Harley-Davidson Evolution Sportster

HARLEY-DAVIDSON EVOLUTION SPORTSTER

PREVIEW AND RIDING IMPRESSION

HARLEY’S LIGHTWEIGHT V-TWIN STARTS ITS 28TH YEAR WITH A SMALLER TOP-END AND GOES AFTER A BIGGER BOTTOM-LINE

HARLEY-DAVIDSON Motor Company of today is like Ford Motor Company of a few years ago: It thinks it has a Better Idea. A number of Better Ideas, in fact. And the latest brainstorm to come thundering out of Milwaukee is the V2 Evolution Sportster, a much-rumored, long-overdue redesign of the bike that has been Harley’s “lightweight” V-Twin since 1957.

“V2” and “Evolution,” in case you don't know, are Harley’s trademarks for certain engine refinements that debuted a couple of years ago on the company’s 80-inch models. And while that Evolution technology didn't exactly send the engineers at the Japanese companies scurrying for sharp objects to fall on, it still was good enough to inject a little life into the anemic performance of those Big Twins. So everyone figured that it was just a matter of time before the Sportster—once the baddest cat on the streets but now just a tame pussycat-got a similar treatment.

They figured right. Harley has just announced that, after more than a year of speculation, the Evolution Sportster is a production-line reality. The company refers to the new Sportster as a 1986 model, but the first units should start appearing in showrooms by the time you read this.

But before you grab the pink slip to your present bike and rush down to the local Harley shop, be forewarned: Unless you know something of the unusual marketing philosophy behind this new Sportster, you’re liable to be thoroughly unimpressed by it, if not confused or disappointed.

See. the Evolution Sportster seems not to be very evolutionary at all. It looks just like the current Sportsters, aside from its restyled cylinders, heads and primary cover. It also isn’t claimed to be any faster or quicker, despite its Evolution top-end. Neither does it have the five-speed gearbox that a lot of people were anticipating, nor the rubber engine mounts and belt final drive that some were hoping for. What’s more, the engine displacement has been lowered, from 1 OOOcc down to the same 883cc as on that original '57 Sporty.

What, a rational person might ask, have those guys up on Juneau Avenue been smoking lately? Don't they know that “evolution” is a word that describes a move forward in time, not backward? This, this throwback to the not-so-thrilling days of yesteryear, is their idea of a Better Idea?

Well, according to H-D president Vaughan Beals, it most certainly is. He feels that the Evolution Sportster is a critically important step forward for the company. The measure of that importance, he contends, will be evidenced in the Sportster's ability to perform more competitively in the showroom, not in the quarter-mile. Beals claims that Harley's market research has shown that a substantial number of Japanese-bike riders are intrigued by Sportsters, but hesitate to buy one because of two key factors: price, combined with the high cost of insuring a machine that falls into the very-expensive. over-900cc insurance category. Performance, says Beals —or, more correctly, the Sportster’s relative lack of samedoes not seem to be a major deterrent.

So Harley's game plan with the Evolution 883—its Better Idea, ifyou will —is to give all of those Sportster admirers fewers reasons not to buy one. Thus, the smaller displacement allows the 883 to qualify for considerably cheaper insurance rates; and at $3995, the Evolution Sportster's list price is $700 below that of the lOOOcc XLX-61. the lowest-priced model in the company’s 1 985 lineup. Matter of fact, the 883 is the leastexpensive Harley since the XLX-61 debuted late in 1982 with a shortlived introductory price of $3995. Beals insists, however, that this is no introductory offer, and that a $3995 pricetag will continue to hang on the 883’s handlebar as long as possible.

You don't have to be clairvoyant to understand that Better Idea. But achieving that low price, Beals explains, meant that improvements such as a five-speed gearbox, a rubber-mounted engine and a belt final drive simply were not economically feasible on this model.

Using an Evolution-type top-end was not only feasible, however, but necessary to help the Sportster retain the lOOOcc model’s level of performance after losing almost 1 15cc. Like the Big Twin V2 motors, the 883 uses a much-narrower included valve angle (58 degrees, as opposed to 90 degrees on the 1000), flat-top pistons (replacing the archaic, highly domed pistons on the previous motors), and a shallow, “bath tub” combustion chamber that promotes more-efficient burning of the mixture. In addition, the cylinders and heads are aluminum alloy rather than cast-iron as on the 1000, knocking off about nine pounds of engine weight. As stated earlier, not leading-edge stuff, but good enough to have put some performance pizzazz into the 80inchers.

Okay, but how does it affect the way this smaller Sportster runs? We got the answer to that by flying to Harley’s York, Pennsylvania, factory for an exclusive ride on one of the few operational 883 Sportsters in captivity at the time. The only bike available was a pre-production model, but Harley assured us that there would be no significant differences between it and the final production machines.

After spending a day rumbling around the Pennsylvania countryside on the Evolution bike, we can tell you that as far as acceleration, lugging ability and overall engine performance is concerned, the difference between a 1000 Sportster and an 883 isn’t great enough to be detectable on the human dyno. The 883, if anything, might be just the tiniest bit faster on the very top-end, because the superior breathing capability of its Evolution cylinder-head lets it rev-out a bit further than the 1000. But for all practical purposes, there is no performance difference at all.

There’s a considerable difference in noise output, though; the 883 still has the unmistakable ka-chunk, kachunk sound of a Harley V-motor, but it is significantly quieter than the 1000, in mechanical racket as well as exhaust note. Harley was more or less forced into this Better Idea, though, because the 1000 Sportster would have had a tough time meeting the new federal noise-emissions standards that go into effect in 1986. On January l, the the maximum allowable sound level will drop from the current 83 decibels down to 80 decibels, which represents a reduction in noise of 50 percent. The Sportster engine has always presented a particular noise problem in that it has four separate camshafts and a total of five camdrive gears; and all of those teeth interacting with one another can produce considerable mechanical clattering and/or whirring if the gearmesh clearances aren’t held within very close tolerances.

Harley helped the Sportster's noise problem somewhat by giving it hydraulic rather than mechanical lifters; but effecting the complete cure called for the installation of some highly sophisticated measuring machinery in the company’s Capitol Drive engine-manufacturing plant in Milwaukee. This computer-controlled equipment measures the critical dimensions of every cam gear and cam-drive cover as soon as they’re manufactured, and then individually selects and mates specific gears to specific covers. This ensures that the mesh between all of the gears on every new Sportster Evolution engine is within ideal tolerances.

Of course, the fact that the engine has smaller pistons shuttling up and down inside didn't hurt in the quest for quieter running, either. Those pistons also play a major role in making the V2 Sportster a smoother-running machine, despite the absence of rubber engine mounts. Due to being smaller in diameter and having domeless crowns and shorter skirts, the pistons are substantially lighter; the resultant decrease in reciprocating mass has reduced the amount of vibration felt by the rider. The engine still emits more vibration than any recent Japanese bike with two or more cylinders, but it nevertheless is noticeably smoother than its predecessor. You now can distinguish images in the rear-view mirrors more easily at road speeds, whereas on the 1000 it was hard to tell if that thing behind you was a Peterbilt or 10-speed.

The list of the Evolution Sportster’s subtle-but-sensible improvements doesn't stop at the gearbox. In an attempt to make the bike more reliable, easier to service and simpler to repair. Harley has redesigned the engine to have 29 fewer total parts and 206 entirely new components. Additionally, the techniques and equipment used to manufacture a lot of the bike’s bits and pieces have either been upgraded or replaced by something entirely new.

So in many cases, the quality of a part, and the consistency from one of those parts to the next, is much higher, even if the actual design of the part hasn’t changed.

A closer adherence to tolerances, for example, is apparent when shifting the 883. Its gearbox is no different than the 1000's, design-wise, yet it changes gears more smoothly and quietly. And the upgrading of manufacturing equipment is evident on the Evolution Sportster's frame and swingarm, which are painted in a brand-new, ultra-modern painting facility in the York plant. All the gloss-black painted parts on the new Sportster—as well those as on all Harley-Davidsons being manufactured henceforth—are painted by a powdercoat, charged-particle process that results in a finish that is light-years more durable and chip-resistant than ordinary paint.

All of these improvements may seem rather small by Japanese-bike standards, but they’re major-league refinements for a bike that, aside from a displacement increase in 1972, had gone largely unchanged for 28 years. But that’s the point, really: Harley realizes that trying to make the Sportster as fast or as technologically advanced as its Japanese competition would be a tragic mistake. Not only would it be futile from an engineering standpoint, it also would be challenging the Japanese at the game they play best.

Instead, Harley’s plan is simply to build a better Sportster, one that can lure some new blood into the Harley ranks, one that can convert some of those Japanese-bike owners into Harley riders by offering equivalent or higher quality at a competitive price. If the plan works, Beals figures that Sportsters could enjoy as much as a 30-percent increase in sales.

That could brighten the company's profitability picture considerably. And as far as Harley-Davidson is concerned, that’s not just a Better Idea; it’s the Best Idea Of All.