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Lemonchili_x1
| | Posted on Friday, October 08, 2010 - 07:23 am: | 
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I was wondering if it was a 'Cuda (which would make sense like you say), or maybe a Duster or a Demon, but I can't see enough of it... which makes me even more curious!
I had a Sporty 1200 Custom as a courtesy bike today while my 1125 was being worked on and... ummm... they sound nice. That's about all I've got.
I think the thing that stuck out most about it was that it made me realise that *I* am just not really into cruisers/choppers/customs. I'm not sure I could ever get used to forward controls, they're just a bit odd to me  .
When I dropped my bike off this morning I had a quick look at the SuperLow, I was curious to see what it looked like in the flesh. It sure is low... Looks nice, nice wheels, great blue colour... Now with some longer rear shocks, a decent light exhaust...
"Now if you want heritage and nostalgia, you couldn't ask for a better platform than a 1957 Belair. It's just not going to draw a younger buyer looking for performance away from a competitive offering."
Nice analogy, and I think your right. At the same time, there are those that are young, and like '57's and maybe they like the Iron 883, the '48 etc I guess.
What baffles is me that the Sportster never evolved anything like what is probably, to me anyway, the American performance icon - the Corvette. |
Lemonchili_x1
| | Posted on Friday, October 08, 2010 - 07:30 am: |
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Re the Porsche analogy: Up until the Cayenne (spit), Porsche *only* built sportscars. The 356 was a sportscar, and every 911 has been a sportscar, and even though it has got a little bigger and heavier over the years, it's still at the leading edge of state-of-the-art performance cars. Has the Sportster ever been at the leading of performance bikes during it's history? |
Court
| | Posted on Friday, October 08, 2010 - 08:04 am: |
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That's a nicely optioned 911 also . . that's the Cream. as opposed to the white and the Natural Leather, as opposed to the Sand Beige, interior.
Im not a candidate for a $120,000 truck but the Cayenne GTS Turbo is a rocket ship |
Akbuell
| | Posted on Friday, October 08, 2010 - 08:36 am: |
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Lemonchili: Actually, yeah, Sportsters were hot bikes at one time. When I got my '68 XLCH new, it was one of the big 3, the other 2 being the twin carb 650 BSA and Triumph. Weren't enough 750 Nortons around to be noticed.
Ah, the wonderful days of cable-operated, single leading shoe front brakes,, and swing arm pivots that were two inches wide..... |
Xl1200r
| | Posted on Friday, October 08, 2010 - 09:10 am: |
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Has the Sportster ever been at the leading of performance bikes during it's history?
In 1957, the Sportster was the fastest thing you could buy on two wheels, and it remained so until the Honda 750 Four came out in 1969. As we know, by that time, Harley was under the stagnant control of AMF, so advancements slowed to a crawl.
However, two things happened during the end of AMFs tenure - they developed most of the Evolution V-Twin engine, and also put together the whole "Nova" project.
When Harley execs bought back the company, they basically had enough resources to either use the new Evo v-twin, or build a line of bikes on the Nova platform, but not both.
I'd say they made the right decision, but they maybe facing having to make a similar decision again, and soon. Ideally they would come out with a line of more contemporary bikes alongside the kind of stuff they build now. The problem will be with marketing - the marketing guys can't get all freaked out when the Harley faithful don't like/buy the new bikes - they need to understand that these new bikes won't be for those guys. At the same time, Harley would need overcome the hurdle of convincing the public that these new bikes weren't built for the costume crowd, that they perform well, etc etc.
We'll see what happens... |
Skiaddict
| | Posted on Friday, October 08, 2010 - 09:25 am: |
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Ideally they would come out with a line of more contemporary bikes alongside the kind of stuff they build now. The problem will be with marketing - the marketing guys can't get all freaked out when the Harley faithful don't like/buy the new bikes - they need to understand that these new bikes won't be for those guys.
Couldn't they just market the more contemporary bikes under a different brand? Oh wait, they tried that.  |
Sifo
| | Posted on Friday, October 08, 2010 - 07:44 pm: |
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Couldn't they just market the more contemporary bikes under a different brand? Oh wait, they tried that.
Marketing is more that setting aside a corner for a few bikes to collect dust. At least that seems to have been the marketing plan for Buell around my area. It seems like such a dichotomy because HD was all about marketing with the HD brand. It's not like they didn't understand marketing. |
Cityxslicker
| | Posted on Saturday, October 09, 2010 - 07:19 pm: |
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I know that until I went to a track day, I was not excited about Buell, the commish was half of what it was on a HD and it was just as much time .... It just wasnt the dollar to time ratio I was looking for in sales..... and then I rode one. the next week I bought one. And everyone through the door heard about the Buells whether you were on em or not. I may have over dosed on the Buell Aide  Still the most damn fun bike I have ever had, spent last weekend up in the moutain forest roads following the turning leaves. Great bikes.
Short sighted HQ (probably because they never RODE them) |
Rick_a
| | Posted on Sunday, October 10, 2010 - 12:39 pm: |
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I rode a newer Sporty 1200 a couple months ago. Good pull off the bottom...loud. Not a bad bike to tool around on. It had a Corbin seat that was so slippery that it was hard to hold on to.
Lots of people ask me about my S1. I tell them that it's not for everyone but to date the funnest bike I've rode. After riding all manner of Triumphs, Ducatis, and whatever trade-ins we got in, it was nice to have that remain. It is also the most unrefined bike I've rode, but to me that's part of the appeal.
(Message edited by Rick_A on October 10, 2010) |
Mr_grumpy
| | Posted on Sunday, October 10, 2010 - 02:37 pm: |
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In 1957, the Sportster was the fastest thing you could buy on two wheels, and it remained so until the Honda 750 Four came out in 1969.
Really???? By what measure?
Norton, Triumph, Vincent, & all were making some quick bikes, not to mention the strokers that were coming out of Japan in the 60s. Then there's MV Agusta, Gilera .......
Don't recall seeing HD winning the TT either. |
Grancuda
| | Posted on Monday, October 11, 2010 - 01:07 pm: |
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Lemonchili_x1
Grancuda - what's that in the background on the right? Mopar?
It is a '69 Dart that I got a few months back to fix up.
 |
Bcordb3
| | Posted on Monday, October 11, 2010 - 01:38 pm: |
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I remember a few Dodge Darts around with the 318CI that were quick. Good project. |
Mr_grumpy
| | Posted on Monday, October 11, 2010 - 03:59 pm: |
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If I remember right, that's a Dart Swinger, (named before the word acquired other connotations) as it's the 2dr pillarless coupé.
I used to have a Plymouth Scamp (same car different badges) |
Lemonchili_x1
| | Posted on Monday, October 11, 2010 - 05:08 pm: |
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<facepalm> You'd think I'd recognise it since I drive one of these:
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Mr_grumpy
| | Posted on Tuesday, October 12, 2010 - 04:55 am: |
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Well Durrr,  |
Lemonchili_x1
| | Posted on Tuesday, October 12, 2010 - 06:27 am: |
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Glad I could supply your morning chuckle 
"Norton, Triumph, Vincent, & all were making some quick bikes, not to mention the strokers that were coming out of Japan in the 60s. Then there's MV Agusta, Gilera .......
Don't recall seeing HD winning the TT either."
I can't find any record of a Sportster ever being entered in the Castrol 6 Hour 
I wasn't even born in the '60's, but when my Dad, uncles, and my more, ahem, "mature" motorcycling friends have talked of the era the Sportster never even gets a mention, which is kind of why I asked. It was all Nortons, Trumpys, AJS's etc and the occasional Vincent. Later it was Mach III's and IV's, the CB750 and then the Z1 and bevel drive Ducati's.
Having said that, I believe H-D had a very small market share here (3% maybe? ) until the late eighties/early nineties, so people probably never thought of it as a performance alternative here. I'd have more chance of finding a '60's Ducati than a '60's Sportster for sale now. |
Mr_grumpy
| | Posted on Tuesday, October 12, 2010 - 06:39 am: |
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Funnily enough, I've been keeping an eye open for another Scamp/Dart, it's on my wish list but will have to wait a while. |
Grancuda
| | Posted on Tuesday, October 12, 2010 - 08:40 am: |
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There is a ton of Harley winning races back in the 20's through the 70's along with triumph, ducati but then Honda/Kawasaki/Suzuki started dominating.
Harley is the majority of winners at this track from back in the day
http://winfield.50megs.com/Cowley/cycle.htm
Laconia N.H. 100 mile race was dominated by HD in the 50s
http://www.weirsbeach.com/media2008update/5activit ies/joelenoardin1955.jpg |
Lemonchili_x1
| | Posted on Tuesday, October 12, 2010 - 10:16 am: |
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Ahhhh, that would then be part of the difference in the perception of the Sportster - as far as I know there has never been flat-track racing here. Plenty of speedway (which was invented here apparently  ), trials, scrambles and circuit racing, but not flat-track with just the rear brake. |
Lemonchili_x1
| | Posted on Tuesday, October 12, 2010 - 10:19 am: |
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Nice Dart  Is that a 70's Dart next to it? I've been spending too much time on music and motorcycles, I'm getting rusty on my Mopar identification skills!  |
46champ
| | Posted on Tuesday, October 12, 2010 - 10:32 am: |
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Sportsters weren't regarded as the performance machine by their track winnings but by their street performance, i.e. TT racing (tavern to tavern). At that time most organized racing displacement limits were too low for the huge 883cc motor. It was a different world folks. The one track they were present was drag racing. Excepting for a few big twins, BSA's and in particular Triumph's the larger displacement drag classes were ruled by Sportsters. This is how Sportsters got their reputation. |
Grancuda
| | Posted on Tuesday, October 12, 2010 - 11:33 am: |
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The Dart beside the '69 is a '72 Dart Swinger. The '72 Dart would be the same car as a Scamp but the Scamp would have the Duster front clip. Both of these are slant 6 cars but the '69 now has a '72 400ci big block with a 727 and an 8-3/4" rear end. I actually sold the '72 a few weeks back, I was looking for a '69 but couldn't come up with one so I got the '72 then the following week I found this '69 which already had a great drivetrain to start with for a project.
Also, the Swinger was the cheapest of the Darts with exception to the sedans. The '69 Dart I have is a Dart Custom which is somewhat of a loaded out model with more chrome trim and a higher quality interior. |
Whitetrashxb
| | Posted on Tuesday, October 12, 2010 - 12:16 pm: |
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Always good to see some nice pics of A-body Mopars... my father has been collecting/restoring Mopars FOREVER. Current stable includes 2 B-bodies (GTXs) and an E-body (Challenger). All show cars. i'd post pix if i could resize. |
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