Sportster Buyer's Guide
Sportster Buyer's Guide
Which year and model and why?
OUR SUBJECT HERE IS SECONDHAND HARLEY-DAVIDSON Sportsters, the key word is value, and the conclusion, pre sented now so we can work toward the reasons, is the early Evo XLH, model years 1986 through 1990. And yes, we can make some exception.
The value begins with the presumed buyer: Those in the market for a used motorcycle aren't, we assume, riders who will spring for the newest and most advanced. Neither are they collectors nor restorers.
Thus, the middle.
Harley-Davidson introduced the Sportster, coded XL, in 1957. The original version was kind of a small Big Twin, with a big gas tank and full fenders, but that was quickly followed by a stripper, a racer and then the first superbike. These bikes were and still are rough and raucous fun, but collec tors have driven the prices up, and it takes dedication to make one a daily rider and, yes, your reporter has two of the beasts.
At the other side of the spectrum, H-D in recent model years switched to fuel injection and a rubber mounting system for the engine anda host of options. -
Well and good, but the newer models
are expensive and often too complicat ed for the home mechanic. Worst of all, they are 50-plus pounds heavier than the earlier Evo XLs, and performance is no better than adequate.
The best part is that in model year 1986, H-D introduced the Evo XLH, brand-new top-end, aluminum heads and cylinders, all up to date. I bought one-the loss leader, as they say$3995 out the door. I could get custom paint, seat, pipes and a bigger tank from outside cheaper than the factory's options.
I rode it 93,000 miles in 15 years. There were some teething troubles, fixed by now, surely, but in general, I walked home maybe once, and I never even knewA where the ignition was located, never mind fiddling points and such `cause there weren't any.
During the model years cited, there were changes and options, overbores to 1100 and then 1200cc from the stock 883, along with lowered suspension and custom touches, but none of this makes much difference now. 1.. 1('W~1 VT -..~-~4k~14
In 1991, the XLs got belt drive and five speeds, from chain and four. Belt drive is quiet and neat, but when one snaps-as one of mine did-it's a lot tougher to fix at the curb than is a bro ken master link, and by me, the extra gear is marketing; this is a torque mo tor, not a peaky racer. A r~ 1 ew 1 c'~r~+1 r~t~
Again, there are long lists of options for the post-'91s, so if you get a deal, take it. You can get every part for every XL ever made, so that needn't be a concern, either.
As for the Rubbersters, vibration didn't bother my great-uncle Pat, the family black sheep, on his Indian, and it doesn't bother me on my Sportster or my Triumph or my Honda framer. Man up, I say. You'll never get a better value than the r~ early Evo XL.
Allan Girdler
