Go on a 60-year ride with Harley-Davidson's Sportster
Things got a little weird in the American motorcycle industry after
World War II. People hungered for new motorcycles, buying just about
everything manufacturers could build. But on rare occasions a
manufacturer produced a machine that nobody wanted. Such was the case
with the Harley-Davidson Model K. The Model K had most of the features
buyers wanted in a modern machine, like hand-operated clutches,
foot-operated shifters, and cool-running aluminum heads, but it lacked
perhaps the most important technological upgrade: a modern
overhead-valve valve-train design.
The Model K retained the antiquated side-valve design because of arcane
AMA racing rules written when Harley-Davidson and Indian competed
head-to-head on American racetracks, but by 1952 Indian was on its last
legs. This should have made the Model K a massive sales success. What
nobody counted on was the British bike invasion. Thanks to their modern
overhead-valve engines, the lightweight British bikes humiliated the
side-valve Harleys on the track and on the street. Upgrades to the Model
K didn't help; Harley finally relented and introduced a new
overhead-valve middleweight for the 1957 model year. Dubbed the
Sportster, it was everything the Model K was not. More importantly, it
was faster than the British competition. Thus began the Sportster's
sixty-year reign.
Harley-Davidson Sportster: Sixty Years tells the complete Sportster
story. Noted Sportster expert Allen Girdler covers all the bikes--the
XLCH, Café Racer, XR1000, XLX, 883, Iron, Forty-Eight, Seventy-Two, and
Nightster--that have made the Sportster one of the most iconic
motorcycles on earth.
THE AUTHOR
Allan Girdler is a well-known motorcycle and automotive journalist and
former editor of Cycle World and Road and Track magazines. He has
authored several books, including Harley-Davidson XR-750, The
Harley-Davidson and Indian Wars, and American Road Race Specials.
