Harley Davidson XR1200

[Susan Anthony]

You just wouldn't associate Harley-Davidson with history's most successful race bike. Yet the Milwaukee manufacturer's XR750 has won more US flat-track races than any other motorcycle in any other championship. Flat tracking is like speedway, but much faster and, being American, on bigger ovals. Anyone who's seen Steve McQueen's On Any Sunday can't fail to be in awe of this sport where real men battle it out on the coolest looking motorcycles with the craziest sideways style imaginable. The alloy framed version of the XR750 that came out in 1972 still dominates most of the grid at US dirt track events.

It's this machine that Harley-Davidson has based its new XR1200 on. But much to the fury of American enthusiasts, the bike is destined for Europe only, at least for now. Harley has built the stylish and altogether different XR1200 to lure sports bike-loving Europeans. It expects demand in Europe to be strong enough to use up all of its Milwaukee factory's production capacity.

To prove the poirlt, Harley Davidson has launched a one-make XR1200 Trophy race series here in the UK, to run alongside the prestigious British superbike championship. It was supposed to kick off in 2009, but Harley-Davidson pushed it back to 2010 claiming shortage of bike parts. But it was common knowledge it didn't have enough registered riders for the championship ... It's not the first time Harley-Davidson has a race series.

In the early 90s he raced in the UK's Harley-Davidson Sportster 883 championship series, and won it. So I decided to let him ride the Harley-Davidson XR1200 I had on loan to see what he made of it compared to his old Harley-Davidson race bike.

I'm standing behind four-time world champion Eddie Lawson in the scrutineering queue, or tech inspection as the Americans call it. You'd think I were a world-class GP rider going through the motions just before a Grand Prix. But no. I'm at Daytona for the Harley-Davidson 883 World Final, and Eddie's having a one-off ride in the Daytona 200 for the Vance & Hines Yamaha team at the end of his GP career.

This was back in the early 90s, 1993 if I remember rightly. It was Harley-Davidson's last one-make series. I went to DaytQna because I'd won the British 883 series. The prize was a trip to Florida to take on the Yanks on their own bikes, riding their own turf. We went as a team of British riders - Chris Dabbs, Francis Williamson, Robin Kendle, Graham Smith and me. Believe it or not, we actually had to ship the Harleys back to the US.

Back in those days the Americans would come to the UK for the Transatlantic Challenge over the Easterweekend. The races were Freddie Spencer's first experience of racing outside America; in the early 80s he came as a 19-year-old and beat our established racers on tracks he'd never seen before - Oulton Park, Brands Hatch and Mallory Park.

[waynelapricon]

This bike has wide flat-track inspired handlebars that are comfortable to grab. The position of the mirrors could have been wider but worked well nonetheless compared with other sport bikes. The XR also has self-canceling signals that will certainly assist those riders who often forget to turn off their signals after executing a turn.

[marktellar]

The XR1200 is Harley-Davidson's new 'hot rod' standard motorcycle. Developed for Europe and first launched in European markets in April 2008, the XR1200 is now available stateside. The XR1200 is well-behaved on the back roads. It handled well in every situation we threw at it.

[brucewen]

Harley Davidson has launched a one-make XR1200 Trophy race series here in the UK, to run next to the important British superbike championship. It was hypothetical to kick off in 2009.