Announced as part of Harley Davidson's 'More Roads' future plan by previous CEO Matt Levatich, the Bronx streetfighter concept was then scotched by new CEO Jochen Zeitz. But is the concept as dead in the water as we all thought?

Harley Davidson Bronx: Still On Its Way?

Traditional it might be, but Harley Davidson has done a pretty stand-up job of keeping us on our toes in recent years. If the Livewire wasn't left-field enough, then the Pan America stretched our credulity to previously unheard of levels.

The Sportster S also came into being at around the same time, using the liquid-cooled Revolution Max engine as seen in the Pan Am. But a third model that really had us licking our lips was destined to be stillborn.

The Bronx streetfighter concept was slated to use a 975cc version of the Revolution Max engine in a naked sports bike design. The engine would ultimately find a home in the recently launched Nightster but the Bronx was deleted from the inboxes of Harley management, seemingly to never see the light of day. It seemed as if Zeitz was determined that the Pan AM would be as far off the reservation as Harley was prepared to go, while introducing more models that would appeal to H-D's traditional customers.

Now that the Sportster S and Nightster have done just that, is there now room for the Bronx to make a phoenix-like resurrection from the ashes?

One clue to that being the case comes in the form of Harley renewing its right to the Bronx name with the US Trademark Office, which it has to do within three years of the original filing or potentially losing the rights to the name.

There is another, rather tenuous, clue that the Bronx might not be dead. When the model was shown at the 2019 EICMA show in Milan, it looked extremely production ready and certainly not a show-crowd-pleasing mock-up. Would Harley really go to those lengths - and expense - to simply abandon the project, especially when the resulting model would be likely to be a big hit in Europe and elsewhere?

In 2020, Zeitz announced that the Bronx would not be appearing 'next year,' when the project was shelved. Now, maybe this is clutching at straws but that doesn't sound like an instruction to the experimental department to cut up their baby and throw the parts in the trash can. It definitely left the door slightly ajar. Will they now kick it open?

Harley has proved that it is not scared to pursue new avenues as well as continue along the well-worn path it has trodden since 1903. Of course, it needs to do this in order to survive and it would be a shame if the boldness it has recently displayed had burnt out already. The thought of more ground-breaking models from Milwaukee is one of the tastiest prospects in motorcycling at the moment.