The Kneeslider

Doers Builders and Positive People

When the HD Sportster was the Fastest Motorcycle

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Harley Davidson Sportster advertisement for Bonneville recordsDo you remember when the Harley Davidson Sportster used to be a performance bike? If you’re a twenty or thirty something, you won’t, but the Sportster used to be quite a high performance machine and it was promoted by the Motor Company as the fastest stock motorcycle you could buy. Times change.

Today the Sportster is Harley’s entry level bike, something a little smaller and easier to handle than the bigger models and a bit more affordable. With the recent introduction of the Nightster, old school looks, gaiters on the fork tubes, they seem to be remembering those days when the Sportster meant business. But some of the younger guys don’t get the connection so I thought it might be interesting to show you one of the ads from the ’60s, highlighting two new Bonneville records.

These days it may be hard for Harley to push the performance envelope too far without losing some of the customer base and that may be one of the reasons why Buell is installing a Rotax engine in their new bike. Can Buell bring back some of the performance Harley Davidson was once known for? I bet there are more than a few engineers up in Wisconsin that would like to see that happen.

Large image of the ad below:

Harley Davidson Sportster advertisement for Bonneville records

Comments

  1. 153 mph and not a piece of fibreglass/plastic in sight. those really were the days!

  2. I’ve always considered it a bit disingenuous to make claims about a “stock motorcycle” based on the performance of an “open class” bike that has been bored out (as HD did in this ad). However, I do remember that, at the time, we all dreamed of going fast and so we all wanted one. Of course, now we can go that fast, and even much faster, with a truly stock bike (though not with a sportster!)

  3. Not the fastest . But still retro after all these years . I have always loved the Sportster .

  4. And such a joy to kickstart one with a Tillotson carb and magneto on a hot summer day! 😉

  5. true, no fiberglass in sight, but that’s just harley messing with you – according to my SCTA rulebook, ps means partially streamlined, a means special construction frame… although the designation now reads aps, rather than ps-a. a modern buell holds the production pushrod 1350cc record at 152.722 mph (as of my 2005 edition, may have moved up since then). that’s the class a “stock” sportster 1200 would run in now.

  6. Ah, the days when 50 or so horse power was considered a lot. 650cc and larger were bikes for experienced riders. Times change.

  7. Here’s a mind bender: Evel Knievel made the majority of his jumps with a Sportster-based bike.

    Tom

  9. To think that the sportster is still pretty much the same bike (excepting a slight capacity increase) after all these years says a lot about its appeal – or its customer base.

    We do expect a lot out of motorcycles now-a-days. Other than the Sportster and a sprinkling of 650 dual purpose bikes you’d have to look long and hard to find a new 40HP bike. Do we really need 100+ horsepower?

    -todd

  11. let me rephrase; not everyone wants or cares for 100+ horsepower but they’re SOL when they try to find something to buy.

    -todd

  12. I remember evel jumping on an xr-750 and an “american eagle” (which was just an italian laverda)

  13. Evel Knievel actually used a Triumph for stuntwork, as it was lighter. The Sportster was for publicity photoes.

  14. The Sportster is a true classic. I have an 883CC and it is just plain fun to ride. I love my sporty 🙂

  15. After all these years “sporties” are still the best in it’s class!!!!! All others are copies or variations of the “original sport bike”!!!!

  16. I OWNED A NEW 1975 SPORSTER XLCH 1000 CC I NEVER THOUGHT IT WAS FASTER THAN THE HONDA 750 OR GOLDWING AT THAT TIME BUT IT WAS RAW POWER OLD TECHNOLOGY & NEEDED ALOT OF ATTENTION BUT I WISH I HAD IT NOW

  17. you are right bluezman they are true retro bikes they seem smaller now to me.i thougt mine was big then.there were no rubber engine mounts then.you felt everything from the engine.at 75 mph you couldnt see thru the mirrors.i never really got on it real hard but i figured it could go atleast 130 mph like it read on the speedo.aah those were the days my friend

  18. wanted to buy harley on budget though brothers had bsa s and trumps dont go for new sportys
    even though cheep any other to much $ tracked down a 75 1000 sporty for $6000 when arrived looked like new much better lookin than new
    model older always clasier cheers

  19. If you like the “naked bike” look shown in these old pictures, just google “rollie free” to see a real hero on a proper V-twin (a Vincent) travelling at 153mph in just swimming trunks…

  20. …a slight amendment to the speed I quoted above, it was only 150.313mph…although Rollie did go on to do 160.1mph on a one way run. …in September 1950 !!

  21. I wish the new sporty’s looked more like the old standards. H-D has “cruisered” them too much. Dropped the rear end too low and raised the steering head too high for my taste. Also, give me the old one piece bench seat back, I don’t like pillions.

  22. We had a poster in the mid 70s of the whole HD range and right at the bottom was the XL 1000 Sportster that every teenager’s eyes and covertiousness were drawn to. Harleys were rare in NZ at the time and way out of our price-league. We rode Triumphs which we’ll always respect. Easing import restrictions in the 80s and 90s brought in a flood of newer model Harleys to New Zealand till it became ‘every man and his HOG’ but somehow the subsequent Evos, Fatboys, Soft-tails and other ‘Grandpa’ Harleys never recaptured the awe of the Ironheads. Thirty five years after drooling over that original pin-up my teenage prayers have been answered and I’m now the proud owner of a 77 XL 1000 Sporty and she’s still as frisky as we were both back then. The difference is, she’s still turning heads ;D

  23. my favorite bike, those little sporties, have the oldest racing history in the US. mine is going to set a new land speed record, and send that new zealander packing

  24. I owned a 1976 Sportster that I dropped the counter gear from 21 teeth to 19 teeth, put on tuned Harley drag pipes and a S&S carburetor and the bike ran in the high 12’s at the 1/4 mile. Top speed (not at the drag strip) was 130 mph or so. It would use a full lane of road at that speed. I street raced it every day, and the track at the weekends during the summer of 1976. I was only beat once. By a 1969 Chevy Chevelle! I beat H2 Kawasakis, 750 cc Hondas, and all other comers because I could get it out of the hole and they could not. HOWEVER, at the end of summer the engine was using two qts. of oil per week and she was tired. What a gorilla though, a real warrior.