Storz Xr-883

STORZ XR-883

Mr. Storz's wild ride

QUICK RIDE

SOME aren’t MOTORCYCLES for introverts. The Storz XR-883R, based on an 883 Sportster, is one of them. Ride inconspicuously through town on this rumbling orange-and-black machine? You might as well wear racing leathers to church.

Steve Storz once specialized in hot-rod parts for dirt-track racing; now he concentrates on providing parts that allow Sportster owners to transform their Harleys into dirt-track-

look hot-rods. The XR-883Rin the full-bodied form shown here-is a Storz Performance catalog made in metal.

Having yielded to the boring bar, Storz’s XR-883R now displaces the full 1203cc of a big XL, and has shed enough Milwaukee-original parts to halffill a garage. New cams are by Axtell, the new carburetor a 42mm Mikuni, the new ignition system a black box from Harley’s XR1000. A Storz hand-formed fuel tank and XRTT-style fiberglass seat replace stock units. For suspension, an inverted Forcelle Italia fork holds up the front, and slightly longer-than-stock Works Performance shocks take care of the back. Twin stainless exhaust pipes mimic the high sweep of Harley dirt-track megaphones.

The XR883 doesn’t feel like any other Sportster. The seat is 28 inches low, the pegs high and rearward, the clip-ons a slight lean forward. Push the starter button and the Sportster bellows to life, the accelerator pump of the big Mikuni and a quick right wrist taking the place of a choke. Click the linkageless pedal up into first-the shift pattern is reversed-and head out onto the open road. Throttle wide open, the XR883 thunders ahead, pulling harder than a stock 1200 Sportster. As it revs out, the individual power pulses intensify until each one explodes the XR forward and propels it toward real strength at the top of its band. A quarter-mile run would likely find the Storz running deep into the 11 s.

On a curvy road, the XR continues its non-traditional behavior. Eighteen-inch wheels and Dunlop Sportmax tires jigger the geometry so that the XR initially falls into corners with little effort on the rider’s part. As the horizon tilts, the steering firms up and the Storz sticks well enough to achieve those crazy lean angles seen in Twin-Sports racing. Performance Machine brake calipers and rotors provide stopping that approaches a brick wall in effectiveness.

Perhaps the best thing about a Storz XR is this: Any Sportster owner can have as much-or as little—of this as he wants or can afford. A fully equipped version carries a $7000 parts bill, not to mention any necessary labor. The basic XR-883R kit-the unpainted tank, seat, exhausts and rearsets-goes for just over $2000. You can add the rest on your own schedule.

If you were to do that, you’d have one of the raciest Sportsters around, one-for better and worse-as uncompromised as a GSX-R750. Just make sure you’re extroverted enough to cope with all eyes following as you ride past. -Steve Anderson