1983 Harley Davidson XR 1000

It's a textbook case of expectation vs. realization. Fantasy shattered by reality. Suggestible types look at the XR1000 and see a mildly homogenized version of Jay Springsteen's all-conquering XR750. Not quite. From the head gaskets up, aluminum heads and bigger valves present a reasonable facsimile of Springer's XR, compete with combustibles entering on the right. Most everything else was common iron-head Sportster stuff.

Mufflers masquerading as a dirt-track exhaust system and a pair of 36mm Dell'Orto pumper carbs fitted with K&N; filters helped the XL manage 10 more horses than a stock '83 Sportster. Enough to punt the 495-pound package down the quarter-mile in a respectable 12.77 seconds at 102 mph-competitive with Japanese 650cc fours of the day. New 11-inch rotors and more powerful calipers offer a rare flash of brilliance. Beyond that, you're careening from one disappointment to the next.

Pipes roast your right calf. Carbs bite your left knee. Asymmetrical weight distribution means an inborn predilection for turning left. Soft springs and non-existent damping add up to incorrigible behavior in every turn. Power is linear enough, but heinous vibration anywhere near the 6200-rpm rev limit encourages short shifting. The stiff, balky transmission discourages shifting altogether. An equally uncooperative clutch makes finding neutral somewhere between difficult and impossible. Rough treatment takes its toll on fragile internal cogs, with disastrous results.

Sportster underpinnings held the XR1000's original asking price to a quasi-rational $6995-about what you would have paid for a real-steel XR750 back then. But the street XR was too much for The Motor Company faithful, and not nearly enough to distract bevel-booted sporting types from something like Honda's $3698 CB1100F. Production was limited: About 1000 bikes left the factory in '83, followed by about 750 in '84. Most finally sold below the original asking price, though a clean example commands far more today. As an emotional talisman or an investment that comes out of the garage to channel Bart Markel on weekends, the XR1000 is actually pretty smart. But if you find one, make sure it's not a reconstituted racebike. And make sure it's original, all the way down to nuts and bolts-any deviation from stock takes a bite out of its value. And don't write a check based on Internet auction descriptions and a few fuzzy 72-dpi images. Do your homework and check it out in person. Prices hinge on condition more than vintage. A pristine example goes for about $12,000 these days. Seen for what it is, the XR1000 is a rolling homage to the best racing on earth. Beyond that, don't say we didn't warn you.

Racing improves the breed, everyone knows, but most of the people building street bikes long ago quit racing the motorcycles they sell the public. After all, who needs a bike like Kenny Roberts or Freddie Spencer?

There is, however, cycle that could he-be—a street bike. It's light and fast and controllable and reliable and beautiful and has a racing heritage second to none. A roll of the drums now, and . . . here's the Harley-Davidson XRIOOO.

Like everyone else who's ever gone to an AMA dirt track race and seen the thundering Harley XR750s racing, some of the people inside Harley-Davidson have wanted to build a street version of the XR. Easier said than done, said the Engineering Department. Easier done than said, said Dick O'Brien of the Racing Department.

O'Brien, known as O.B. on the racing circuit, knows racing, he knows Harley-Davidsons and he knows how to get things done. Christ, does he know how to get things done. He asked for 60 days to build a street legal XR. That was last June. Sixty days later he presented the completed XRIOOO to the management and the project was on.

A Harley-Davidson XR is not quite like anything else in the Harley-Davidson line. It traces the roots of its engine back to the same roots that grew into the Sportster. Both are 45° ohv V-Twins with a row of four separate cams geared together on the right-hand side of the engine. Both use similar fork-and-blade connecting rods rotating on a single throw crank spinning on ball and roller bearings. Both grew out of the old 45 cu. in. flathead K-model Harley-Davidsons, the Sportster turning into an overhead valve motor in 1957, the XR turning from an iron flathead to an iron overhead valve to the alloy 750cc ohv racing motor a dozen years ago.

Although both the Sportster and the racing XR750 are descended from the same design, they are substantially different. When the XR became an all-alloy motor, it received a better shaped combustion chamber, a carburetor for each cylinder, much different rocker boxes and rockers, lighter aluminum pushrods, shorter connecting rods and no concessions to street operation. The XR motor made more power, under tougher conditions, and did so because of a superior design and better materials. The narrower angle between the valves and flatter pistons made for faster combustion, so more compression could be used and more power extracted.

Early on in the project it became clear that a racing XR750 could not be converted to a street bike without enormous cost and compromise. The frame of the XR750 was not built to have lights or a sidestand mounted. The shape of that beautiful orange fiberglass is fine for going around circles of dirt with a left foot sliding along in a steel shoe, but it takes more than that to be a good street bike. So the XRIOOO became mostly a Sportster, styled like the latest XLX1000 Sportster, with all the Sportster pieces that work, plus it has the power-making pieces from an XR750 added.

That adaptation is an especially good answer now, because in 1982 the Sportster received a new frame. Light and strong, the new frame provided more cornering clearance and excellent handling to the old Sportster. It replaced all those cast junctions with welded steel tubes. All it needed was an engine with more power, and maybe some more powerful brakes.

That's the XRIOOO. Bolting on a set of XR cylinders and head turned out to involve some redesign. The Sportster motor has an 81mm bore and 96.8mm stroke, the XR750 motor has a 79.5mm bore and 75.5mm stroke, and uses shorter rods with the shorter cylinders and stroke. No combination of existing parts would allow the XR heads to fit on a Sportster crankcase.

New cylinders and rods were needed to mate the alloy heads on the big displacement engine, and the new cylinders are iron, not aluminum alloy with liners, as the XR750 uses. The difference is about 10 lb., a little less cooling for the big iron cylinders and more strength. According to O'Brien, the iron cylinders work as well as the alloy cylinders for power, have no cooling shortcomings because of the alloy head, and retain their shape better than lightweight cylinders. They could also be developed in less time.

The new cylinders are noticeably larger across the fins, with much greater cooling area. They also use through-bolts instead of the old Sportster's separate bolts holding the cylinders to the cases and the heads to the cylinders. This also adds strength, something the XRIOOO appears to possess in great amount. New rods a half inch shorter than the old rods were used to reduce the height of the engine, so it would fit in the new frame. ' What remains of the racing XR are the important parts. The heads are the same, at least the same as the latest batch of XR750 heads. In detailing the production specifications and finding machining services for the larger production run, some improvements have been made. There is more strength around the valve guides and the latest heads are a different alloy that works better than the old alloy. Valve sizes are 1 mm larger on the XRIOOO than on the XR750 (45mm intake and 38mm exhaust), but are made of the same material.

When the heads have been machined they are sent to California for assembly. Why ship parts to California and back to Wisconsin? Because all the heads are assembled by Jerry Branch. Assembling, in this case, means porting and polishing the ports and combustion chambers, shimming the double valve springs to the correct height and installing the titanium collars and keepers.

XR heads use different rocker boxes than the iron heads. Valve lash is adjusted by eccentric rocker shafts, easily set by twisting the shaft from outside the box, after checking the clearance through inspection holes. The Sportster used adjustable cam followers. Aluminum pushrods are used on the XR, and the rockers are individually spliced at the correct angles for each valve. This last operation was developed for the racing engines. Instead of having separate rocker arms made for each valve, with the optimum angle between arms of the rocker, the long tubular center of the rockers are cut, then mounted in jigs at the correct angle and welded together.

Valves are set at a 68° included angle on the XR head, instead of the 90° angle of the iron Sportster heads. This makes for a flatter combustion chamber, which in turn makes a shorter distance for the flame to travel during combustion, improving power and reducing the tendency to detonate. Compression ratio will be 9:1 for the stock XR1000 engine, which requires nearly flat-top pistons. Cast aluminum pistons are used, machined down on top to achieve the desired compression ratio.

Where the rocker boxes bolt to the head, the threads have helicoil inserts. When Project Engineer Gary Stippich was asked if the production engines would still get the helicoils, he explained that the racers needed them because of the number of times the rocker boxes get pulled on racing heads, and there wasn't time to experiment without the inserts, so all the heads will retain the inserts.

Stock 1983 Sportster cams will be used in the XR1000. These are called Q cams in the Harley-Davidson list of camshafts, and have moderate lift and duration, though because Harley measures cam timing at 0.005 in. of lift, the figures don't look particularly mild. Lift is 0.284 in. on intake and 0.267 in. on exhaust. Duration is 368° exhaust and 361° intake. They give a broad, flat torque curve and have been relatively easy to work with on emission tuning, which is important when you're working with a 60 day lead time.

Most noticeable of the XR characteristics are the dual carburetors and the exhaust climbing up the left side of the bike. The racing bikes have these, and so does the XR1000. Dell'Orto carburetors are used, 36mm, with accelerator pumps. K&N air filters tuck in to the side of the bike, requiring an indentation to be made in the oil tank. That's one of the problems with this design. Packaging the engine and carbs and filters so a rider can sit on the motorcycle requires some extra work fitting things around the engine. The exhaust is just like the race-bikes. Length and shape are the same, and the pair of pipes run up the left side of the bike just like on Springsteen's bike, but there are mufflers inside those pipes so the bike can pass sound tests.

Actually, the XR1000 has a lower sound level on the tests than the Sportster, because having the intake and exhaust on separate sides of the bike means the loudest side doesn't have two sources of sound raising the sound level. It's all a matter of how the tests are run, and no one without a sound meter will ever be able to tell.

Performance is the reason for adding the racing part to the Sportster. It used to be the fastest and quickest stock bike made, and it remained one of the quickest for many years. But since the big Fours from Japan were developed, the Harley has lost some of its performance image. With the new heads, cylinders, intake and exhaust, the XR1000 puts out about 70 bhp on the Harley dyno, measured at the crankshaft.

Power is increased through the rpm range, particularly at lower engine speeds. Using individual carburetors makes jetting easier, explained Stippich, because the irregular firing of the 45° engine forced the carburetion to be a compromise with a single carb, jetting richer in spots than ideal to cover up leanness in the other cylinder at that speed.

While this is a sizeable increase in power and can cut more than a second off the quarter mile time of the XR1000 compared with an XL 1000, the performance potential is even greater. Remember, this project was developed in the racing department.

And in case any Harley customer wants to race an XR1000 on pavement, there will be factory speed parts available. The first level of performance increase is the addition of 10.5:1 compression pistons and longer duration, high lift, cams. With only these parts changed power jumps up to over 80 bhp. Peak power is reached at 5600 rpm with the stock cams and pistons, and this increases to 6300 rpm for the high compression, high overlap combination, but still with plenty of low and mid-range power.

For a full racing version, with an open exhaust and perhaps larger carburetion, there is the potential for about 100 to 105 bhp, according to O'Brien. Where and when such a Harley-Davidson will appear is anybody's guess, but in the back room of the racing department Carroll Resweber was busy welding up a Cal Rayborn replica frame to fit the new motor. O'Brien wasn't talking about that.

Elsewhere in the Harley plant a couple of production prototypes were being assembled. One had a couple of hundred pounds of lead bolted to the underside of the frame so it would be at gross vehicle weight rating for the emission tests. The other was mailed to California where it found itself on these pages. When the assembly line turns these out, the choke levers on these carbs will be replaced by a pull, the breather hose may be stainless steel, the tach will be redlined at 6200 rpm, the lower frame lug on the right-hand side will be gone, the cylinder hold-down studs on the left side won't be visible and the primary cover will be flat and silver with an orange decal.

When it arrived, it didn't gather dust. The XR is a particularly captivating motorcycle, and to a broad variety of riders. It was spotted on city streets and open freeways. It couldn't be parked for more than a minute at any motorcyclist hangout without a crowd forming around it and the rider subjected to interrogation. One consultant who works in the motorcycle industry and can have his pick of any new motorcycles from Japan begged us for a ride on the XR. Admittedly this is the first XR1000 released for tests, but the response was still staggering.

It is a very mechanical bike, with every working bit hung out in the open. There are no plastic panels covering anything. The tires, especially the rear tire, are huge. Fenders are so real and simple on the XR it makes everything else in the parking lot look like a toy. Why all the scoops and fins and chrome and plastic and tailpieces when a couple of carefully curved and painted metal pieces can look so attractive and work so well? A solo seat, more padded than the seat on the XLX Sportster, is mounted well forward of the rear fender. The tiny 2.2 gal. gas tank, as narrow as it is, can be touched with both knees when the rider is aboard, because everything is so narrow. Handlebars are simple and low, but wide. There is no plastic covering them, and the two simple round instruments bolted to the steering head are held with more steel. All very businesslike. All exuding a visual strength, a presence, that draws eyes like some kind of ocular magnet.

As much as anything, it's the exhaust that does it. Wrapping around the left side of the engine, climbing up the side of the motorcycle, the double tapered mufflers look just like they do on the racing XRs. On the other side of the bike there are the two carbs and an even clearer view of that engine.

Because this new Harley has a good amount of power and big brakes and it handles well, don't think it is anything like an Orientaloid. Throw a leg over the bike and the first thing you notice is that your leg doesn't need to go so high. The motorcycle is low, with a low seat, low fender and a reasonably low steering head. The sidestand holds the bike at more of an angle than most other bikes, and it locks into position when it's down so the bike won't roll forward. Put your hands on the ends of the handlebars and there are big smooth grips under them. Diameter is noticeably larger than any other brand, and there is room for big hands. Big hands make it easier to reach the clutch and brake levers, though the clutch pull on this XR was much lighter than most Sportsters.

Starting the XR doesn't require any choke with the pumper Dell'Ortos, though there are choke levers there, hidden beside the K&N filters. The ignition is hidden below the gas tank on the left side, turn it one click, pump the tremendously stiff twist grip a couple of times and touch the starter button and the XR rumbles and hammers itself into motion. The sound is lively, strong, and not like anything else, including a Sportster. The exhaust is a little louder and there is a mechanical pounding not muffled as much by the aluminum heads at it is by the iron Sportster pieces. It's a wonderful, soul stirring sound. Turn the volume up 50 percent and you couldn't keep from roaring off into the night, trying to be the kind of person your mother warned you about.

Riding the XR is not particularly difficult. The clutch works easily and smoothly, but that throttle must be some kind of test. Are you strong enough to ride a Harley? Dell'Orto carbs normally have too-stiff return springs, plus the single throttle cable from the twist grip goes to a roller mounted beneath the gas tank, where it spins the roller, which in turn pulls double cables that operate the two carbs. More than anything else, the stiff throttle pull makes shifting difficult. Pull in the clutch, touch the shifter and back off a little on the throttle, and the engine speed goes to idle, but doesn't come back up.

Lurch on through to fourth gear and things are a little easier. It doesn't matter much what speed the engine is spinning when the bike is shifted. It can run along in top gear just above idle, and it pulls strongly at that engine speed. Normal riding calls for engine speeds between 2000 and 3000 rpm. At that rate, engine vibration is hardly noticeable, except that the bike feels inordinately smooth. Above the 3000 rpm the XR1000, like the Sportster, starts vibrating excessively. This peaks about 3500 rpm, and then recedes slowly. Because of the gearing, the smoothest engine speed results in a highway speed of 55 to 60 mph, with the most vibration occurring around 65 mph. Taller gearing would help, and the XR1000 could certainly handle higher overall gearing. A better improvement would be the addition of a five-speed transmission, with a wider range or ratios.

Horsepower the XR1000 has. It also uses a lot of gas. With the stock 2.2 gal. gas tank filled to overflowing it would just stagger to a halt at the end of the 100 mi. test loop. Actually, because no one got the XR to run that far on a test under other riding conditions, the test was shortened to one 50 mi. loop. Reserve, one out-of-breath tester reported, was good for 14.1 mi. The larger gas tank is an essential option.

Like so many other parts on the XR 1000, the transmission goes way back in Harley history. It is a four-speed because the Sportster was a four-speed because the K-model was a four-speed. Some five-speed transmissions have been made for roadracing, but aren't available through the factory. This version of the Sportster transmission shifted better than the last one tested, but it is no longer a superior transmission. The throws are long and some riders thought there was less feel in the shift lever than they were used to, though there were no missed shifts.

Harley-Davidson controls are in other ways unusual, too. Turn signals are controlled by push buttons. Hold down the button on the side to be lit, and the signals flash. Take your thumb off the button and the light stops. This makes the combination of downshifting, braking and signaling more work, but few Harley riders leave the turn signals on after a turn. Harley hand grips, like Harley everything else, are large. Diameter tapers from about 1.5 in. to 1.4 in., and the surface is not ribbed or bumped. In addition to the extra-large grip diameter, the brake lever of the XR1000 extends farther from the grip than is normal. Add a distant lever with a fat grip and it becomes difficult to reach and control the brake lever. This criticism is not unanimous. Riders who liked the stretch to the lever were quick to identify their smaller-pawed brethren as quiche-eating wimps. A little machining work on the cylindrical push block in the brake lever would move the lever closer to the grip.

Adapting intake and exhaust systems from a racebike to a street bike requires a little compromise. On the XR1000 the compromise must come from the rider. By tucking the carbs and air filters closely into the side of the bike, the rider's right leg can be held very close to the bike, if the rider is tall enough. Shorter riders found interference between the forward carb's air filter and their leg. On the left side there's that high-mounted exhaust. It tucks as close to the engine as possible, and there are small heat shields attached, but still enough heat gets to the rider's leg to make cooking possible on the left shin. More heat shielding is needed here. On the road it's less of a problem, but around town the air flow is less and the left foot stays close to the shift lever. How a passenger would fit, were the XR equipped with a rear seat, we can't even imagine.

One handling peculiarity exists. In some sort of bizarre genetic quirk, the XR1000 would rather turn left than go straight. That's right, it wants to turn left. The characteristic is a result of the exhaust system. The engine is placed in the frame so it is balanced on the Sportster, balanced meaning that when you try to balance the bike on its tires, standing still, the motorcycle is absolutely vertical. Not so on the XR. Because the relatively heavy exhaust has been moved from the right side to the left side of the motorcycle, the XR 10000 has to list a few degrees to the right in order to stay balanced. This means when it's ridden straight down the road, the rjder needs to add a slight amount of steering to the left to keep the bike upright. It's not a highly noticeable characteristic, and it doesn't affect the stability or handling otherwise, but it was, to some, noticeable.

All this makes the XR1000 not your perfect bike for a casual trip to the corner market for another frozen pizza. Commitment is called for. First, the rider has to commit something between $6000 and $7000 to the purchase price. He must commit himself to adapting to the controls and the shapes of the XR.

But as Cotton Mather always promised, sacrifice bring rewards. For the XR1000 rider, those rewards are good power, excellent handling and a motorcycle that's enormous fun to ride. It's impossible to say if the XR would be as much fun to ride if it didn't vibrate, cook the left leg and make the rider work to use the turn signals.

Some of the fun of riding the XR undoubtedly comes from its heritage. Unlike most motorcycles, the XR has a heritage. All those bright orange flat track racers and famous names may not make it go faster or run smoother, but they have intrinsic value, nebulous though it may be.

On the right kinds of roads, the XR has other strengths. Take away city traffic and straight roads and it comes into its own. Nothing but a large displacement, mildly tuned motor can have a powerband like the XR. From idle to the 6200 rpm redline the motor is powerful and responsive. It feels best from 3000 rpm to 5000 rpm, though there isn't much difference above or below these engine speeds. Leaving the bike in high gear on a country road and exercising this wonderful engine is the most satisfying.

This good power combines with excellent handling to make the XR1000 a top notch sports bike. The handling doesn't

come from extraordinary light weight or quick steering geometry, because the XR weighs about the same as some of the lighter and faster 750 Fours and has steering geometry that is more conducive to stability than quickness. But the mass is centered on the bike, with little of the heavy metal wide or high. A low polar moment of inertia makes it easy to flick the bike from side to side. Wider than average handlebars help, providing more leverage. Add better-than-average cornering clearance and the XR1000 becomes an outstanding handling bike.

If the rider can adapt to the brakes, they are equally outstanding. New calipers and larger front discs provide much greater swept area and hydraulic advantage. Lever effort is now comparable to that of most Japanese motorcycles with double front discs, but the Harley brakes have virtually no flex. The lever gets pulled in slightly and it stops, as the brakes are applied. Pull harder and the bike stops quicker, but the lever still doesn't move.

Tires have been getting better on many new motorcycles, but the XR1000 raises the quality of original equipment tires another notch with the addition of Dunlop K291S Sport Elites, a 100/90V-19 in front and 130/90V-16 in back. An optional 18 in. rear wheel is available on the XR. The only other option is a larger 3.3 gal. gas tank. Equipping the XR1000 with the best street tires Dunlop makes does more than benefit the handling and braking of the Harley. It is part of the racing image. All parts are first class, from the Branch-ported heads to the tires.

Not so long ago some of the hardware found on Harley-Davidsons looked as if it were hammered out of iron ore by rock-wielding natives along the shores of the Milwaukee river. All the hardware on the XR is beautiful, though. Aluminum brake pedal and shift lever are nicely shaped, the paint is perfect and the welds are well done. The exhaust looked a little cobby, but that's expected to be more finished on the final production bikes.

Production numbers on the XR1000 will make it something of a limited edition. Starting in February, 200 will be built each month, making a run of 1000 bikes for this year. That could go up if there is enough demand, and most of the Harley-Davidson people expect there will be a demand. Within the Harley factory, employes have been asking about buying XRlOOOs, according to O'Brien.