The Harley-Davidson Sportster Street Tracker The Harley-Davidson Sportster Street Tracker is by far the best American motorcycle that isn’t actually in production. Custom motorcycle garages like XTR Pepo make light work of turning a stock Sportster into a handsome, nimble, and fast street tracker – but the Harley-Davidson factory in Milwaukee has been very slow…
The Harley-Davidson JDH Twin-Cam The Harley-Davidson JDH Twin-Cam is one of the most celebrated motorcycles ever built by the Milwaukee-based manufacturer. The 74 cubic inch V-twin featured twin cams with two lobes on each, rather than the older set-up that used a single cam with 4 lobes. This reduced the reciprocating weight and reduced the length of…
The Harley-Davidson XR1200X The Harley-Davidson XR1200X was the high-end version of the short-lived XR1200 series by the Milwaukee-based motorcycle manufacturer. That “X” suffixed to the name denoted Showa Big Piston Forks and twin full-floating Nissin front brake rotors up front with Showa shocks (with piggyback nitrogen-charged reservoirs) in the rear – the most modern suspension…
As Harley-Davidson entered the sixties so did the dominance of the bikes of the Rising Sun. Bob Dylan sang “The times they are a changin’…” but one of the changes he misses in his iconic song was the progressive decline in “Wrench Competency” amongst motorcycle owners and indeed amongst young people generally. Realizing that much…
This is the exact motorcycle that Harley-Davidson should build. Perhaps with the addition of fenders for legal reasons. The world-famous American motorcycle company has seen stock prices plummet over 23% so far this year, with sales of its motorcycles sliding globally, and revenue down almost 10%. I’m sure the bean-counters in Milwaukee have a plan, but…
Steve McQueen famously owned a Harley-Davidson WLD, much like the example you see here, and he loved it so much he kept it right up until his untimely death in 1980. While we’ll never be as cool as McQueen, many of us do share his love for machines. And unlike many of his now-multi million…
Just 65 examples of the Buell RR1200 Battletwin were ever built, it’s quite an important American motorcyle as it was the first street bike ever built by Erik Buell – the engineering whizz who would make a name for himself taking lumps of Harley-Davidson V-twin and making them go fast. He even made them go around corners.
Redonda Motors and JP Barranca Redonda Motors is a Portugese custom and racing motorcycle workshop run by JP Barranca, an engineer with a fascination for just about anything on two wheels. JP and his team have turned out custom Triumphs, Hondas, Ducatis, and Harleys over the years and their fledgling racing team fields a Suzuki GT…
Prior to 1969 the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) rules for the AMA Grand National Championship were deliberately structured to favor side-valve engines rather than overhead-valve engines. The result of this was to favor American made bikes such as those from Harley-Davidson with their side-valve engines, and to disadvantage the overseas competition which was mainly from…
The Harley-Davidson MT500 is a bit of an unusual motorcycle. It’s thought that just 500 were ever made, and it’s not known how many have survived in original condition. The MT500 is powered by a 500cc Rotax single-cylinder, air-cooled engine with 4 valves, 5 gears, and kickstart only. It’s a mechanically simple motorcycle designed explicitly…
Steve McQueen’s love of cars and motorcycles is extensively documented, during his lifetime he rode, raced, and collected a huge array of vehicles – both modern and vintage. Although he’s probably better associated with motorcycles from European marques like Triumph and Husqvarna, McQueen owned a number of American bikes – in fact his first motorcycle…
There are few (if any) chopper builders of the modern era held in higher esteem than the late Indian Larry, he strictly built bikes that were meant to be ridden rather than trailered around to shows, and his favourite engine (despite his name) was the Harley-Davidson Panhead. Indian Larry’s early life was difficult, he suffered…
