Here’s What Made The Harley-Davidson XLCR So Special – SlashGear

In short, bikers grew up. As The New York Times rightly reports, serious motorcyclists found a new appreciation for old-school sportsters as the old tribal allegiances to Harley muscle or UJM pickup broke down. Taken in context, the XLCR wasn’t a bad UJM knockoff; it was a brilliant, ground-up cafe racer.

At first glance, that should seem painfully obvious. It was a small, simple, stripped-down bike that made its 69 horsepower deliver fearsome acceleration and turning speed. On its debut, however, a Harley cafe racer seemed crazier than a gazpacho sandwich. Harley made big muscle for big money. Japanese makers like Suzuki and Kawasaki made tiny bikes with high-pitched voices, astonishing acceleration, and bones made of plastic. It was known.

Like most things that are “known,” that was of course dead wrong. Harley had delivered a fast, responsive, stripped-back sport bike that anticipated brilliant American sportsters like Cleveland Cyclewerks’s Ace line and the Indian FTR by the best part of 40 years. The XLCR may not have brought in massive profits, but it’s the foundation for a whole marketplace of lethal American street bikes.

[Featured image by Piero via Wikimedia Commons | Cropped and scaled | CC BY-SA 3.0]