Harley Davidson XLH 1000 Sportster

Road Test

Five thousand bucks worth of Image
The Bear got to go out and have his photo taken with it. There's no justice, is there?
After a few months of gentle per-[ suasion Norm Burling of Burling & Simmons finally relented and we arranged to take delivery of a brand new Harley Davidson XLH Sportster.
Having been brought up on a steady diet of oriental motorcycles with the occasional continental machine our tester felt a little apprehensive when the day finally arrived to pick up the Harley. Paranoia set in and uncertainties flashed through his mind. Is the XLH going to be as heavy as it looks? Are the rumours true about the clutch and will it need two hands for successful operation? Is the starting procedure going to lead to severe leg shortening? The list went on!

In fact, all of these fears proved groundless. The Sportster didn't have a kickstarter, just a very hefty and efficient battery and starter motor. The clutch was heavy but certainly not as bad as some (particularly the Laverda Jota), and the 1000 tips the scales at 236 kg dry, much the same as the GSX750 Suzuki.
As soon as one slips into the Harley saddle it becomes glaringly obvious that this is a motorcycle like no other. From riding position to styling to mechanicals it's in a class of its own. The company insists (quite rightly) that its products aren't fast and furious cross country blasters, but are built to offer durability and character — the image is what it's all about. Riding the Sportster is to look disdainfully at the GSX leaving a trail of rubber from the lights. It's amazing to see the way cars give you a wide berth when their drivers hear the rumble of those exhausts beside them. In NSW about thirty new Harleys leave the distributors each month and find their way to terrace houses in Woollahra, mansions in Kirribilli and semis in Auburn, their owners paying from $5000 to $9000 to become part of the Harley legend. The people who are buying these motorcycles are about as different as their reasons for buying them. Surprisingly enough the outlaw brigade makes up a very small proportion of the total market. Whether it be for the image, the feel of the motorcycle, or a desire to keep up with the Joneses, the Harley legend is alive, well and flourishing.
Power, Harley style

Harley Davidson was the first to the line with an overhead valve Vee twin way back in 1936. The knucklehead displaced a mean 61 cubic inches (998 cm3) and had such luxuries as a circulating oil system, hemispherical combustion chambers and domed pistons. While this may have been innovation then, it certainly wouldn't win any prizes for design excellence these days. The basic package has remained fairly similar for nearly five decades.
Outwardly the most obvious changes have involved cylinder head construction, first the knucklehead, then the panhead and finally the shovelhead. The original 61 cubic inches has grown through 74 cubic inches (1200 cm3) to 80 cubic inches (1340 cm3). Harley's 1981 range includes only the 1340 cm3 models and the two 1000 cm3 Sportsters, the XLH and the XLS.
Unlike the Japanese who prefer over-square engine configurations, HD uses a 96.8 mm stroke with an 81 mm bore to push out the 998 cm3 displacement. The long stroke with the high 9:1 compression ratio gives the Sportster its typical stump-pulling muscle. Crankshaft is a built up affair which
Photography by Simon Hohnen runs on roller bearing mains. Overhead valves (two per cylinder, of course) are actuated by pushrods with hydraulic lifters. Cylinders are cast iron but heads are aluminium alloy.

Lubrication is a dry sump system with the oil tank situated where the left side cover would have been. The oil tank is a multi-purpose device, it acts as a reservoir for the oil and as a leg warmer when the bike is at a standstill.
One important improvement over previous Sportsters is the carburetion. The old troublesome Bendix has been replaced by a Keihin, designed by Harley Davidson and manufactured by the Japanese company. Another plus with the 1981 XLH is the new Mullard electronic ignition. We found the bike to be a faultless starter whether it was hot or cold or left in the rain overnight. With cold start it wasn't necessary to use the choke at all, the correct procedure involved two pumps of the throttle and a quick stab on the starter button.

Once underway the Sportster's unique power characteristics became obvious. The company claims a massive torque maximum of 69.9 Nm at a very low 3500 rpm, and this is what Harleys are all about. Heaps of low down grunt promoting easy rideability and excellent throttle response. In fact the XLH seems deceptively slow because large increases in road speed come from quite small increases in engine speed.
Vibration is there, and is certainly not an innocuous feature of the Sportster. At idle the front end moves up and down in time with the engine pulsations, while various appendages quiver and shake in a mechanical symphony of knocks, rattles and chinks. A dedicated Harley rider will tell you this is part of the charm and we suppose the low rpm vibes could be excused that way. Not so the high engine speed vibrations! Once the tacho needle passes 4000 rpm the buzzing gets quite intense and uncomfortable. Rubber mounted handlebars help to insulate the hands but vibrations do tend to creep in through the footpegs and tank. High speed cruising (140 km/h plus) is out of the question unless your posterior and feet lack nerve endings.

That little pimple on the Harley frame is the fuel tank. It is fortunate that the XLH is not a greedy motorcycle because there's only room for nine Litres
of fuel. A full tank will last about 220 km on a careful 100 km/h cruise, that's 25.2 km/I (71.7 mpg) — very good for a one litre motorcycle. With round town riding, consumption will drop to about 21 km/I (60 mpg).
Just cruising Sportster territory is definitely the open road. If you're cheesed the nine to five grind don't worry too much, therapy is at hand. It's only a matter of firing up the big Vee twin, fighting your way through the traffic and taking the closest highway out of town. On a steady cruise through sweepers and straights the bike is quite relaxing. There's no adrenalin rush because you're in no hurry to get anywhere. It's not the destination that's important, but the ride on the way and you'll be able to cruise at 120 km/h in moderate comfort. At that speed there's no need to change out of fourth for passing manoeuvres, the XLH has excellent passing power in fourth from 90 km/h upwards.
If you are in a hurry, the Sportster will perform quite well in the more open territory. High speed stability is excellent. It feels like a tropical cyclone would be the only thing capable of throwing the Harley off line.

In the windies it's another story, the bike isn't at home here. Cornering clearance can be used up quite rapidly and the steering is slow and not precise enough for optimum control. When the bike is cranked over round bumpy corners the rider gets very little input from the steering. In situations where the Harley needs to be thrown from side to side it demonstrates a reluctance to lean quickly, a factor undoubtedly aided by the wide rear tyre. Consequently the bike needs more muscling through windies than one would expect of a 236 kg machine. The entire setup of softly sprung long forks, stiff rear end, the sixteen inch rear and nineteen inch front wheel impart a certain unpredictability going hard round small radius curves.

To be fair, though, the XLH isn't built for hard riding stunts. If God had meant Harleys to be scratchers' delights he would have given them flat bars and rearsets but instead they're adorned with high bars and rider's pegs set well forward. This riding position, with the easy going power characteristics of the engine, spells relaxation. To get the maximum benefit from the Harley without any trauma that's the best way to ride it.
There was one major factor, apart from tank size, which did limit the bike's long distance touring ability  comfort! The rear springs were very stiff even on the softest of the three settings and the seat, although well shaped, was a trifle thin in the padding department. After a few hours in the saddle the rump would become acutely aware of the two frame members underneath. While the rider slips into the seat and feels safe the pillion is not so well served. The passenger is perched uncomfortably high on a very narrow seat and so suffers from insecurity especially under hard acceleration. Pillion pegs are set too far forward. Bear in mind though that the XLH Sportster is the budget Harley, the more expensive models have more comfortable seats.
Cogs and stoppers

The XLH uses a chain primary drive from the crankshaft to the separate gearbox unit. The XLH chain is shorter than any of the 1340 cm3 models and Harley Davidson claims this leads to less drivetrain freeplay and smooth, snappier gearchanges — a reasonable assertion.
When we took delivery of the Sportster the odometer showed about a mere 10 km so the gearbox was understandably very tight. At this stage gearchanges were noisy, and successful selection required a lot of muscle-power. After a few hundred kilometres when the gearbox had loosened up and our tester had adjusted to its idiosyncrasies, changes from first through to third could be achieved quite smoothly. Downchanges required greater care and we found the secret to be "the slower the better". Unfortunately we couldn't accomplish noiseless changes in or out of fourth.

Due to its massive low rev grunt the Harley can run fairly tall gearing without problem. Overall ratios are lower than the Japanese one litre machines. We're sure that Harley could have rearranged ratios so that there isn't such a large gap between third and fourth. While this may not be much of a problem when the bike is completely run in, we found the motor had to be revved past the suggested running-in levels in third before fourth could be consistently used for cruising through undulating country.
While the clutch was heavy it was progressive and troublefree — not so the brakes. Engine braking is substantial but the same can't be said about the performance of the disc brakes. The
rear disc brake is progressive, quite powerful and needs fierce footwork to lock up, but the twin discs on the front lack power and feel. From high speed the XLH needs a lot of effort at the lever to produce maximum braking, but this does result in rapid reduction in speed. Low speed braking is better but we found it became a natural tendency to rely more heavily than usual on the rear brake.
Odds and sods

There's no arguing the fact that Harleys have unique styling which produces either strongly positive or negative reactions. It's not something one can really warm to, the styling appeals or it doesn't. The Sportster's finish was only pretty good. The more expensive models are heaps better, finely sculptured products. No complaints about the paintwork though — thick and lustrous.
Switchgear doesn't get top marks. Indicators work only when the finger remains on the button and the right and left are actuated by separate buttons on the appropriate end of the handlebars. Quick lane changes can be difficult since the right hand has to successfully control throttle and brake application, all with the right thumb firmly on the indicator button.

Horn has a very macho low pitch and is quite loud. It doesn't really sound like a motorcycle horn so erring drivers think there is something much larger in their immediate vicinity. The button is quite difficult to get at quickly because it sits at the top of the switch cluster.
Headlight was surprisingly good considering its limited dimensions, but the taillight is disappointingly dull. There's a bare minimum of idiot lights, just high beam and oil pressure. Unfortunately the XLH hasn't a neutral light which does prove to be a bugbear. Neutral is very often difficult to find whether the motor is running or not. For your $5150 plus rego you don't get a toolkit. Still, what does a brick and a cold chisel cost? The price does include a comprehensive owner's manual.

Conclusion
There it is! The Sportster isn't the fastest, or the best handler around but it does have loads of character and road presence. We found the Harley to be quite easy to live with despite its various idiosyncrasies and the appeal did grow the longer we rode the bike. It's certainly not the bike for everyone but at least 80 Australian people every month are parting with a substantial amount of money to be part of the Harley legend. For the price, XLH is not good value on paper. But many a Sportster rider will tell you it's cash well spent. — D.B.

Source Two Wheels 1981