Aprilia Mana 850—The automatic

transmission comes of age

Honda’s 2010 “Fury”—A bad-boy

chopper from the “nicest people"

Reader’s Rides—Danny Coe’s very

special 1991 NT650 Honda Hawk GT

Cheated By The Test—How gaming

the DMV test adds risk to the road

BMW Oilhead Tech—Cam Chain

Tensioner Replacement How- To

Used Bike Value Guide—Spring

Edition

Mental Motorcycling—No Fear

Book Review—Riding In The Zone

by Ken Condon

DVD Review—Hard Miles: 11 Days

11,000 Miles by Dean Tanji

Book Review—Bodies In Motion

by Steven L. Thompson

Book Review—Red Tape And White

Knuckles by Lois Pryce

Medical Motorcycling—

Resistance Is Futile

Motorcycle Design—

Overpopulation

Proficient Motorcycling—

Visual Acuity

Innovation Of The Month—Eastern

Beaver H4 Headlight Relay Kits

O Open Road...............2

O Letters.................3

O MC Bulletins............6

O Downtime Files..........8

O World Motorcycling.....10

O What’s Happening.......45

O Street Strategy........46

O Cycle Attorney.........46

O Contact Patch..........47

The Sportster has long been the best-selling model in

Harley-Davidson’s model lineup. As such, it represents an

important stepping stone to the ownership of the more

expensive Big Twins, and company reps are proud of the fact

that approximately 94% of Sportster owners have demonstrated

their loyalty to the Bar and Shield by returning to their dealers to

purchase another Harley-Davidson motorcycle.

With the decision to sell the XR1200 sportbike in the US for

2009, the American motorcycle market gains a very significant

new player, a bike easily identifiable as a Harley-Davidson (unlike

the Buells) but vastly more sporty in concept than any previous

Sportster, with refined chassis geometry, inverted front suspen-

sion, powerful new brakes, lighter wheels, a much more power-

ful engine and styling cues borrowed from H-D’s all-conquering

XR750 dirt tracker.

Although the XR1200 is officially new for 2009 in the US, it

actually remains unchanged from last year when it originally

debuted in Spain and was sold exclusively in the European mar-

ket. At that time, Harley-Davidson’s decision to build the XR1200

only for export was based on sales figures which showed that in

Europe, 85% of the units purchased were sport and performance

related, whereas in the states almost the exact opposite scenario

was the case—nearly 85% of US motorcycle sales were customs

and tourers. However, once US buyers were aware of the bike’s

existence, the fact that US dealers already had 600 firm orders in

hand (for a bike they didn’t have and presumably couldn’t get)

greatly influenced Harley-Davidson’s decision to make it avail-

able in America.

Power

Propelling the XR is the latest version of Harley’s venerable

1202.8lee air-cooled Evolution engine, which gains a big power

boost. The trademark 45° V-twin continues to use pushrod oper-

ated overhead valves, two per cylinder and low-maintenance

hydraulic self-adjusting lifters. Its 73.4 cubic inch displacement

comes from a bore of 88.90mm and a stroke of 96.82mm (3 'A" x

3 %"). Compression is boosted from 9.7:1 to 10.0:1. Under new

rocker box covers the XR receives unique “precision cooled”

downdraft cylinder heads designed to flow more oil. These con-

nect to an oil cooler that’s been vertically mounted on the frame’s

left front downtube. By adding oil cooling capacity, H-D’s designers...