Class of '69 When the Sportster Was King

Class of '69 When the Sportster was King

Hard to believe now in this era of 9-second-quick, 185-mph-fast supra-bikes, but it wasn't all that long ago that the Harley-Davidson 883 Sportster XLCH was the meanest mofo on two wheels. Yes. A Sporty. Cycle magazine was staffed by FOSs (Friends of the Sportster) back in 1968, with Associate Editor Cook Neilson especially enthusiastic, campaigning a built, nitro-burning Sporty digger in East Coast drags. But even they were bowled over by their `69-model testbike's 13.73-second pass at the strip. "Very definitely the quickest motorcycle we've ever tested!" blared the table-of-contents blurb. The hyperbole did not stop there: "Hey out there, all you overcom-pensators. Trouble with your folks? Girls don't dig you? Forget it. Get a Sportster CH, the wildest panacea known to Man," teased the test's subtitle. Rapt readers were informed, "When you're cruising on this big, mean Harley, you don't care who's watching.. .just you and that big, fast motor honkin' on, the prole world and all its hang-ups a blur to mind and eye. Rain on 'em!"

Strong stuff for testosterone-addled males in the Age of Aquarius. Remember now, this was pre-Honda CB750 Four, pre Kawasaki Z-1. Quite simply, the 883cc XLCH had the biggest set of cashews in motor-biking.

It could not last, of course, and as the Seventies came on, the Sportster (heck, the whole company...) went into decline. But there was a time when the bike's baritone "blump-blumpity blump-blump" exhaust note ignited men's imaginations. Curled toes, even.

Expounded the editors, "The psychological effect of the sound is an appeal to one's prehistoric animal inheritance-a reaction involving some combination of sex, fear and survivaL You feel it in your stomach; it makes your skin crawl." Right on. David Edwards