Harley-Davidson Just Trademarked RMCR and RMXR, and I Think It Wants Me to Have Feelings
Harley just filed federal trademarks for RMCR and RMXR -- a Revolution Max cafe racer and flat tracker -- and for once the trademark office did the leaking instead of a spy photographer.
Harley-Davidson just filed the paperwork for two names I’ve been hoping to see on a showroom floor for years, and for once this isn’t a spy shot of a bike wearing camouflage tape — it’s a trademark office doing the leaking.
Harley-Davidson Files Trademarks for RMCR and RMXR
Harley-Davidson filed two intent-to-use federal trademark applications with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on 29 July 2026: RMCR (serial no. 50020187) and RMXR (serial no. 50020053), both covering International Class 012 — motorcycles and structural parts. An intent-to-use filing means Harley hasn’t sold a single motorcycle under either name yet; the company is formally asserting a good-faith plan to use them, which is the earliest paper trail a new nameplate leaves before anyone builds a press kit around it.
CEO Artie Starrs has already been talking up rider reaction to the RMCR concept shown at events including Daytona and the MotoGP round at Circuit of the Americas: “It’s got an extraordinary buzz and feedback from our riding community, and I think that would be the type of motorcycle — in terms of large displacement powertrain — that you can expect us to get feedback from riders, and you might see that from us in the market.”
What RMCR and RMXR Actually Point To
The “RM” prefix is the tell: it’s Harley’s internal shorthand for the liquid-cooled Revolution Max engine family that already powers the Pan America, Sportster S, and Nightster, rather than the air-cooled Sportster platform of old. Pair that with the rest of each name and the two nameplates map onto specific, recognisable segments:
- RMCR — Revolution Max Café Racer. A modern café racer built on the 1250cc Revolution Max V-twin (150 hp), first shown publicly at the Mama Tried Show in Milwaukee, then Daytona Bike Week and the MotoGP round at Circuit of the Americas. It’s a tribute to Willie G. Davidson, the original XLCR’s designer, dressed in carbon-fibre bodywork on the front fairing, tank top and tail — and it would be Harley’s first proper café racer since the XLCR went out of production in the late 1970s.
- RMXR — Revolution Max Flat Tracker. A flat-track-inspired street bike drawing a direct lineage from the XR750 dirt tracker and the road-going XR1200/XR1200X sold from 2006 to 2013.
| RMCR | RMXR | |
|---|---|---|
| Filed | 2026-07-29 | 2026-07-29 |
| USPTO serial no. | 50020187 | 50020053 |
| Engine (expected) | 1250cc Revolution Max | Revolution Max family |
| Lineage | XLCR café racer (1977-1979) | XR750 / XR1200 flat tracker |
| Status | Trademark filed, no production confirmed | Trademark filed, no production confirmed |
What we know
- Both trademarks were filed the same day, on an intent-to-use basis, meaning no motorcycle has been sold under either name yet.
- An RMCR café racer concept has already been shown publicly at Daytona and COTA, and Harley’s own CEO has commented positively on rider feedback to it.
- Both names use the “RM” Revolution Max prefix, tying them to the liquid-cooled engine platform rather than the traditional air-cooled Sportster line.
What’s still unclear
- Trademark filings protect a name; they don’t confirm a production date, a price, or even that the bike reaches market at all.
- No confirmed specs exist yet for either bike beyond the engine family they’re expected to share.
- Whether RMXR has been shown publicly in any concept form isn’t confirmed the way RMCR has.
Why This Matters
A trademark filing is about as far upstream as a leak gets — it’s the company itself putting a name on file before anything else exists publicly. Harley hasn’t built a proper café racer since the Carter administration, and reviving the XR750’s road-going lineage with a modern flat tracker is exactly the kind of move that could pull a very specific type of rider — myself included — back into a Harley dealership for the first time since ever. I’ve already mentally slotted an RMCR next to my own garage’s worth of bikes I don’t ride enough, right alongside the trip to Daytona I keep telling myself I’ll plan “next year.”
Harley’s Revolution Max platform has been busy elsewhere too — see the Royal Enfield Continental GT 750 test mule currently being tested as a rival in the same modern-classic space, and the wider Chinese-brand café-racer-adjacent moves from CFMoto, Kove, QJMotor and Voge that are increasingly crowding this segment in Europe.
FAQ
What does RMCR stand for?
Trade reporting reads it as “Revolution Max Café Racer” — a modern café racer built on Harley’s liquid-cooled 1250cc Revolution Max engine, which already powers the Pan America and Sportster S.
What does RMXR stand for?
It’s read as “Revolution Max Flat Tracker,” pointing to a street bike inspired by Harley’s XR750 dirt tracker and the road-going XR1200/XR1200X models sold from 2006 to 2013.
Does a trademark filing mean these bikes are confirmed for production?
No. It’s an intent-to-use filing, meaning Harley has a good-faith plan to use the names but hasn’t sold anything under them yet. Trademark filings are an early signal, not a launch confirmation.
Has Harley shown either bike publicly?
An RMCR café racer concept has already appeared at events including Daytona and the MotoGP round at Circuit of the Americas, and Harley’s CEO has spoken positively about rider reaction to it. No public RMXR concept has been confirmed.
Patent filing: https://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=50020187&caseType=SERIAL_NO&searchType=statusSearch
