Aboard the 883

Aboard the 883

RACE WATCH

HOG wrestling, roadrace style

THERE I WAS, TUCKED IN, CFHN on the tank, eyes scanning the asphalt for my braking point, the engine running flat-out. All very un-Harley-like.

Yet, I was on a Harley-Davidson. Nigel Gale's U.S. Twin Sports 883 Sportster. to be exact, circulating Willow Springs Raceway. Because the bike was geared low, I had to roll out of the throttle or sit up and catch some wind to avoid overrevving, which, I'd been forewarned, could resuit in burnt valves. Undergeared and tapped out, the Sporty had a maximum speed that wasn't much higher than that of a family station wagon, so I had plenty of time to set up for corners.

It seemed odd running in high gear through Turn One, a slightly banked sweeper that on most bikes would re quire two or even three downshifts. Then again, it was a bit odd to be flogging a four-speed 883 around a road course in the first place. I con centrated on maintaining the rpm

just shy of redline to reach a hobbled terminal velocity of about 110 mph.

A lap of the nine-turn circuit aboard the Bartels'-prepped racer re quired fewer gear changes than I would have ever imagined possible. I ran in top gear 80 percent of the time, only kicking into third for Turns Three through Five-which are all close together-then back into fourth for the rest of the lap. Without a lot of shifting to occupy my time, I real ized that something was missing.

No, nothing rattled loose or fell off-even though the bike took on a distinct, paint-shaker feel at high rpm. The missing ingredient at the track that day. the thing that would have made riding this racing Hog as much fun as chasing a greased pig in a barnyard, was the company of other 883s to slice `n' dice and wallow around with.

Without others to slipstream and swap paint with, the long straights be come dull and uneventful. As with any motorcycle, however, there were cornering limitations that proved challenging. If! caught myself yawn ing through a turn, Ijust wasn't going fast enough. Push a bit harder, and the Sportster would deliver a wakeup call in the form of a mild headshake.

Having ridden a stock 883 in the past on twisty backroads, I can attest to the vast performance improve ment of the Bartels' racer. Two areas of upgrading particularly impressed me: cornering clearance and brakes.

The stock fork is underdamped for racing use. but class rules don't allow modification to the valving, there fore Bartels' uses 50w-60 H-D motor oil in the fork to slow down the ac tion for a more controlled ride. The Sportster's ride was then firmed up by installing a set of Progressive Sus pension fork springs and a pair of Progressive shocks. The shocks are 3 inches longer than stock, giving the bike much-improved cornering clear ance. The Bartels' Performance Pro ducts exhaust pipe and rearset foot pegs also improve cornering clear ance, allowing Gale to utilize the ex tra grip offered by Dunlop K591 race-compound tires.

In fact I was surprised by just how much cornering clearance Gale's 883 had. I was hard pressed to touch down anything other than my knee, although experience in such matters tells me that extra bit of reserve would soon evaporate in the heat of battle. The bike's ground-down pegs. and scraped clutch cover show that Gale routinely uses the road surface of the AMA circuit as an ersatz ma chine mill. Running at the front of any national-level field, Twin Sports being no exception. requires that a rider push his machine beyond what most of us would deem possible. and with the 883. that means skating tires and scraping undersides>

The addition of a second brake ro tor and caliper up front, along with steeI~braided teflon lines and SBS pads. is a great improvement over the stock, single-disc setup. Hard stops still require a firm pull at the lever, but the revamped front brakes really get the job done, and would be a worthwhile modification for hard ridden street Sportsters, too.

So, a roadracing Harley? Look, rac ing is racing. It doesn't matter if it's a

pack of Honda XR8Os dukin' it out around the neighborhood dirt oval, a Superbike freight train on the high banks of Daytona or 883 Sportsters running to the wire at a Twin Sports national. If the competition is close and fierce, the level of excitement runs high. whether viewed from the saddle or the stands.

In support of the Twin Sports class. Fdjust say, the slower the pace. the c1osei~ the race.

Don Canet