Antique Motorcycle Club, Magazine Features: Secrets of the Sportster, Part 2

Magazine Features

	Secrets of the Sportster, Part 2 By Herbert Wagner High pipes on 1959-61 CH models were practical river-fording devices, but soon replaced by more stylish and popular drag pipes. (Click image for complete gallery) Rushed into production in 1952, the Model K was immediately plagued by design and manufacturing flaws. No access door to the transmission led to disaster when incorrectly heat-treated gears began breaking. Louis Sauer, then in Harley's Service Department, told me, "Dealers were complaining about the horrible job it was overhauling that early K model because you had to pull the whole engine apart to get at the gears. We got hundreds of engines back that dealers refused to fix." As a result Harley-Davidson lost money on every first year K produced. That was serious stuff because by 1952 profits were at the vanishing point anyway. On top of this agony came the ruling that Harley-Davidson had suffered no injury from excessive foreign motorcycle imports and Milwaukee's requested government tariff relief was denied. The iron XR 750 racer was a short-lived transitional model between the side-valve KR and aluminum XR. Early mechanical problems gave the K a "black eye" with riders and dealers, but even worse was the new 45 side-valve's gasping 80-85 mph top-end and mediocre acceleration. Riders might have tolerated flaws in a super machine, but the disgrace was made worse by the K's obsolete technology no matter how "modern" a package it was wrapped in. This led to another crash program to boost K performance by increasing the stroke and upping displacement to 54.2 cubic inches (888cc). Harley promised this would make the bike competitive with "top performing foreign motorcycles in this class." By late 1952 the "Super K" (KH) was in prototype form and launched the next autumn as a 1954 model. A boost from 28 to 38 horsepower gave a 90-95 mph top end with two seconds knocked off quarter-mile performance and the "speed-kit" equipped KHK did a little better. But at 446 pounds the KH was no lightweight compared to the 650cc Triumph Tiger 110 that made 42 hp, but weighed less than 400 pounds. Although it left the market after 1955, the upper end of the Brit-bike performance scale was held by the 998cc Vincent Black Shadow that produced 54 horsepower but only weighed nine pounds more than a KH. While Sportster choppers are common, this one was unfortunately built from a rare and desirable 1957 XLA Army bike." /> While Sportster choppers are common, this one was unfortunately built from a rare and desirable 1957 XLA Army bike. If the KH was competitive it was barely so. Thankfully, by this time Milwaukee could trot out impressive KR racing wins to help revitalize the side-valve's drooping image. This boosted H-D prestige and dealer morale and allowed Milwaukee to claim that "foreign machines have lost their myth of invincibility." Whether the cost of racing was worth the effort is open to debate. If Harley's official production numbers can be believed, annual sales of the KH during 1954-56 were actually less than for the K model of 1952-53. Not even posing a hip-swiveling Elvis Presley with a KH in The Enthusiast could turn back the hands of time or rehabilitate the image of this last gasp attempt at a sporting side-valve. While Sportster choppers are common, this one was unfortunately built from a rare and desirable 1957 XLA Army bike. But as we know today, the K Model flathead was an accidental job to begin with. Merely a stopgap measure until the aluminum high-cam KL was ready to set the world on fire. But in the Model K interim what had become of this grand design? The news wasn't good. Originally planned as a 1952 model, this "last word" in a sports-type motorcycle had lagged in the developmental stage. Behind the scenes Milwaukee told stakeholders that this new sensation was coming but there would no "rushing" KL into production. Work was said to be moving "forward steadily" with the final result to be the "finest production motorcycle in the world." And while the KL's super features would result in a high price tag, Milwaukee predicted "ready sales among riders who want the ultimate in motorcycle design and performance...deluxe in every respect." Tank badge on '57 models was designed by Willie G. Davidson while attending art school in L.A. Yet for all this promise and glittering appeal, the KL kept receding over the horizon like a mirage. Bumped to 1953, then to a 1954 release date, and finally to a 1955 launch, the KL's trail goes cold after that. Alas, this super motorcycle for the 1950s would never be. Old Harley guys say that valve spring breakage was a nagging problem, but worse were over-heating issues with the high camshaft location. Not enough cooling air reached this area which led to local overheating, cylinder distortion, and piston trouble. As William H. Davidson recalled, "That KL was an attractive engine, but had a lot of teething problems." Four camshafts and straight pushrods reveal the XL's side-valve origin. Given time and more budget these bugs might have been fixed, but something else was working against KL. This was a change in the motorcycle market that Milwaukee perceived by mid-decade; a shift away from touring and pure highway use and more towards organized enduro events and adventure riding in the boonies. In this changing environment, Milwaukee reasoned, there wasn't great need for the "deluxe" KL motor that was primarily a high-speed proposition and also costly to produce. With problems haunting the KL, a new project was launched to design a less sophisticated ohv twin with acceptable all-around performance. Nothing fancy this time, the master engineering order instructed. Just turn the flathead K into an overhead, see how well it performed, and call it a day. The boat-tail option arrived in 1970 and lasted just two seasons. Most were ditched so originals have some collector status. Because many existing KH components would be utilized, this was an easy engineering task that was also cost-effective. Harley-Davidson had used this same strategy back in the late 1930s to create an overhead motor out of the flathead WL simply by making new ohv heads and cylinders. This 45 ohv reached prototype form in 1939 and was test-ridden to Texas and back. Although it performed well, the WL-overhead had too much power for the gearbox and the project was canceled. It was a different story this time. The KH bottom and running gear were proven. Early bugs had been worked out and upgrades made. Everything on the machine passed muster except for the antiquated side-valve top. With the KL lagging and the marketplace changing, Harley-Davidson began hedging its bets around 1954 when it slipped Charlie Featherly the job of designing ohv heads and cylinders for the K bottom. By 1971 the Sportster was being eclipsed by faster Japanese multis, but for good looks and sheer mystique the Sparkling America edition could still turn heads at the dragstrip and everywhere else. Featherly had worked in Harley's Engineering Department since 1932. He had done the detail head and cylinder work on the '36 Knucklehead and would also do the later Shovelhead motor. Because Featherly thought the Panhead's big valve covers retained heat, he went back to a more open Knucklehead-like design for the new ohv built off the K. Because of trouble with aluminum heads on the early Panhead, the new "X" project would have reliable cast iron heads, also like the Knucklehead. Playing it safe, H-D followed the proven ohv hemi-head formula only this time running straight pushrods from the K's four-camshaft bottom. Wanting a higher revving motor they went back to the shorter stroke of the '52 K while increasing bore size to make a 53.9-cubic-inch ("55") or 883cc motor. In this fashion the Sportster engine "growed" out of the K flathead. No daring plot hatched in Harley's Racing Department after all, just simple conservative Harley-Davidson expediency. Overheating problems stalled Harley's high-cam KL motor in the developmental stage. A simpler ohv design based on the Model K bottom was then pursued. From the Bruce Linsday collection. Even with the new ohv "X" project up and running the KL lingered a while yet and for a time both were tested side-by-side. But with the four-camshaft overhead showing more promise every day the time came when the exotic KL was shelved. All that remain of it today are a few photographs and an empty set of crankcases. In its place Milwaukee rushed forward the new revamped K-overhead that, for some reason, kept its experimental "X" designation right into production as the XL. In August, 1956, the prayers of Harley-Davidson dealers were answered when the new 55-inch Model XL ohv Sportster twin was introduced at 11 regional sales meetings. At the Fresno, California, gathering 100 dealers were hosted by Walter C. Davidson and field rep Ray Weser. For the record, William G. Davidson (Willie G.), son of then Motor Company president William H. Davidson also attended, having skipped art school that day to check out the new models. Young "Bill" had a personal interest in them because he had designed the tank badge for the '57 line in his first job for Harley-Davidson. The sportsman rider of the late 1950s had an exciting new mount in the XLCH and Harley-Davidson played that angle heavily. From the Bruce Linsday collection. With its gleaming ohv engine and two-tone paint job, the new Sportster was an attractive mount, yet cautious dealers wondered: would it go? Due to the K's poor early record, some were skeptical but in fact the Sportster was bulletproof right out of the bag. As the years passed it would become an essential member of the Harley-Davidson lineup with the model still in production today, some 50 years later. First released in mild form as the 40 hp XL, the XLH model followed in 1958 with bigger ports, valves, and higher compression boosting output to 49 hp. By then, however, dealers were chomping at the bit for an even more sporting job that would do everything well, both on-road and off. Harley-Davidson responded with the stripped-down XLCH ("CH") that the Advertising Department later hyped by claiming CH meant "Competition Hot." That little squib sent subsequent generations hunting for other occult meanings in Harley's often nonsensical model lettering system. The flathead K successfully campaiged through the 1950s and 60s aided by its rulebook displacement advantage and the highly developed tuning skills in Harley's Racing Department under Dick O'Brien and Ralph Berndt. But there was no nonsense about the Sportster. An early 1960s (pre-EPA) XLCH was rated at 58 brake horsepower @ 6800 rpm in a 480 pound machine. By comparison the 74-inch (1200cc) FLH Duo-Glide churned out 60 hp, but in a full-dresser that had to lug around an additional 210 pounds of lard. The one-horsepower per cubic inch CH rating was a high-performance benchmark of the day and Sportster wore the crown as the fastest production Harley-Davidson ever built with a claimed 115 mph top speed. Finally Harley enthusiasts had a reply to those sporty Brit twins that had been causing them so much trouble for so long. For the next decade the battle was joined between riders of the surviving American brand and English imports during encounters on the street, highway, and off-road. With the Sportster most of Milwaukee's flamboyant advertising claims would come true. "A New Motorcycle For The Man Of Action!" From the Bruce Linsday collection. True, the Sportster vibrated more and with more gear noise than the sophisticated KL probably would have, but the XL worked in a basic manner much like a hammer does. Powerful and fast it looked right too. Sportsters covered all classes whether you picked the highway-oriented XLH with big tank, saddlebags, and windscreen, or the dual-purpose XLCH with its cool Hummer tank, sporting pipes, magneto-ignition, and minimalist look that was mostly V-twin engine with the rest tacked on like an afterthought. During the 1960s the letters "CH" punched a young man's ticket to two-wheeled high performance. Guys who today badmouth the Sportster as a beginner's bike wearing "pink frillies" don't have a clue. Even those who think of the CH as a stoplight racer or drive-in accessory only have it half right. It's real mission was being the ultimate on-road/off-road machine back when throwing big bikes around gravel pits or through open-class TT events were still time-honored traditions. With Goodyear Grasshoppers the CH had enough brute strength and traction to bull its way through most anything, especially if you made simple modifications that Dick O'brien slipped dealers such as using the racing petcock and enlarging the float bowl because those big Sportster valves had a deep thirst for go-juice. Even stuck up to your hubs in mud in the Jack Pine or elsewhere you could still look cool sending roostertails flying and making lots of noise. Back on the pavement your CH could gobble up the blacktop with enough brutal straight-line acceleration to blow most everything off the road. "A New Motorcycle For The Man Of Action!" From the Bruce Linsday collection. You also had to be a real he-man (or she-woman) to kick-start the magneto-equipped XLCH to life with its high-domed pistons, lazy spark, and ergonomically insane "pump-handle" shock spindle that whalloped your leg every chance it got. Special woe to the guy who failed to put light oil in the tranny during cold weather. Forty years later you can spot old CH owners by their "Sportster knee" limp and stories abound of guys thrown over the handlebars or through grandma's chicken-coop roof by this brute's vicious kick-back. This was not the machine you'd expect to meet the nicest people riding and if The Wild One had been made 10 years later Brando would have flashed his nihilistic sneer while riding a CH as he blew past Triumphs, BSAs, and Harley Big Twins. Yep, Big Twins too because not many adventuresome young riders who entered the hallowed sanctum of a Harley dealership glanced at the stodgy Duo-Glide or later Electra-Glide. Sedate law-abiding types wearing white socks or maybe your dad rode a 74 and they were left behind like dinosaurs while you and your low-slung, lean, and pure-at-heart Sportster blasted towards Coolsville and the jet-age future. "A New Motorcycle For The Man Of Action!" From the Bruce Linsday collection. Triumph fought back in 1959 with the twin-carb 46 hp Bonneville, but a "trumpet" could never quite match the primordial bongo-beat machismo of Milwaukee's untamed beast. While reluctant to admit it, many riders of rival brands secretly lusted for a Sportster if only they could have afforded its higher price tag. Like the old saying went, "a CH will put hair on your chest, and if you already have hair on your chest, it will part it right down the middle." (Okay, slow down Herbert, they weren’t that fast. –Ed) In 1969-70, the Sportster even had its own TV show, Then Came Bronson, with actor Michael Parks saving the world while tooling around on a mildly customized XLH. When it came time for the late great stunt rider Evel Knievel to pick a bike his choice was the all-American XR 750 racer (successor to the KR). Cal Rayborn's 265.492 mph land-speed record in 1970 on an XL streamliner put the final stamp on the Sportster's glory years as higher-tech Japanese multis ended the Sportster's reign as King of Motorcycles. The 1977-78 XLCR or "Cafe Racer" already has a following. This example is shown ridden by forth generation Will Harley. John E. Harley Family Collection. Considering the unusual history of the Model K and Sportster lines, it's surprising that they aren't more highly regarded today as collector bikes. But that also makes them a good entry point for anyone desiring a V-twin in a genuine Milwaukee product. Only the word, unique, adequately describes the half-modern/half-obsolete flathead K models. Few bikes have the clean integrated look of an early stock XL. And what other motorcycle is as aggressively raw-boned macho as the legendary CH? Advertising stressed the XLCH as a rough and tough enduro bike with the fully equipped XLH roadster bringing up the rear. From the Herbert Wagner collection. Many Sportsters already fall under the AMCA 35-year rule and some unusual models include the 1957 XLA Army Sportster and the 1970-71 "boat-tail" model. Several specials will soon qualify including the 1976 "Liberty Edition," the 1978 "75th H-D Anniversary" Sportster, and the already sought-after 1977-78 XLCR "Cafe Racer." Most elusive of all (and a model that modern H-D would like to forget) is the 1977 Sportster "Confederate Edition." Of course, factory racers and TT bikes always go for a premium, but not to be overlooked are the many modified ironhead street racers and choppers available at attractive prices. However, if you decide that you simply must own Harley's ultimate, exotic, and deluxe high-cam KL, then friend, you'll have to build that baby yourself. The red, white, and blue "Sparkling America" paint option as found on this 1971 is another Sportster collectable. The wait between 1945 and 1957 for a midsize ohv Harley twin had been a long and agonizing one, beset by false starts and marketplace twists and turns. Although not the bike that the second generation Harleys and Davidsons who ran the firm up to the 1969 AMF takeover had originally intended it to be, when the XL finally arrived it delivered solid reliable performance that has stood the test of time. The Sportster is their legacy. Third generation family member, John E. Harley, Jr., who rode a CH in the late '60s, said this, "The Sportster was Uncle Bill's, Dad's, and the Davidsons' attempt to make a motorcycle for the next generation. They knew how the younger crowd liked to race down the street and go fast; do anything but go slow-poke like the FL riders. The Sportster was their hot-rod. At the time there was nothing else like it." © 2008 AMCA