet another shoot yourself in the foot approach. They must stay competitive by making bikes more reliable than their competition and stay innovative. To coward behind the tariffs is a short term fix at the symptoms and not the root of the problems at hand. It’s just like manipulating stock prices by buying back stocks but not truly improve the stock value.
All they really had to do is put the Sportster motor into a softail frame. Even BMW and Triumph saw the writing on the wall.
The Italian sprints were pretty solid mechanically but suffered from terrible electrics.
It’s rare to find one with over 15,000 miles on the odometer.
I had a few years ago.
Even restored one a couple decades ago using parts from an expert in California named Leslie.
If the timing was off ever so slightly you could really get hurt with that left footed Kickstart arm I tell ya!
Most of The Dealers hated the lightweight bikes.