Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

been able to persu ade a ffa ble Len T homsen, head of H- D's international division, to spring o ne of the scarce press XRIOOOs a t Daytona loose for me to spend a wh ol e a fternoo n with (ma xim u m ti me limi t per jou rn a lis t othe rwise: o ne hou r. Wonder how man y of th em will ow n up to that in print?) Cov ering 100 miles or so in the tim e availa ble on everyth in g from th e Int ersta te to the o n ly bit of racer road within 50 miles of Dayto n a Beach (and I don 't mean the Speedway infield ) only whetted my appetite for more. Due to the n on -arriva l of the p ress fleet X Rs, that was ac tuall y the private bike of one of H-D 's -own em p loyees which he'd ridde n down from Milwaukee for Cycle Week to break it in; apart from the reall y n eat bu m pad on th e rea r fender (how ' bo ut it , Wi llie G?), it was a compl etely sta nda rd bi ke with th e 70.6 h p engi ne. Ha ving been m ore than slig htly impressed wi th th e perfor mance of Ch u rch 's bike in the Ba TT race- he ac tua lly o u t-accelera ted m y Mod ifi ed Producti on Du cat i 900 whe n I ca me up beh ind h im in th e in field - I wa nted to try th e XRlOOO with th e optional factory pe rforma nce kit, which in its most extrem e form brin gs engine power up to a ro und th e 95 hp mark. Since the bike I managed to' find with all th ese goodies wasn't street regis tered, its owner had better remain anonymous, but thanks to him I had th e ch a nce to try out o ne o f th e ultimat e fun racing/road bik es o f th e 1980s. Wh en I rode m y p oor old XR 750 a week la ter in the gloom o f th e British sp rin g time (j ust like winter, o n ly with co lors ), she seemed so slo w in co m p ariso n I thought something was wrong. For with the XR I000 a nd its three levels of tuning kits , Harley has p roduced a bike th at's so much fun to ride, you ca n hardl y believe it. I'll ad m it m y fir st loo k a t the XR I000 yielded disappointment. Effectively, the bik e co nsists of a Sportster bottom end (as did the original XR750, as it hap pe ns) surm o u nted by XR heads, specia l barrels, induction and exha ust systems, slo tted in a restyled version o f the lates t (1982- type) Sportster frame. Inst ea d o f producing a j ay Spri ngsteen rep lica, comp lete with orange a nd black pai nt, XR ta n k a nd the lik e, H arley has gi ven us in appeara nce a t any rate a race rizedS portster. T hat explains th e pean ut tan k-out of keeping wi th such a mach ine-the rather drab steel gray pa int job, a nd the sort of hot-rod appearance. Bu t then your eye starts to take in the massive K&N air filters, the heftilyfinned barrels, twi n matt- black boomer exhausts sweep ing back along the left flank , the opposite side to mos t other H arleys, the well -padded bu t unashamedly solo seat, all addi ng up to a generally ca bby appearance. Sure. a 16" rear wheel combined with a 19" front comes straight from th e Low R ider book (n ow if it were th e othe r wa y round . . . you'd need a full fairing and rear sets ), but there's no disguising the XRlOOO's heritage in its dow nright determined and pow erpacked m ien . Then wh en yo u throw a leg over the sea t - easily done, by the way : sea t height is only 29" - and thumb the starter button you j ust kn ow where the X RIOOO's com ing from. San jose via Ascot and all th ose countless ot her di rt track meccas of Middle America, tha t's where. Thunder Road is the XR 's back yard, as the twin megaphones boom into life, the engin e spits a nd pops ' an d lumps uneve n ly till it's warmed up. just lik e a rea l racer. Then it's your -turn to ma ke like j ay or Mert or G ary or Ri cky or a ny o f th e other grea ts who've made the XR750 ki n g of th e dirt. • When you -first sit on th e bike, th e ridin g position appears immediat ely com fortable, with rel ativel y flat, wide bars and footrests directly below th e neck of the sea t inducing a Spring-. steen-like riding position, wi th flat back, slightly kick ed-o ut elbo ws, even slighter forward body lean, and th e knees stuck out in the wind. The seat and rid in g posture is co m fortable over extended distan ces, bu t a fter only a short tim e o n board yo ur left leg begins to be cooked tq a ni ce turn by th e quite inadequa te h eat sh ielding o n the ex ha u sts. An a lloy pl at e lik e on m y road ra cer or a w ire mesh grille would be bett er than th e p resent arra n ge me nt. The right leg tu cks cosily into the front cylinder's a ir filte r, whi ch seem s not to resent th e intrusion .. but tr y bra ci ng your kn ees against the tank when yo u hi t a series of bumps and you ' ll be rubbing th em against each other before yo u su cceed. Practically as well as stylistically, th e peanut tank is out of pl ace on th is performance bike. Vibration o n th e XRlOOO is unex pectedl y low - even on th e so upedup version I tried, with its l um p ier ca ms and tu n ed en g ine. R u bbermounted bars cus hion much of the 45° V-twin 's intrinsi c shake, rattle and roll - no power-sapping balance shafts or H onda-styIe offset crank- pins h ere, j us t good old H -D knifea nd-for k can rods sharing a co m m o n big en d. The en g ine's obviously been ver y ca refu lly ba lanced , a result perhaps of its race -shop he rita ge: th e XR I000 is in every wa y a direct descendant o f th e X R750 , ha ving been design ed an d th e prototype built in th e co m pany's Racing Department under th e di rect co nt ro l o f Di ck O 'Brien, long-time H- D competition ch ief to w hom sh o u ld rea lly be directed th e ultimate cred it for th e XR 's crea tion in th e first pl ace. H avin g been given the task of producin g a n XR -with-lights, rather th an th e co m p a ny's usual R&D dep artm ent. .O ' Brien an d his band o f merry men crea ted th e fini sh ed , tested art icle in less th an 60 da ys. And yo u thought on ly th e' j apan ese co u ld move th at fa st? Li sten , two m onths is a lon g tim e in racing .. . So ; here we have a cobby, sp ortylooking H -D with a generally com forta ble ridin g posi ti on by o bjecti ve sta nda rds a nd vib ra tion no wo rse th an , say, a Du cati. Ah , you sa y, but wh a t'Il she do, mi ster? Well , ge tt ing her to do a ny th ing at all involves co p ing with a ludicrous. co m bi nation o f a typicall y-fat Harley tw istgri p wi th a completely smooth surface. a nd a set of throttle springs in the twin 36mm pu mper Dell 'O rtos that you could pogo with. I exagger- ate, of course, but th e thrott le ac tio n reall y is very stiff to co u n teract the ma ssive suc tio n effect of th e 45m m intake (a n d 38m m exhaus t) valves. That of itself wouldn 't be so bad if it weren 't for th ose cra zy sm ooth grips which render th rottl e co nt rol difficu lt in th e extreme . In turn , this mak es the first few miles on th e X R a seri es of on/ o ff bursts o f acce lera tio n and deceleration till you graduall y learn to cope, and gearch angingwell , let 's sa y it 's an acq ui red art . Which it shou ldn' t be, because th e XR 's gearbox is every th ing yo u' d ex pec t from a sports bike's transmi ssion: positive, firm selec tion of all fo u r gears is o n hand , wi th a medium length lever throw a nd a smooth cha nge ac tio n. Neutral is hard to find, th ough - as you m ight expect from an en viro n me nt wh ere neutral is th e last ra tio yo u want to select unexpectedl y. Th is m ight n ot be a problem but for th e fact th a t Harley has for some un accoun table reason d ispe ns ed w i th a n eutral light amon gst th e ro w of three o il/ bea m / ge nera to r idi ot eyes ben eath the !!OOO rpm tach and llO-mph speedometer, so hitting n eutral a t lights a nd intersec tions is largel y a matter of guesswork. O n ly four gear s, did I hear you say? Well , yes - th oug h a very few 5speed X R gearboxes were made in 13

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