A question of SPORT

Jaws hit the floor last year when Harley-Davidson unveiled the latest in its long line of Sportsters. Sure, most motorcyclists had expected the new-generation V-twin to be a fair bit more sophisticated than the familiar air-cooled Sportsters, which had finally fallen victim to tightening emissions regulations.

But the Sportster S is a very different motorbike – not only liquid-cooled and high-tech, but also unashamedly muscular and powerful. Harley itself says it’s the first chapter in a whole new Sportster book. In many ways it seems more like a successor to the V-Rod than to the old Sportsters, with their traditional pushrod-operated engines and twin-shock chassis.

So, has Harley blundered in relaunching the Sportster family with a bike whose 121bhp output, fat tyres and IMU make it not so much a relatively affordable retro bike, like the old models, as an upmarket competitor for the likes of Ducati’s Diavel? Time will tell, but meanwhile a look back at the Sportster story shows that Harley is not abandoning tradition by giving the latest family member some fire in its belly.

1957

XL Sportster: Iron horse with a name

The original XL Sportster’s name was significant on the model’s launch in 1957. Sportster was an evocative title for a high-performance motorbike, just as it still is today. And to emblazon it in capital letters across the crankcase was a real statement of intent.

Especially as in those days Harley didn’t really do names. Admittedly, the factory had released a