VOLUME ISSUE OCTOBER , P119
other traffic than of lighting the
rider's way.
• The horn button isn't where it
is on other bikes.
And there is the inevitable
reference to the Harley-Davidson
shake. "Of course, the engine
vibrates," the tester states. "It
trembles the handlebars, foot
-
pegs, seat and mirrors at every
rpm, at every speed. It's always
there…"
It became clear that the XLCR
wasn't really a cafe racer. The
suspension, both front and rear,
wasn't up to the task of hard
cornering. And the brakes? Ulrich
wrote, "…they have no predict
-
ability, no feel, no warning…there
is no middle ground."
And that was while riding the
motorcycle in dry, optimal condi-
tions. Braking when wet was a
foolhardy endeavor; fortunately,
the bike's considerable engine
braking was enough to "almost
make the XLCR stop."
If the XLCR wasn't a cafe racer,
then what was it? A touring bike?
Wrong again! The XLCR was so
uncomfortable that anything
more than a 30-minute ride was
akin to a pleasurable half-hour
on a medieval rack. Its rear-set
pegs may have made sense on
the drawing board, but on the
road, they put the rider in an un
-
comfortable crouching position
(though, in all fairness to H-D,
street riders were unaccustomed
to sport bike riding in 1978). And
the tiny windshield on the top of
the fairing sent a blast of wind
"right up the rider's nose."
Perhaps the only way to truly
enjoy the XLCR required the rider
to confront these deficiencies
head-on—and then forget about
them! Treat it as you would your
child. Embrace the vibration, tak
-
ing it in like the heartbeat of your
firstborn. Smile as it struggles
to compete with the faster kids.
Sometimes, it will make you
feel uncomfortable, and it won't
listen to you when you tell it to
stop, but you will love it for what
it is: an unashamedly loud, un
-
derperforming Harley-Davidson.
"Fun," said Ulrich. "That's the
word to remember. Because if
you get serious, put on a race
face, and try to chase a good
rider on anything nimble, then
you'll risk "face" at best and "life"
at worst.
Production of the big, black
$3500 beast would cease
after just three years. Just 3200
XLCR's were manufactured.
In 1981, H-D executives teamed
up to buy their way out from under
the reigns of AMF; a couple of
years later, the Reagan administra-
tion gave the Motor Company a
leg up on the competition, slap-
ping a $500 tariff on all Japanese
motorcycles over 750cc (thus, giv-
ing birth to a new class of 700cc
motorcycles from Japan).
And the XLCR? In 2022, a
clean model with 31,000 miles
on the clock netted $15,500 at
auction, perhaps finally giving
definition to the oddball Harley:
if nothing else, it was a good
investment!
CN
RACER
WASN'T
Subscribe to nearly 50 years of Cycle News Archive issues: www.CycleNews.com/Archives
It became
clear that the
XLCR wasn't
really a cafe
racer.
The H-D XLCR Cafe
Racer was built during
the Harley AMF era.
