Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/128235
2 0 0 4 Harley-Davidson Sports ters - .... Even better is the fact that, w ith all that nasty v ibration gone, this i s a bik e t hat you m ight consider actually slapping so me bags on and seriously touring wi t h, li k e more than once , an d n ot j us t back and forth t o M il wauke e eve ry fiv e ye ar s. A tou r i ng Sportster ? God h el p us all . Y ou co u l d d o i t, not that you should. A ft er all, th e 883 and Road ster, with arg u abl y a more c om fo rta b le seating p o s ition, l ack the b ig 4. 5 - g all on jug of the C u st om m od els . Thei r 3.3 -ga ll o n cells w il l have y ou stoppi ng f or g a s q ui t e a b it soo ne r t ha n you r Big Twin -mounted p al s. And t he Customs co u l d use a b it m ore suspens io n than the 2.4 i nc hes t h at hold up the ir tails now. The Cust o m s w o u ld also appreciate a n i c e wi n d s c r ee n to l e s s en t h e severity of th e ma insail effe c t th at yo u batt le w h e n ri ding w i t h y our a r m s s tret c h e d t o r each t h e C' s straig ht er , na rro we r h an d lebars c om f o rt a bl y . Fort unat e l y , H a r l ey h a s ab ou t 180 Ge n uine Parts and Accessories to dress up o r dress o ut you r Spo rt st er an y way y o u see fit. Speaking of n ar rower . Harley D a v id so n saw f it to trim a q u arter in ch of dia me t er o ut of th e grip s. T hinner is be tter, and it redu ces rid er fat ig ue. T he reconto ur ed se at - done ma inl y du e to th e req u irements o f th e been there . It has just be en masked by the buzz through feet, arms and arse. But that's all gone now. In its place is pure riding fun . T h e n ew Sportsters are a sheer joy wh en ra iling through the canyons and other serpentine stretch es of tarm ac . Sure , yo u ' re st i ll we ll advi sed to let that snot -nosed jockey on the 600 pa ss, but you're marching to the bea t of a V -twin drum an ywa y . And it's a rather athletic o n e at that. No t too sha bby for a 47 -y ea r - old i n stitut io n ... or so y o u could argue. In a st raight-line th ey 'r e as stable as an ocea n liner. The twin 292 mm Hissin brakes on the Roadst er are the best Harley binders t o da t e. 38 O C T O B ER 8 , 2003 ' cue I e n e _ s - n ew frame - is equally n ice o n all versions. Best of the best o n th e n ew Sportster? It's g otta b e th e b rak es. M an , th ese new 292m m Nissin s wi th two p ist o n f ro nt calipers are strong an d smooth . It do esn 't ma tter whether y ou have two roto rs up front, as on the Ro ad ster , or onl y ha ve the one up front . as d o th e r est. You can rest a ssu red that y ou'll enj o y co n sis t ent , fa de -free sto pping every ti me. A ll t ha t ad ds up to th e good p art. H e r e's som e o f th e bad. T he new Sportsters a re heavi er , b etween 50 an d 60 p ounds depend ing on whi ch o lde r Sportst er m od el you ' re switch in g fro m. Hey , it had to be. All that beautifu l rig idity in the rubber-mount ch assis had to come at a price . Less coo l th an tha t , however, is t h e lean a ng l e that was sacr ificed i n the redesig n. T he one or two degrees that Harle y claims may a s well have be en 10 or 20 . It just seems like the new Sportsters are j ust th at much lo we r and t hu s m ore willing t o drag t he p ip es in aggressive co rners . Bu t hey , Harley engineers wa nted t o m e et thr e e goa ls w it h th e n e w Spo rt ster. Sta rt ing with the b iggie , they have eliminated the mind -n umb in g vibration that had been a part o f the Spo r tster ' s makeup s i nce the begin ni ng. Sec ond, the y made the m a ch in e a more comfortable b ik e to r i de , and th ird , th e y enha nce d th e Sportster's st yling wh ile not altering it sig nificantl y. Bargain Hog ? Oh yeah . Low ly Sportster? Hell no. It's funny what t hi n gs will sta y with you. eN Engine: Heari Like a lloa Normall y, any technic al discussions with regard to a new motorcycle would start with the engine. but in this case we felt that the chassis deserved center stage. Why? Because while Harley-Davidson's new XL engine is new to the Sportster, it borrows much of its technology with the Buell XB engine introduced in the XB9 Fireboll. Harley officials say that there was "too much stock ' in the XL engine design ation to simply rebadge the Sport ster motor as an XB, thus the 2004 Harley- Davidson is "completely redesigned .' Catch that? That's not to say that the redesign is insignifi cant, because the new engine is. in fact , the most powerful Sportster engine ever (Harley scholars, please don't write to blather on about the Harley- Davidson XR1000. Even Harley officials can't decide if that motorcycle was really a Sportster - and it certainly wasn't an XL). Harley cla ims that the XL883 now delivers 53 horsepower at 6000 rpm (at the crank ), and 51 foot -pounds of torque at 4300 rpm . As you'd expect. the XLl200 is even brawnier. with a claimed 70 crank horsepower at 6000 rpm and 79 foot-pounds of torque at 3500 rpm . which is a 15 percent increase over the '03 XLl200 engine. The engine retains its traditio nal 45-degree V-twi n cy linder arran gement . with the respectiv e bore x stroke combo s of the 883 and 1200 remaining unchanged. Both share a 3.8-inch stroke, with the 883 swinging slugs in three-inch bores while the 1200 has 3.5incher s. . To get the power, Harley- Davidson engineers focused on increasing the cooling ability , reducing drag and decreasing rotating weight . Starting at the top . the 2004 XL features all new cylinders and high-now heads (with correspondingly higher performance cams) with bigger fins for enhanced cooling. Internally , the engine sports new oil jets that are mounted in the case and aimed at the bottom of both pistons to reduce operating temperatures furthe r. The pisto ns themselves are also new and feature new "hi qb- speed" rings that decrease drag and increase top-end durabili ty . Comp ression ratio for both the 883 and the 1200 is 9.7: 1. The pistons are also lighter, as are the connecting rods, which are narrower through the beam but, says Harley. stronger than the '03 Sportster's rods. The engine's efficiency has been enhanced in two more areas. First off. the new XL uses a redesigned ignition timin g system with a crank position sensor that picks up timing from teeth on the flywheel to determine ignition tim ing. The new design is simpler and makes the timing more accurate. The 883 models also benefit from new, lighter clutch springs. which decrease lever effort by 25 percent.