Type-approvals show changes to 465kg RL2000S bagger and RX2000 cruiser
The name ‘X-Wedge’ might be familiar to some as the off-the-shelf V-twin cruiser engine developed in the mid-00s by American customer powertrain specialists S&S but since 2023 the entire project has been adopted by China’s Huansong – parent to the HiSun ATV brand – and used in a range of Harley-style cruisers and trikes sold under the X-Wedge brand.
X-Wedge has only recently reached the stage of starting exports, initially to Malaysia, but in the longer term hopes to follow in the footsteps of other Chinese companies to become a global presence.
New Chinese type-approvals reveal that two of the company’s key models are getting tweaks: the RL2000S bagger and the RX2000 cruiser. Both are powered by the same 74kW, 1976cc engine, with a square 107.95mm bore and stroke measurement and a 56.25-degree V-angle, as originally developed by S&S, and share the same chassis, suspension and brake parts.
The changes include a new, blacked-out look for both models, losing the chrome engine and exhaust parts seen on the original 2023 versions of the bikes, as well as ditching their chrome headlight surrounds and adding a new wheel design that’s shared across both machines.
As before, they’re hefty beasts – the RX weighs 365kg and the RL2000S is 425kg wet – and well-spec’d with tech like keyless start.
It’s going to be interesting to see how the market reacts to these bikes when wider exports get underway. The cruiser market is notoriously brand-sensitive, and in the past even lengthy and well-funded efforts by the big Japanese brands to break into Harley-Davidson’s territory fell largely flat. But motorcyclists are becoming less loyal and on a global scale the rapid growth of relatively unknown Chinese upstarts has been a shock to some parts of the biking establishment. With a strong S&S-based engine the X-Wedge bikes could prove surprising as and when they manage to get out to a broader audience.
