1968 Harley-Davidson XLCH Sportster
(Page 3 of 4)
January/February 2008
By Phillip Tooth
I was having none of that. When I swapped the BSA twin I was riding for the Sportster, I started it like every other bike in my garage by standing astride. Then we headed for the Pocono Mountains north of Carl’s home in Langhorne, Pa., outside of Philadelphia.
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Riding the Sporty
The fat, smooth twistgrip — carried over from the K Model Harleys — doesn’t have a return spring because the piano wire cable acts as a push-pull control on the Tillotson and earlier Linkerts. The nice thing about this system is that the action is light and the twistgrip stays where you put it, but there is too much backlash in the throttle linkage design.
Compared to a Brit twin, the Sportster, with its tall engine with iron heads and barrels, feels top-heavy. But the big surprise is how well the XLCH handles. You really can hustle this bike through the curves — it might not be as good as a Norton or Triumph, but it must have been a revelation to anyone brought up on Harley’s Big Twins. The gear change action is slow, but the Sportster pushes out an honest 50hp at 6,300rpm at the back wheel. Horsepower equals speed while torque equals acceleration, and here’s where the Harley scores with a stump-pulling 48.8ft/lb at 5,000rpm. You don’t need to play tunes on the box to get a move on — the Sportster pulls hard from idle, and once you get into fourth gear you can stay there. Want to take that pickup truck before the double yellows? Just wind it on. Of course, if you want to really get a move on you can bang it down a gear, but the charm of a big V-twin is pulling power. Enjoy it.
Both brakes are 8in in diameter. The front is an impressive die-cast aluminum drum with linings 1.5in wide. You need good brakes to stop a 500lb motorcycle from 80mph, but most Harley riders seem to spend more on chrome accessories and loud pipes than sorting out the stoppers. Not Carl. He’s had new linings machined to match the drums, and they really will squeal rubber if you try too hard. But like most drum brakes they start to lose their bite after hard use, and then you really appreciate the engine braking that comes free with every big V-twin.
Another big surprise is how smooth the engine feels — it is much smoother than the 1966 BSA Spitfire MkII or 1968 Bonnie that Carl also has in his garage. The XLCH pulls like a train all the way past 100mph, and you can even hit 120mph if you hide behind the clocks and grab the left fork stanchion with one hand. At 60mph the Sportster is spinning at a lazy 3,500rpm. You could ride this bike all day long at 80mph — except for one little problem.