1991 Harley-Davidson Sportster Xlh 1200

1991 HARLEY-DAVIDSON SPORTSTER XLH 1200

CYCLE WORLD TEST

A minimalist motorcycle for manly men

THOSE OF YOU WHO CONSIDER YOURSELVES TRADItionalists, relax. Never mind that everywhere you look, people are wearing weird clothes, that you understand little of what these days passes for pop music, that foreigners seem to be purchasing large chunks of the U.S. and that many of the cars in the dealerships of domestic manufacturers are built, well, Elsewhere.

In the midst of these unrelenting attacks on traditionalism. one thing remains the same: Harley-Davidsons, those visions of V-Twin virility, those minimalist motorcycles for manly men, are. in spite of continuing development and improvement, basically as unchanging as the presidential visages carved into Mt. Rushmore’s granite flank.

So it is with the 1991 XLH Sportster 1200. One look— and you don’t have to look hard—will tell you that the Sportster tradition, the great Harley-Davidson continuum, presses on unabated. But as with all things, that's at once good, and at the same time, perhaps not so good.

The '91 Sportster, 1200cc edition, looks just like last year’s bike, but in fact it has been significantly changed. Change has resulted from two things: The move to belt final drive, and the addition of a fifth gear to the bike’s transmission. No big deal, right? Unbolt the old sprockets, bolt on the new; unplug the old transmission cluster and plug in a new one. But no. Addition of that fifth gear—a much needed addition, by the way-brought with it a chance for Milwaukee’s engineering team to substantially redraw the Sporty’s engine to the extent that the only parts left unchanged are the carburetor, cylinders, pistons and connecting rods. To be sure, the engine package looks the same. But it isn't. It’s a half-inch wider, includes the revamped clutch that the Big Twins got last year, improved valve lifters, a simplified oil pump, and an alternator relocated to be driven off the left side of the crankshaft and said to be capable of increased output at lower rpm than last year's unit, which was located on the back of the clutch hub.

Use of the 1.125-inch-wide toothed belt in place of the traditional Sportster chain meant modifications to the frame, swingarm, shocks and sprocket covers. It must be noted that only Sportster 883 Deluxe and 1200 models get belted. On the Sportster 883 and Hugger models, chain drive has been preserved as a way to keep the costs down on what H-D considers its entry-level bikes.

One final addition for 1991 is the use on all Sportsters— and indeed, on all Harleys, except the Heritage Softail Classic and the Fatboy—of Dunlop Elite S/T 401 rubber, essentially identical to Dunlop's K491 line.

So there have been changes to the outwardly unchanging Harley-L3avidson monolith. But Harley’s hog-handlers have been able to disguise what amount to substantial developments of an American motorcycling tradition. The ’9 1 Sportster looks like Sportsters always have looked, and it rides mostly like Sportsters always have ridden. Which is to say, frankly, that it's a bit agricultural, reminding us of nothing so much as an old parallel-Twin, external-flywheel, John Deere tractor.

We hasten to note that that kind of character can be considered, at least by some, to be a strength. But as with much of life, the flip-side of the Sporty’s strengths serves to illustrate what some might consider its weaknesses. Its rugged simplicity, for example, the very characteristic that keeps its price affordable and gives the bike its you-ean'tbust-it feel, imposes on the Sportster some very real limitations. And, as they concern both the chassis and the engine, they are absolutely basic.

The bike’s heart, the 1200cc V-Twin engine bolted solidly to the frame, remains its sturdy old self, delivering torque from the very basement of its rev range, and. to the delight of the ear, also delivering that characteristic, charismatic, Harley exhaust note. A pull of the choke knob, mounted adjacent to the ignition switch and just above the horn cover, immediately inboard from the rider's left shin, and a poke at the starter button, rumbles it to life. In Southern California’s temperate fall climate, the bike needed a half-mile on choke, then was ready to run. Hot starts needed no help from throttle or choke and less than one crankshaft revolution. Nailing the starter button long enough to bring just one piston past TDC on its compression stroke was enough to snap the engine to life. We learned quickly to free the clutch plates up before attempting a cold start, as these tend to bind together after a night off, making engagement of first gear—that all-important first shift of the morning—very difficult.

Even in 120()cc form, the Sportster engine does not produce lots of horsepower, but it does provide lots of torque. Though the bike’s tach is redlined at 6100 rpm, there’s little point in turning the engine past about 5200 rpm, which is where it runs out of breath. Better to use its seemingly limitless reserve of torque, a reserve which allows the bike to chuff away, at full throttle in fifth gear, from as little as 1000 rpm with minimal complaint. Or. for a fun diversion, gain some revs in first, then bang the bike into second gear and allow its torque to pop the front tire off the ground. Whoopie! However you shift the bikeand shifting through that new transmission is light and direct, almost Japanese in its precision-its engine provides adequate performance. Our test bike turned 99.55 mph in 13.0 seconds at the dragstrip, and posted an absolute top speed of 1 1 5mph. But short-shifting helps avoid the engine’s tendency to vibrate. Keep it below 3000 rpm (in fifth gear, 3000 rpm is a cruise-worthy 60 mph) and the world seems a sweet place. Rev the beast, though, and you feel the unwelcome tingle of the engine through the soles of your boots, the seat of your pants and the palms of your gloves, as its reciprocating mass protests the speeds you’ve asked it to attain. But, with its 500-rpm step between fourth and fifth gears, the ’91 version at least is better mannered than was the ’90 version. Its 3.37:1 final drive ratio, courtesy of that fifth speed, means the '91 's engine turns more slowly at cruising speed than the four-speed ’90 model, the final ratio of which worked out to 3.96:1.

If the Sporty’s engine is best suited to a leisurely pace, so is its chassis. It is sufficiently rigid, and has enough clearance, that interesting lean angles not only are possible, they're fun, the bike’s geometry delivering slow but very precise steering. This ability to dispatch high-speed corners notwithstanding, the bike is at its best when it's being used as a platform for cruising and sightseeing. As speeds pick up, the very light rebound damping of the fork becomes evident, even to the point of occasionally topping out as it recovered from sharp jounces, and when the chassis unloads on transitions between briskly ridden left-right curves. The rear suspension also tops out. and it bottomed on hard bumps. Increasing the spring preload reduced the tendency to bottom, but increased the tendency to top out. The answer, then, is to stick to smooth(ish) roads, where the bike, in stock form, works wonderfully well. Or install aftermarket shocks and heavier fork oil.

Whatever kind of road we stuck to on this Sportster, we had to make sure that it was populated by a long line of gas stations. Our test bike’s 2.25-gallon fuel tank, which so contributes to the bike’s style, went on reserve at 82 to 84 miles. And with the 1200 delivering an average of 50 mpg, its absolute limit was 1 1 3 miles.

That need to stop for fuel may sound excessively frequent, but it’s a blessing in disguise, as the Sporty's seat is unfortunately contoured and thinly padded, and therefore is. after about 100 miles, a good thing to be away from. A 3-gallon fuel tank, in peanut-shaped Sportster style, is available from Harley-Davidson. A good option, as longas a more thickly padded accessory seat is included in the deal.

The bike's brakes—a single disc up front and a disc at the rear—are traditional Harley, in that they stop the bike very effectively, but require a great deal of pressure on the front brake lever to extract maximum performance. So there’s not much chance you're going to be able to do sportbike-style stoppies aboard a Sportster.

But, hey, never mind about that. The Sportster, in spite of its name, isn’t a sportbike. As much as any motorcycle ever has been, it's a two-wheeled attitude-adjustment device with a motorcycling category all its own. As long as you use it to cruise, paying attention to what’s going on around you—externalizing, in the lingo of psychologists—

you're in great shape. It’s when you find yourself on a long, straight, boring road and begin internalizing, that is, paying attention to the motorcycle itself, instead of your surroundings, that you begin noticing the Sportster's weaknesses. Then, again, maybe they're just your weaknesses, evident because you’re using the bike in a way inconsistent with its nature. That's a call for you to make.

What we do know is that this is a Harley-Davidson, with all the right sounds and styling clues. For some, that fact is reason enough to own it. On the right backroad. or on a warm, urban summer evening when the cruisin' is good, it just might be all the bike you need. E3

SPORTSTER 1200

$6245

Harley-Davidson