H-D's new XR1200 will finally be available in the U.S.

Stymieing U.S. buyers, earlier this year Harley-Davidson introduced the flat-tracker inspired XR1200, whose styling draws heavily from Harley history, mimicking H-D’s iconic and race winning XR750 of 1970-1980. The hitch? It was a Euro-only offering.

Fortunately, Harley has finally put things right, announcing it will sell the XR1200 in the U.S. – but there’s yet another hitch: Only 750 of the new model will be available for “pre-sale” when the XR1200 officially goes on sale Dec. 1, 2008. Harley plans to give the bike its first public showing in the U.S. at the International Motorcycle Show in Long Beach, Calif., Dec. 5.

This has been without doubt the oddest model rollout in Harley history, with potential U.S. buyers pressuring H-D to sell the XR1200 here since it was first shown in prototype form in 2006, and understandably frustrated by The Motor Company’s apparent lack of interest in making the XR1200 available to U.S. buyers -- and this despite the fact the bike is actually built at Harley’s Kansas City factory. Talk about homegrown.

One element said to have held up any introduction was the odd fact that until June of this year, Harley didn’t have U.S. rights to the XR1200 name, which was registered to Storz Performance, a Harley hop-up shop in Ventura, Calif., that, among other things, offers a KR-styled performance and appearance kit for contemporary Sportsters. Once word got out that Harley had purchased rights to the name the rumor mill went wild with speculation on a U.S. introduction, but H-D kept refusing to commit.

Price for the new model is $11,179, but with only 750 available there’s ample speculation that dealers will be bumping that up considerably to cash in on one of the most talked about Harleys ever. – Richard Backus 

The Motorcycle Hall of Fame Museum in Pickerington, Ohio, is holding its annual Leather and Ice Online Auction, with a goal to raise $25,000 to support the museum’s continuing mission of preserving motorcycle history through displays and stories highlighting the impact of motorcycles on American culture yesterday and today.

Now in its 5th year, the Leather and Ice Online Auction runs through November 30, 2008. Among the more than 300 items up for auction are riding jackets from First Gear, museum T-shirts autographed by 21 Hall of Famers, signed posters of Cook Neilson riding New Blue, the re-creation of Neilson and Phil Schilling’s famous Old Blue Ducati 750SS, at Daytona in 2007, numerous full color posters by motorcycle artist Harry Miller – hell, you can even bid on a burrito dinner for 10 from Chipotle! One of the big items up for auction this year is a scholarship to the PowerSports Institute, a premier technical university in Ohio offering state-of-the-art training for students interested in careers in the powersports industry.

And if none of that trips your trigger you can always stuff somebody’s stocking with raffle tickets for a chance to win a pair of Triumph Bonnevilles – a first-year 1959 pre-unit T120 Bonneville and a 2009 50^th Anniversary Limited Edition T100 Bonneville – for a meager $5 a ticket or five tickets for $20. The winner in the bike drawing will be announced at the AMA’s annual Vintage Motorcycle Days at Mid-Ohio in July 2009. All proceeds from the raffle and the auction go to support the museum, which has worked diligently since its1990 founding to support motorcycling’s great heritage. It’s a critical organization, and we can’t think of a better way to make a motorcyclist happy at Christmas and support an institution that works to ensure the preservation of the history of motorcycling. Click here to log on and bid. – Richard Backus