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There is life under 1340 cubic meters - Harley-Davidson Sportster

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Created on January 14, 2021

Text:

Rolf Lüthi

Photos:

Archiv Harley-Davidson

23

Archiv Harley-Davidson

23

Harley-Davidson Sportster XL 1200 CX (2016) - Does the footrest really touch the asphalt?

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Harley-Davidson K45 (1952) - forerunner of the Sportster series and technical basis of the first Sportster generation

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Harley-Davidson Sportster 55 (1957) - the first Sportster

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Harley-Davidson Sportster 55 (1957) - The engine of the Sportster 55 was roughly a K45 converted to OHV valve drive and bored to 883 cc

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Harley-Davidson Sportster 55 (1957) - Harley-Davidson wanted to attract sporty riders with the Sportster

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Harley-Davidson Sportster 55 (1957) - The chassis of the K models was adopted unchanged for the Sportster series. Harley-Davidson never produced a Sportster with a rigid frame

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Harley-Davidson Sportster 55 (1957) - Clear distribution of roles in 1957: the wild guy on his fast horse, admired by the future housewife and mother

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Harley-Davidson Sportster XLCH (1959) - as a scrambler version

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Harley-Davidson Sportster XLH (1967) - The 1967 Sportster XLH had become a touring machine with the appropriate accessories

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Harley-Davidson Sportster (1970) - In 1970, Cal Rayborn set the world speed record of 427.25 on the Bonneville Salt Lake in Utah on a streamliner powered by a 1480cc Sportster engine

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Harley-Davidson XR 750 (1970) - Probably the most successful racing motorcycle in the world with 36 US Flat Track Championship titles won

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Harley-Davidson XR 750 (1970) - For decades, the Harley Davidson XR 750 remained fully competitive - today, collector's prices are paid for these machines

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Harley-Davidson Sportster (1982) - Special model from 1982 to mark the 25th anniversary of the Sportster series

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Harley-Davidson Sportster (1986) - The Sportster Evo engine replaced the Ironhead engine in 1986

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Harley-Davidson Sportster XLH 883 Hugger (1988) - When the Sportster XLH 883 Hugger came onto the market in 1988, it immediately became a popular motorcycle for women, although Harley-Davidson never advertised it accordingly

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Harley-Davidson Sportster 1200 (1988) - From the late 1980s, Harley-Davidson experienced a boom that lasted until 2008 - but the Sportsters, here a 1200 from 1988, were always overshadowed by the Big Twins

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Harley-Davidson Sportster (2004) - Large and small front wheels, spoked and cast wheels, bulbous and teardrop-shaped tanks, flat and curved handlebars and many more variations

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Harley-Davidson Sportster XL 1200 N Nightster (2008) - In black and with raw cast aluminum for a change

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Harley-Davidson Sportster XLCR (1970) - Once a flop, now a coveted collector's item - one of these rare 1977 motorcycles was recently resold in Switzerland

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Harley-Davidson Sportster XR 1000 (1983) - Only a few Sportster XR 1000s were built in 1983 and 1984, even fewer came to Europe

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Harley-Davidson Sportster XL 1200 V Seventy-Two (2012) - Homage to the 1970s

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Harley-Davidson Sportster (2020) - Iron 1200, Forty-Eight, Iron 883

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Harley-Davidson Sportster XL 1200 CX Roadster (2020) - The modern Sportster

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Summary

With the Sportster, Harley-Davidson tried to catch up with the competition from England after the Second World War, who dominated the market with their light and fast motorcycles. Time was of the essence, which is why a new design was out of the question. In 1984, after a few difficult years, the new design was launched. The Sportster also became a success in Europe, despite smiling Harley enthusiasts. This is now a thing of the past, as the outgoing Sportster is not Euro 5-compliant. This article tells the story of this legendary motorcycle and shows the development of the model in many pictures.

This article contains the following chapters

New old design
Before the end in Europe
Start-up aid from the army and poor management
Ongoing model maintenance
Escaping the crisis
Old technology but constantly improved
Consistent success
From flop to top

Estimated reading time: 8min

Preview (beginning of the article)

Harley had missed it. The war was over and young Americans wanted the full life: Roaring hot rods with thundering V8 engines and fast, lightweight motorcycles. But there was nothing for sporty riders in Harley's model range, and so the young speed riders preferred to buy English machines: Triumph, BSA and Norton built fast twins that cracked the ton, which in biker slang means that you can go faster than 100 mph or 160 km/h. The KH Sport, on the other hand, was the perfect choice. In contrast, the KH Sport, even in its ultimate version with side-controlled long-stroke V2 with 883 cc, was a shockingly lame duck, even though it had been launched on the market as a completely new design in 1952.

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