Sportster, Act Iv?
Sportster, Act IV?
UP FRONT
David Edwards
WE’RE SUCKERS FOR STREET-TRACKERS here at Cycle World. Allan Girdler started it back in 1981 when he took an ex-Jay Springsteen frame and filled it with an iron XR750 motor. I followed suit in 1989, taking a Champion-framed Yamaha XS650, laying on Roberts-replica bumblebee paint and making it minimally streetlegal. Nick Ienatsch later did a story on an Omar’s XS650 kitbike tracker, and liked the bike so much he bought it afterward.
The allure is simple. There is no purer motorcycle than a flat-tracker. Two wheels, an engine, enough gas to get you through a 20-lap main. Factor in the sound-booming Vee or zappy inline-Twin-and don’t forget the history. Nixon, Lawwill, Aldana, Romero, Roberts, Breisford, Mann, Markel. The heck with cowboys, my heroes have always been flat-trackers.
From time to time, bike-makers have attempted to hitch themselves to that steel-shoe gestalt. Without much success. Honda had its Ascot Singles and V-Twins in the earlyEighties, named after the famous clay speedway in Gardena, California. Within a couple of years, though, both models had been retired, victims of slow sales. Harley-Davidson should have fared better with its 1983-84 XR1000, but that bike’s great-look ing twin-carb motor was wrapped in stripper Sportster running gear and it, too, failed to find an appreciative audience.
Twenty-three years later, it looks like Harley is about to give the street-tracker another try. This is the XR1200, just shown to the world at the big Cologne Motorcy de Show in Germany. It is described % as a “high-finish concept bike.” Translation? Obviously, the thing is very close to productionready. Public reaction will determine if it gets the green light.
What else do we know about the XR1200? Well, hard facts are thin on the ground but let’s take a visual walkaround. Dirt-track heritage is evident in the fuel tank’s shape, though it looks to be usefully sized. Likewise the tailsection, stretched to accommodate a passenger perch. The rider’s footpegs are 8-10 inches more rearward than on the current XL Roadster for a much more sporting stance. Handlebar has a nice “Springfield” bend, and the tiny headlight is painted black and tucked in so tightly as to be almost invisible.
Main frame appears to be based on the current rubber-mount job, with tie-rods and isolation biscuits keeping vibes in check. A new aluminum swingarm is attached out back, working through twin shocks that promise to be higher-quality and longer-travel than anything seen on recent Sportsters. Up front we have an inverted fork, twin rotors and a pair of stout-looking four-piston calipers. Tires are radiais, appropriately wide and sticky.
It’s the engine, though, that marks the XR1200 as a different, more serious Sportster. The current Sporty 1200 produces an entertaining but hardly overpowering 60 horsepower at the rear wheel. Using know-how gleaned from the Buell program, this updated, fuel-injected motor should pump out an additional 20-25. It is not liquid-cooled as some earlier reports would have you believe. There is a vertical oil-cooler on the motor’s left side, just visible below the gas tank in the rear view. Gone is the usual “ham can” aircleaner; in its place a protruding intake along the tank’s right bottom and, one assumes, a tray-type filter. A five-speed transmission and belt final drive are retained.
So, with the Sportster entering its 50th year of production, is this machine a worfollow-on to the iron-barrel XL883 > (1957-72), the XL 1000 (1973-85) * and the Evo 883/1200s (1986present)? You can help Milwaukee make that decision. Log on to www.cycleworld.com for additional photos of the XR1200 and the chance to take part in our survey on whether the bike should be built. You already know how we’re voting. □
