1968 Harley-Davidson XLCH Sportster
(Page 2 of 4)
January/February 2008
By Phillip Tooth
“I drove down to take a look and couldn’t believe the amount of junk he had in his loft,” Carl says. “There were five Sportsters, all in pieces. Seems he took them apart to stop anyone stealing them. I took a good look at the green Sportster to make sure it was all there before I parted with my money, but by that time, I was taking it home no matter what.”
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It didn’t take Carl long to bolt the 1968 Sportster back together. But this time it wasn’t getting a coat of black paint. “Second time around, the ugly green color looks quite attractive,” he laughs.
Hard starter
The 1968 XLCH is probably the hardest of all Sportsters to start, thanks to the combination of a Tillotson carburetor and magneto ignition. A magneto will never give the same intensity spark at kickstart cranking speeds as a battery-and-coil ignition system, and because the Sportster is a long stroke engine, it takes some effort to spin it. And while the Tillotson has an accelerator pump so you can squirt gasoline straight into the throat, the venturi is so big the air just doesn’t travel fast enough at kickstart cranking speeds to atomize the fuel properly.
“Usually the motor will fire up, but it leans out immediately and cuts out. Using a touch of choke to narrow the venturi often helps even when the engine is warm,” advises Carl. Earlier Sportsters with magneto and the Linkhert carburetor are much easier to start because the venturi is smaller. “It seems to me that just about every ’67, ‘68 or ’69 Sportster you see has had the Tillotson swapped for an aftermarket carburetor,” Carl says. For 1970, the Sportster adopted a more standard coil ignition, and that made it easier to start, even with a Tillotson.
As with any bike, if you live with it long enough you’ll learn to love its little foibles and learn the knack to getting it going. It was a bitterly cold morning when I came to try out Carl’s ugly green Sportster, and the straight 50-weight oil Carl runs in it was sure to slow down spinning the flywheels of the long-stroke engine. But he’s not fazed: Carl knows how to start a 1968 Sportster on the first kick whatever the weather — you just need to modify your technique.
Turn on the gas and pull the choke, then crack the throttle open an eighth of an inch. Now take out your Leatherman and use the Phillips screwdriver to take off the chrome air filter cover. Squirt in some starter fluid, and with a gob-full of ether the Harley fires up on the first kick. Never fails.
Carl’s technique doesn’t end with starter fluid. Whatever the weather, he lays the bike over on the side stand and climbs up on the footpeg with his right foot. Then he puts his left foot on the kickstart pedal and leaps on it. “When I was in high school I weighed under 130lb, which is not very heavy. I used this technique because I could kick a Sportster straight through. Besides getting a longer swing, the kickstart mechanism disengages at the bottom of the stroke, so you never get a kickback.”