I couldn’t believe that HD would build this!
I went from a chopper to a Cafe Racer. It wasn’t that surprising since I had made a few improvements to my earlier chopper to make it more roadworthy.
Willie G. Davidson was the son of one of the founders of Harley-Davidson. He became very involved with the company as an adult. In the ’70s he was the head of HD styling. He became the “Cool Uncle” guy of the company and guided its direction into the youth market. The factory custom models were the result of his leadership.
The XLCR was the best performing motorcycle that Harley had made up to this point. This motorcycle was based upon an engine that had been introduced twenty years earlier; the XL Sporster. The engine had gone through a lot of evolutionary improvements over those twenty years. A unique Siamese twin dual exhaust system was used for the first time. This was the most powerful 1,000 cc. Sportster in history. Which wasn’t saying much, as the Japanese competition were selling four cylinders road rockets which outperformed the poor HD.
It looked as good in my folk’s driveway as it did in the ad! photo by author.
While it was no longer the King of sport bikes, it could cover the 1/4 miles in 12.77 seconds and hit a top speed of almost 120 mph. It was certainly fast enough.
Checking something under the bike. You can see the double seat. Photo by author.
Some of the biggest improvements were made to the frame and chassis. This was the first triangulated tubular frame that used a rectangular section swing arm, similar to the XR750 racing bikes. The wheels were genuine Morris Mags with dual disc brakes up front and a single disc in the rear.
Styling was handled by Willie G. Davidson and borrowed quite a few elements from HD’s successful racing flat tracker, the XR750. The tank was an enlarged version of this design. Likewise the seat, oil tank, and front and rear fenders. A small headlight fairing completed the look, and black paint, lots of black paint! As you can see from the pictures, this bike looked awesome!
If it only handled, performed, and rode as good as it looked! But I was a Harley fan, and though it was a disappointment as an actual Cafe Racer, it was still the best Sportster ever made.
I decided that I would modify it to make it my perfect bike. Initially, I just made some modifications using factory accessories.
On the Redwood Run. Photo by author.
I added a set of low-rider setback handlebar risers to move the bars into a more comfortable position and then added the factory double seat and a set of passenger pegs. This gave me a spot to tie things down behind me, but the pegs were awful. A new rear axle sprouted foot pegs off each end. This meant that the pegs would move up and down with the swing arms movement. That’s always a disconcerting feeling. It didn’t really matter, since I seldom carried a passenger.
One of the main problems with the bike was that it was never very comfortable to begin with. The biggest problem was that the rear tank mount was a big circular fitting that was located under the front of the seat cushion. If I scrunched up to the front of the seat, I could definitely feel it!
The bike fit through there easily! Photo by author.
The bike still looked great, and I rode it a lot. I even participated in the Harley Dealer’s Redwood Run. However, I found that I just couldn’t get over some of its inadequacies. I anticipated making some long trips around the country and I knew that I would have to modify the bike to make it work.
I liked the large 3.5 gallon gas tank and wanted to keep it. I knew that I would need a better seat, as well as something to carry luggage, and a sissy bar.
I took the bike to another well-known Bay Area builder, Bay Area Custom Cycles in Hayward, to have them perform the major portions of the modifications.
A funky mish-mosh, but I rode it anyway. However, it developed a problem. Photo by author.
When I went to pick up the bike I was satisfied with the quality of the work. They had cut the rear frame section off and modified it with chrome fender struts similar to an older model. This was done to accommodate the later addition of saddlebags. I will admit that my design looked quite amateurish, a mish-mosh of stock, Cafe Racer, custom, and touring elements.
It would take a bunch of fabricated parts to complete the design. I didn’t know where to source them or who could build them. The bike looked pretty funky, but I rode it anyway while I figured out what to do.
Rick and I went to Yellowstone anyway! Photo by author.
Rick and I had decided to take a tour of the Southwest and as far east as Yellowstone Park. Right after we left I started having problems with the bike running rough. We returned home and my brother lent me his new Honda 750 to continue with our plans. We were once again a pair of 750 riders.
Another huge surprise from HD!
I bought the XLCR in 1978, as it had taken almost a year for it to become available. The answer to my prayers came from an unlikely source. Harley-Davidson themselves had decided to base the new ’79 Sportster on the Cafe Racer chassis. 1978 was the last year of the older forged frame components and big shock absorber design.
All the parts I needed were now OEM. Photo from web.
For 1977 the rider foot pegs had been moved to the crankcase and primary cover. For 1979 the master cylinder for the rear disc brake would be mounted to the sprocket cover and would be actuated by a hidden linkage. Everything that I needed to adapt the foot pegs, shifter and brake pedal would be available from the dealer.
There have been quite a few companies that catered to the HD crowd, building both custom and replacement parts. Drag Specialties was one of them. I found many of the components I needed to complete my build in their catalog. A new custom gas tank, dubbed the “King Sportster” was now available. It looked the same in profile but was wider and held 3.5 gallons of gas. Harley introduced a custom version of the Sportster, similar to the LowRider; the XLS. It featured a two piece stepped seat, as well as forward mount highway pegs.
I took the big tank, a new repro rear fender and tail light, a new stock style front fender, and a new XLS seat, to Harry Bear’s custom shop in Fremont. He adapted the tank, fender and seat to the frame and painted them black. He added Harley’s new antique lettered logo and a white pinstripe under the clear coat.
Drag Specialties also introduced a set of custom one piece staggered dual exhaust pipes for the new ’79 model. These would fit my bike with a small adaptation. I removed the closed air cleaner base with an older style open design for better breathing and added an electronic pointless ignition. I don’t know if it added any extra horsepower, but it couldn’t hurt.
A set of HD Sportster buckhorn handlebars completed the controls. Blending and adapting all these parts together resulted in my version of the ultimate Harley Sportster.
This was the final form of my first restyle.
Oddly enough, after I was done, my Cafe Racer looked almost exactly like a new stock ’79 Sportster! There were some differences, but it would take a discerning eye to detect them. The funny thing was that it was never my intention to mimic the stock bike. I had made every change to make it the best highway machine that it could be.
There were still a couple of minor additions made from the HD parts bin; I added a remote oil cooler with thermostatic control and a removable cover, which were originally designed for the low-rider. A new motor mount oil filter setup, combined with these changes added another quart of oil capacity allowing the engine to run cooler.
All of these modifications were to make my bike perfect for my third Eric ride; a month long trip around the country.
Nice bike! Always liked the XLCR! Been riding bikes since I was 10 or so, (I’m almost 58 now) have ridden many bikes, but somehow a Harley always eluded me.
That’s a lot of work to a stock bike, I have to hand it to you for not being scared to make changes. If someone else wound up owning that bike down the road they would have a tough time ordering replacement parts.
H-D is an interesting business model for an American company. A low point was when AMF ran the company from 1969-1981 (the years when the feature Harley was built) and their management nearly caused the company to go bankrupt. Among other questionable decisions, AMF imported 350cc Italian Aermacchi motorcycles and rebranded them as Harleys.
I had a mechanically-inclined uncle who knew someone that bought one of those big AMF Harleys. Shortly after he got it, he took it apart, put it back together, and it ran fine thereafter.
The new company owners after AMF, including Willie G. Davidson, went back to their custom roots while also improving quality substantially, and enjoyed considerable success for many years thereafter.
Unfortunately, the market demographic also shifted to middle-aged boomers with pension money, eschewing younger buyers who were buying the latest, much faster crotch rockets from Japan. H-D realized their problem for long-term viability and has been trying to introduce new products to take up the slack, with one of the highlights being the LiveWire electric motorcycle . Unfortunately, a big problem was the 2019 LiveWire’s original MSRP of ~$30k, which was reduced to $22k for 2021 when H-D spun off the motorcycle to its own, separate brand.
Excellent write-up, Jose. I’m not an H-D guy but liked these from when they first appeared, though have never seen one out in the wild. Now that I think about it, it’s kinda-sorta a spiritual kin to the ’87 Yamaha Radian I used to own.
I believe this is the same motorcycle that Michael Douglas’ character rode in “Black Rain”, isn’t it?
I’m enjoying your motorcycle escapades as much as those with the car, Jose, and especially the locales, having been to several of these establishments myself in my (albeit non-Harley) Bay Area motorcycling days looking at what all is out there.
And of course we traveled the same road through a tree apparently as well…in my case while esconced in a Buick…
I meant to post this last week; your Sportster road trips reminded me of the 1969-1970 tv show “Then Came Bronson”, about a reporter who drops out and travels the country on his Sportster. It was something of an update of the Route 66 theme. Michael Parks played Bronson. I watched it regularly; it inspired my decision to drop out of high school and hit the road hitchhiking since sadly I did not have a Sportster.
The social milieu of the younger generation in the Sixties was all about hitting the road. Kerouac’s book, “On the Road” was published in ’57 and motivated the Beats. Travels with Charley by Steinbeck in ’60 was also influential. Of course Easy Rider was released in ’69. Then we had Bronson and even “The Littlest Hobo” about a traveling dog. All of those kids heading off to Woodstock. Woodie Guthrie’s anthem, “This Land is your Land,” dates back to the early post War period of ’47.
I had a huge personal hunger to get out and go places, my motorcycles gave me that opportunity. I read a commenter further down, who claimed that his HD was an unreliable piece of junk. Not my experience. Even my beat up old Sportster was pretty reliable once it was sorted out. My XLCR was even better, probably due to the fact I bought it new, and it had never been abused. HDs of the time were artifacts even back then, but they were pretty good bikes within their parameters.
This bike was perfect for my third Epic (not Eric!) ride around the country. More to follow in Part Two.
I read the book. I remember quite a few details about it. I was 11 I think when I read it. The cover said that it was also a TV show and that I didn’t quite understand. Not great writing, but easy to read. The Triumph 650 is mentioned, the boyfriends bike, but Bronson’s bike had twice the displacement… What is displacement? At the same time my neighbor had a Honda 150 Dream and then a 305 Superhawk. The Superhawk seemed much more interesting.
fun back in the 70’s, I learn to ride on Dad 1963 Harley 74. in the foothills.
I owned one of these, purchased new in ’78 and it was the most unreliable piece of $#!T I’ve ever encountered. I could never be sure it was going to start and if it started, would it stay running. I swear it must have been designed by alcoholics and put together by drug addicts. One of the happiest days of my life was when the new owner rode away on it. I bought a Kawasaki GPZ 550 and that bike was ten times the machine the Cafe Racer was. On the plus side, my PTSD from the Harley ownership experience is much better now.
Your story sounds about right for a lot of Harley riders back then. Buy a bike and then start modifying it. I started changing stuff on the Super Glide I bought within days of buying it.
New split tanks and all the stuff to move the gauges off the fork and on the tank. New fenders. Wide Glide rear fender, XLCR front fender. Split staggered exhaust. Sissy bar, highway pegs, oil cooler, drag bars and low-rider setback handlebar risers.
Drag Specialties was a Minneapolis, MN based company back then. It was a blast to stop by their store and see all the stuff to hang on your bike.
I loved the look of the XLCR but it was a bit of a poser. The bike didn’t sell very well back then. My Moto Guzzi V7 Sport would put it to shame on a curvy back road and my previous Kawasaki Mach III smoked many Sportsters.
I’ve never owned a Harley, but the XLCR has always appealed to me. My impression of Harleys, particularly older/pre-Evo models, is that the stock bike is often a starting point for the owner to build into a finished motorcycle that meets their needs. Your story seems to bear that out!
By the way – I fit my bike through the Chandelier Tree as well!
I love your Beemer, is it a /7 ? .
-Nate
I bought a 77 Cafe in Kansas City used in 1980 and rode it to Lormore Ca. I kept it for 7 years making 2 coast to coast runs on in. When you rode it like a Cafe on the open road it handled great and was fast. ( Texas roads was fun)
Remind me the movie Black Rain with Michael Douglas, good shots of XLCR are only at 2:00 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jyoulQ0_G8&t=126s&ab_channel=grimgrind .
Aussi tout sur la XLCR : https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x81bh5v
Two wheels is a good way to see the country, rather than enclosed in steel and glass.
Had ago at making the Yellowstone picture a little less red cast:
Back when I rode Harleys (Knuckle & Pan Heads) I didn’t ‘get’ the Sportster , now I wish I had one just to try .
As mentioned Harleys make terrific blank palettes, I kept mine stock and well maintained, they were extremely reliable .
As the 1970’s wore into the 1980’s the initial build quality dropped off the map, few really wanted to $pend serious coin on a new Moto that needed fettling .
I applaud your efforts and know you had a lot of fun building it then riding it .
-Nate
Thanks for working on that photo Bernard. I was using a 126 Kodak camera at the time. My Buddy Rick had a somewhat better camera. I think that he took that one. That picture was from around ’78. We had a fun trip with the 750’s though I would have liked to make the trip on my Sportster. It’s always been my belief that it’s more important to ride the bike you have, than to waste time dreaming about some super bike in the future. Once I got my Honda 160 I was all over the hills and back roads of the East Bay. My 500cc Kawasaki let me roam as far as I wanted. Sometimes there’s a lot of ego tied up with the big machines, and you can lose sight of the fun. I’m just about finished with my British Columbia trip story, and will submit it soon.