Paddock stands on test
Where did it come from?
It was a bolt from the blue, a remarkable piece of design that was all the more surprising when you consider its source. Harley-davidson had never done anything like this.
A cafe racer based on the XL1000 Sportster, it was created by design chief Willie G Davidson and engineers Bob Modero and Jim Haubert.
What changed?
Nothing. It didn’t hang around long enough to evolve. So from first to last it was a mix of pushrod V-twin, Xr750derived tank and swingarm, cast wheels, triple disc brakes, bikini fairing, solo seat, rearsets, sinuous black siamesed pipes, and a refreshing absence of flab and clutter.
Why do people like it?
Because at the time it looks like a dream come true. Like the Vincent Black Shadow and BMW R90S before it and the Suzuki Katana and Ducati 916 that came later, it was as if they’d read your mind while you were having a particularly feverish fantasy, and turned it into a production motorcycle.
Cult rating 5/5
Harley dropped it a couple of years after its 1977 introduction, hit by a double whammy of dislike from H-D loyalists and indifference from the mainstream. Fewer than 2000 were built, ensuring that when the fickle hand of fate finally conferred cult status on the XLCR it was hard to find and therefore expensive, meaning it’s now seen more often in museums and at classic shows than on the road.
The problem is…
Among those who’ve ridden it, there’s a consensus that it’s simply not very good: heavy, shaky, vague handling, and not as quick as it looks.
Without the XLCR…
Harley themselves have never seriously tried to resurrect the XLCR, though the Low Rider S has clearly been influenced by it (and is much better to ride). But customisers love it – some copying it down to the finest details, others taking a more broad-brush inspiration from its narrow, low, mean look.
“There’s a consensus that it’s simply not very good”