Issue link: https://cp.revolio.com/i/1490466
10 | WheelsOfGrace.com | #65 HARLEY-DAVIDSON ENDS PRODUCTION OF HARLEY-DAVIDSON ENDS PRODUCTION OF Smart or stupid? That sort of summarizes the range of reactions, from reflection to criticism to praise, in reaction to Harley-Davidson's announcement on social media that the last Evolution- powered Sportster had rolled off the assembly line in the H-D plant in York, Pennsylvania. The reactions should come as no surprise. When you've been building Sportsters with essentially the same engine — updated now and then, and produced in various displacements, but always looking about the same from the outside — since 1986, people tend to get attached to it. Or really tired of it. Or nostalgic about the idea of it no longer being around. The Sportster line dates back to 1957, but huge changes arrived in the 1986 model year, when the Ironhead engine was replaced by the new, alloy, Evolution engine, which ran cooler, quieter, and more reliably, and had hydraulic valves for reduced maintenance. That first year, you could get a Sportster in either 883 cc or 1,100 cc displacements. The 883-version cost just $3,995 and in 1987 Harley-Davidson offered a "Ride Free" promotion that guaranteed Sportster owners they'd get $3,995 in trade-in value for up to two years if they later traded in the 883 on a bigger Harley. From the words of the Harley- Davidson archives: "The motorcycling public met a new motorcycle called the Sportster®. It premiered as a 55 cubic inch overhead valve engine, and within one year of its debut, becomes known as the first of the "Superbikes." Another Harley- Davidson tradition and legend is born." Sportster models were designated in Harley-Davidson's product code by beginning with "XL". In 1952, the predecessors to the Sportster, the Model K Sport and Sport Solo motorcycles, were introduced. These models K, KK, KH, and KHK of 1952 to 1956 had a sidevalve ('flat head') engine, whereas the later XL Sportster models use an overhead valve engine. The first Sportster in 1957 had many of the same details of the KH including the frame, fenders, large gas tank and front suspension. The original Sportster line was discontinued in Europe in 2020 because the engine failed to meet the stricter Euro 5 emissions standards. An all-new model, called the Sportster S and equipped with the Revolution Max engine, was introduced in 2021. It was the first motorcycle under the Sportster nameplate to receive a new engine since 1986, and the first Sportster to have an engine not derived from the Model K. Sportster motorcycles are powered by a four-stroke, 45° V-twin engine in which both connecting rods, of the "fork and blade" or "knife & fork" design, share a common crank pin. The original Sportster engine was the Ironhead engine, which was replaced with the Evolution engine in 1986. Sportster engines, the 45-cubic-inch R, D, G & W Models 1929 side-valve motors, and the 'Big Twin' side-valve motors, which were: the flathead 74.0 cu in (1,213 cc) Models V, VL etc. (1930– 1936), Models U and UL (1937–1948), and the 80.0 cu in (1,311 cc) models VH and VLH (1935–1936), models UH and ULH (1937–1941), have four separate cams, sporting one lobe per cam. The "cam" followers used in Sportster engines, K models, big twin side-valve models, and the side-valve W model series, were a slightly shorter version of the followers used in the larger motors but featured the same 0.731-inch (18.6 mm) diameter body and 0.855-inch (21.7 mm) diameter roller follower used since 1929. The company used similar cam followers for decades, with minor changes, from 1929 to the 1980s. Sportster engines retained the K/KH design crankcase design, in which the transmission is contained in the same casting as the engine and driven by the engine with a triple-row #35 chain primary drive and a multi-plate cable-operated clutch. Models since 1991 have five speeds; 1990 and earlier models had four speeds. HARLEY-DAVIDSON ENDS PRODUCTION OF 10 | WheelsOfGrace.com | #65