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As we waited for Harley-Davidson to pull the wraps off its new, Revolution-powered motorcycle yesterday, one of the biggest questions on my mind was whether it would be called a Sportster. Indeed, it was. The Sportster S represents a new direction for the line, and that's no small thing.
What's in a name? Well, how many vehicles being sold new today have had the same nameplate and been in production since before I was born? Ask me to name one and the only easy one that comes to mind is the Sportster. Though it dates to 1957 and dozens of variations have been built since, only once before has the Sportster undergone a revision as significant as the one we saw yesterday, with the modern, liquid-cooled Revolution engine replacing the old air-cooled Evolution V-twin that has been propelling Sportsters around for a quarter of a century.
I'm no historian and I'm not here to try to write the definitive history of the Sportster. Other authors have already done that. But a quick look back at the Sportster's history puts yesterday's Sportster S in a little more context.
The Sportster earned the "sport" in its name back when it was introduced in 1957 (shown in the photo at top). It provided a performance improvement over Harley-Davidson's K model, which included then-modern features such as swingarm rear suspension, a telescopic fork and foot shifting. The Sportster added overhead valves. Numerous variations followed, from Sportsters kitted for off-road use to flat-trackers to the 1977 XLCR Café Racer, destined to become a cult classic.
The Sportster was also the basis for the XR750, built in 1970 by the Harley-Davidson race team. Updated two years later with an aluminum alloy engine, the XR750 went on to dominate flat-track racing for years, easily becoming the winningest motorcycle in AMA professional racing history.
The big change for Sportsters came in 1986 with the introduction of the alloy Evolution engine to replace the old Ironhead V-twin. The new engine ran cooler, quieter and more reliably and hydraulic valve adjusters greatly reduced maintenance. Initially sold in 883 cc and 1,100 cc displacements, the bigger version grew to 1,200 cc. How many thousands of Evo Sportsters were sold I don't know, but one of them, used, was bought by me, the only Harley-Davidson I've ever owned. The same Evo engine was also retuned and used for years to power Buells.
In 2004, the Sportster's engine was rubber-mounted and fuel injection followed shortly thereafter. But as the Sportster moved further into the 21st century, the focus of attention on the line was styling, not improving the performance of a motorcycle that had long ago left any pretentions of "sport" behind, despite that being the first half of its name. My 1990s-era Sportster was certainly never fast, but with mid-controls and a few suspension upgrades, I rode it for 40,000 miles and never felt like I was suffering just to strike an insouciant slouch of a pose.
The new Sportster S brings more sport to the line, with a huge increase in power and its advanced electronic rider aids. Lots of people tuned XL1200 Sportsters for higher performance, but getting 120 horsepower out of one in any streetable form, which is what the new Sportster S reportedly will provide, is a huge challenge.
Despite the higher performance, however, with the Sportster S Harley-Davidson still continues to lean on the crutch of style. The front tire that resembles a personal flotation device, the very limited suspension travel, the high exhaust, the forward controls — all these things tell me that Harley still doesn't have the nerve to compete on performance, without dipping back into the bin of reliable styling cues the MoCo has mined for years. Harley-Davidson execs virtually promised, however, that more Sportsters are coming, and they wanted to get the attention-grabbing version out there first. For that reason, I'm hopeful that new Sportster models to come will dare to drop some of the form-over-function choices and add even more "sport" to the Sportster.
In any case, I'm glad the Sportster name is still around. The old model, already unavailable in Europe because it can't meet emissions restrictions, was overdue for replacement.
The Sportster was here before me and I'd like to think it will still be around after I'm gone.
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