Harley-Davidson Sportster - Allan Girdler

In 1957 Harley-Davidson bowed to customer pressure and grafted an overhead-valve top end unto the four-cam bottom end of its floundering KL series of middleweight motorcycles. The resulting motorcycle, the Sportster, earned the distinction of being the most iconoclastic motorcycle model ever produced. In continuous production for 44 years and counting, the Sportster long-ago abdicated its original title as the king of high performance motorcycles, yet it remains one of the world's most popular motorcycles, despite using antiquated technology. The elegant simplicity of the Sportster embodies what Robert Persig calls "the a priori motorcycle." That is, when most people close their eyes and conjure up the image of a motorcycle, it is something very similar to a Sportster that immediately springs to mind.;It is this raw, essential nature that propels the Sportster to mythic status. The fascinating story of the Sportster makes for a fascinating book. This story begins with the creation of the KL series of side-valve middleweights, the predecessors of the Sportster series, trace the Sportsters through the performance years when fierce XLCH Sportsters ruled the streets of America, follow the decline of the Sportster in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and end with the Sportster's resurgence in Evolution guise. It ends with the new-for-2004 Sportster, the biggest update to the series in its nearly-50-year history.