The Harley Davidson Sportster [Hardcover]

Allan Girdler (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 15, 2004

Allan Girdler, with Photography by David Dewhurst. 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.'

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Allan Girdler previously chronicled Harley-Davidson history in several Motorbooks International books, including The Harley-Davidson and Indian Wars and Harley-Davidson in the 1960s. Girdler is a former editor of Cycle World, and currently a contributor to national motorcycle magazine.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 160 pages
• Publisher: Motorbooks; First edition (October 15, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0760316155
• ISBN-13: 978-0760316153
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 10.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,249,149 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great chronicle of a model running 50 years, November 26, 2005

By 

Greg (Eastvale, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Harley Davidson Sportster (Hardcover)

This is a nice piece of work, as it chronicles the years leading up to the Sportster, starting with the pre-Sportster years of Model K, then on to the Sportsters themselves, from their inception in 1957 to today's rubber mounted models.

The book has a friendly writing style, written by someone who knows and loves Sportsters like one of the legions of devoted Sportster riders around the world. He includes personal anecdotes, describing his experiences with the various models in an inviting style, as if he were in your living room just talking bikes with you and your friends.

Descriptions of all the major developments and models include candid and unbiased observations from today's perspective, but what really makes this book a ride down memory lane are the quotes from motorcycle magazine reviews from back in the day, so we see the early Ironheads from today's eyes, as well as from the eyes of the riders of its time (funny how back then, no one complained of the excessive vibrations that we hear today of the older bikes, because most bikes were bone rattlers back then).

Dewhurst devotes just about as much attention to the Ironhead era as he does the Evolution, or Blockhead era of today, and augments his writing with a healthy helping of David Dewhursts's photography. Surely people who had Sportsters up through the 80s will wax nostalgic when seeing photos of the old XLR, XLH (the gentleman's tourer), XLCR, and XLX Ironheads, among others. Newer riders will be able to trace how the Sportster evolved into what it is today, and notice how many similarities today's Sportsters still share with the old war horses, while still remaining a potent bike today.

This is a great book for the Sportster enthusiast from any period, and anyone who is interested in motorcycle history. This bike fought back the British bikes up through the 60s until it was overtaken by the new, hot Japanese bikes. The Sportster is no super Sportbike today, but it is still a hot piece of machinery with the elegance and power of a simple muscle bike, and all the presence of a Harley Davidson. It is still a classic looking machine, whose aesthetics are still eagerly sought after today.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Gotta love this little book, August 27, 2007

By 

S. A. Schnarr - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Harley-Davidson Sportster (Motorbooks International Motorcycle Color History) (Paperback)

If you love Sportsters, like I do, you will love this book. It is well written, well illustrated, and fun to read. Not the most modern book, the most recent Sportsters are 4 years old now and not in this book by the time it was published, but nonetheless a good history.

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book on a legend..., October 7, 2006

By 

paulos Melo "Paulos Cefas de A. Melo" (Sao Paulo, SP Brazil) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Harley Davidson Sportster (Hardcover)

When I was thinking about buying my first HD I did some research both on technical stuff and the history of its models. The model that attracted me the most was the Sportster, which is completing 50 years in 2007. This is a great book to tell us a little about its history and evolution. Since part of the fun in riding a Harley is enjoying its tradition (mechanicallywise you'd be better off riding a Honda), I highly recommend this book.