VOLUME ISSUE FEBRUARY , P109
phrases used to describe the
experience of riding the Sprint.
The staffers were quick to point
out that the SX 350 wasn't really
a street bike and it wasn't a dirt
bike, the latter argument being
bolstered with the tale of a test
rider losing control of the motor
-
cycle in a sand wash and then
enduring the unpleasant experi-
ence of having the bike fall on
him. "The resulting separated
shoulder," wrote CN, "has caused
him to have considerable ill will
toward the SX 350."
The SX 350 tipped the scales
at circus-lady fat 400 pounds,
a figure so astronomical that it
seemed as if the manufacturer
had tasked the engineers with
the goal of making the Harley the
biggest boy in the class. For the
sake of comparison, Yamaha's
1973 DT360 listed a dry weight
of 275 pounds. Not svelte by
any means, but a featherweight
compared to the SX 350.
In what seemed like an effort
to make the rider feel each of
those 400 pounds, Harley had
outfitted the SX
with weak sus
-
penders at both
ends. The Harley's
front wheel was
connected to a
pair of Ceriani
forks, high-end
components at
that time, but
these "forks and
shocks seem to
be lifted from
other machines,
without being
thought out in
terms of the frame or machine
application." At one point during
the test, the forks performed a
"hydraulic lockup" bringing back
the feel of a "rigid frame Harley."
The testers were equally
unimpressed with the back end
of the machine, stating that the
shocks were "stiff enough to pop
the back end of the machine up
when it encounters the obstacle
that the front end couldn't clear."
Somewhere in that sentence, one
might find a backhanded compli
-
ment!
If there was one important
component of the SX 350 pack-
age that the test crew tolerated,
it would be the heart of the bike.
"If the Sprint has an outstand-
ing virtue," CN wrote, "it is the
engine. Some tastes will find it
ideal. The torquey little horizontal
four-stroke single was happy as
a pig at the slop trough when
climbing hills. It would drag
its own weight along with the
operator and a passenger up a
considerable grade…it doesn't
have all that much power, but [it]
is perfectly adequate."
Harley-Davidson shouldn't take
too much credit for this impres-
sively "adequate" powerplant.
The Italian Aermacchi company,
of whom H-D had acquired a 50
percent share, had been building
quality engines for decades. The
company had begun its run in the
early 1900s as a manufacturer of
military aircraft. But like Ducati
and its radio business, World War
II had devastated the companies,
and both firms, looking for a new
direction, saw war-torn Europe in
need of cheap, lightweight trans
-
portation for its citizens.
Aermacchi produced a series
of beautiful machines and also
had a brilliant run in road racing,
with beloved Italian Renzo Pa
-
solini nearly winning the 250cc
World Championship in 1972.
Harley-Davidson's acquisition
would put Aermacchi engines in
U.S.-spec chassis, and perhaps
they would now have a player in
the rapidly growing U.S. market
for small-displacement motor
-
cycles.
"Harley-Davidson needs to
pass back to their Italian branch
the message on what will sell
and provide pleasure in the
American market" wrote CN.
"The machine needs some seri
-
ous re-thinking if it is to compete
with the horde of street-oriented
Japanese dual-purpose bikes."
Unfortunately, for the SX 350,
that time never came. AMF
Harley-Davidson dust-binned
the 350 after just one more year
of production, and the rest of
its Aermacchi-based machines
would follow it soon after.
CN
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with weak sus
front wheel was
forks, high-end
that time, but
these "forks and
without being
thought out in
A 400-pound,
350cc single?
The writing was
on the wall.
