Unleash the Outlaw

I rode the Harley-Davidson adventure bike Sebastian Stan manhandles in Thunderbolts*. It'll bring out the rebel in you.

- by ERIC HENDRIKX

A lowered suspension and 17-inch wheels optimize handling.

SIX MINUTES. That's how long it took for the antihero in me to emerge after throwing a leg over Harley-Davidson's 2025 Pan America 1250 ST.

I've spent years chasing that feeling—riding everything from stripped-down customs to high-strung sportbikes—but few bikes ignite it this fast. Six minutes from the first ignition crackle in front of my place in Laurel Canyon to charging through its twisted labyrinth of narrow roads and ascending curves, engine snarling beneath me. By the time I hit the 101, bounding past cars, the San Gabriel Mountains pulling me east, I was the outlaw in the saddle.

There's something transformative about this bike. Maybe it's knowing that Sebastian Stan's Winter Soldier rides this exact machine in Marvel's Thunderbolts*—the first time a production bike like this rolled straight off the factory line and onto a film set without a single modification. No custom fairings. No tricked-out internals.

As Alan Barsi, Harley-Davidson's fleet manager, told me when he dropped the bike off at my door, “We delivered four or five of these totally stock for Thunderbolts*. No mods. The bike you see in the movie is exactly how you can buy it from the dealer. That's never happened before.”

Over the next week, I set out to put the Pan America 1250 ST through its paces— climbing the scenic highway through the Angeles National Forest, blasting across the dusty backroads of the Mojave, and weaving through L.A.'s urban sprawl.

THE LOOK AND FEEL

Standing in my driveway, the Pan America ST doesn't try to charm you. It stands tall and muscular, every line cut with intention, a machine ready to bite back. The blacked-out livery, 5.6-gallon fuel tank designed to take you the distance, and low-profile fender and windscreen give it a stripped-down, utilitarian presence—adventure bike meets American rebellion.