Harley Davidson XL 883R Sportster

I'll never forget my first time on a Sportster. It was in Gulfport, Mississippi, the summer of '89. A 6-foot 1-inch tall redhead named "Mama Cass" who I worked with at a beachfront restaurant facing the Gulf of Mexico asked me if I wanted to go to the All Harley Memorial Day Blowout with her. On her bike no less. Which is good because I didn't have one at the time. My riding experience included learning to ride on my friend Paul's 1984 Honda Ascot 500 and a few spins on a Rebel. I was stoked at the chance to mount her Sportster. To me, I was moving up into the big leagues.

I met Mama Cass at her house that afternoon so we could ride over to the Gulfport Dragway. She had an 883 that had been bored-out to a little over 900cc with a chopped-out front end and custom bars. She gave the root-beer-brown bike a few kicks in her garage but it only flooded out and filled the space with gas fumes. I opened the garage door to let the fumes out while she went in the house to freshen up.

After letting the bike sit a few minutes, I climbed on board, not really expecting it to fire up and gave it a kick. The knee-jerking kick starter sparked the V-Twin to life. The ensuing thunder vibrated through the thin slats of the garage, across the yard, through the walls of the house, and rattled the porcelain john Mama Cass was sitting on. She came running out of her house, still pulling her pants up, scared that I was stealing her bike. She was relieved to see I just wanted to see if I could start it up.

We rolled it out of the garage. She jumped on back while I steadied the bike. From the combination of a tight clutch, too much throttle and a rookie rider behind the handlebars, the torquey Sportster's front wheel popped up when I shifted into first, our heads snapped back and Mama Cass almost dumped off the back. She squeezed the breath out of me and let out a whoop. I held it straight and we came back down, so I shifted into second and headed off to my first biker blowout. Thus was born my first experiences on a Sportster.

I'm sure that in its 50 years of rolling off the Harley-Davidson assembly line, the Sportster has been responsible for numerous fond memories like mine. When you're the longest continuously produced motorcycle in the Harley-Davidson contingent, it comes with the territory. But the model maintains its top-selling status by keeping its unmistakable styling cues while continuing to evolve from its humble right-side drive, four-speed 55 cubic-inch beginnings to the electronically fuel-injected motorcycle that it is today.

Now there's sure to be Harley purists out there that are going to lament the loss of the Sporster's carburetor as the 2007 883s join the rest of the Harley line with H-D's Electronic Sequential Port Fuel Injection as standard equipment. Oxygen feedback acts independently on each cylinder, so the system "learns" and adjusts to changing conditions to deliver optimal performance. The new induction gives the Sporster more thrust in the lower revs of second and third gear. Though the switch to ESPFI is sure to be in response to the ever-changing demands of tougher emissions standards, riders benefit from a bike that has gained more torque on the low end while burning cleaner, too.

Harley claims that the four Sportster XL models for 2007 have seen about a 15 percent increase in torque at 2500 rpm as a result of the new induction and a retuned powertrain. Our dyno readings substantiate this claim. The chart spiked as rpm climbed on the low end to 2500 while the horsepower output maintained a linear ascent through the power band. One area where our findings differed from Harley's is its claim of 55 lb-ft at 3500 rpm. Our dyno readings also peaked at 3500 rpm, but we got a performance output of only about 45 lb-ft. Granted we are still dialing in a new dyno, but the difference was notable enough to deserve mentioning. Our findings were closer to last year's claim of 51 ft-lbs at 4300 rpm.

The Sportster mill maintains the same 53.86-inch displacement as last year's engine. The 3.0-inch bore and 3.81-inch stroke and 8.9:1 compression ratio haven't changed either. The major changes to the mill have been the installation of new cams and in its retuning to accommodate the new ESPFI. The end product results in the increased torque. For us, it provided many miles of smooth power delivery as we rumbled up and down I-5, climbed mountain roads surrounding Oregon's Crater Lake, and sped through the accompanying twisties.

As we ran the Sportster over the gamut of road surfaces, the place it felt most comfortable was in straight-line performance down the Interstate. The note the shorty, staggered dual exhaust emits in fifth gear at 70 mph was music to our ears. The V-Twin's resonating rumble has a calming effect, and seemed to be the range where the engine ran at peak efficiency. Teamed with greatly reduced vibrations over the older models, the bike was a solid performer as we commuted 60 miles round trip daily up and down I-5.

The engine didn't like the quick start-stop routine during our photo shoot as much. It took a few miles in the saddle before we acclimated to the rev range, and if you push a gear too hard near the top of the tach, the Sportster's power will fade quickly. It would have been helpful to have had a tachometer during this initiation phase instead of having to rely on the sound of the engine's rev and a glance at the speedo until we learned the bike's sweet spot for up-shifting.

We are grateful Harley-Davidson started rubber-mounting the 883's Evolution mill in 2004. Even though my first ride on a Sportster was eons ago, I remember the shake, rattle and roll of the old bikes. Though it has always been a part of the Sportster's reputation, the 2007 bike is working to rewrite the bike's history with improved ridability.

Another area where Harley has spent time making the bike more rider-friendly is in its hand controls. The throttle response displayed no noticeable lapses, and the bike definitely pulled strong running through second and third gears.