Dave bought the Ironhead Sportster new in 1978. He was 21 and it was his first Harley. He had been a Brit bike man but the Brit motorcycle industry had committed suicide, he dismissed Italian bikes of that era as ‘rubbish’ and was a biker who rhymed Jap with crap. He went to Harley because he had nowhere else to go. He said: “It was either buy a Harley or quit biking.”
So he bought the XLCH1000 raw, stubborn as a bad-tempered mule and the kind of motorcycle you either love or douse in petrol and set on fire. This was still a time when you got good ‘uns and bad ‘uns — well, you did if you bought a Harley. Dave’s was a good ‘un in that it was particularly quick. He established that at Santa Pod soon after completing 2000 careful miles running in the 45-degree V-twin motor. Result, a top speed of about 125mph and a quarter-mile time that came tantalisingly close to ducking more American Graffiti than American Beauty.
Sanitisation of the Harley range
I half expected Dave to sneer at the word yuppie and bemoan the sanitisation of the Harley range, citing the rubber mounting of the latest 883 and 1200 Sportster engines as the final indignity to be inflicted upon the Harley legend. But Dave is full of surprises. He rates the new Sportsters highly and predicts that they will become top sellers.
He said: “Harleys have been getting better and better since the launch of the Evo engine. Harleys used to be for bad arses but now Joe Blow and his mate can ride and enjoy them. I am very impressed and think a lot of people will be surprised how good they are. They have the performance and they are reliable. I think they will take sales from the bigger models when people realise that the rubber mounting means you don’t have to invest double the money in a Harley to ride long distances any more.”
Dave appreciates the V-Rod too. We once quoted a Harley owner as saying the V-Rod ‘looked like Harley’s copy of a Japanese copy of a Harley’. Dave sees it as the future. “It is the kind of bike they are going to have to make in 10 years’ time so it is good they are making it now.”
In short, he is a realist and cites what happened to the old Triumph company as a warning that Harley must move with the times, adapt or be consigned to the grave by environmental laws.
Although a trained car mechanic, Dave’s last job before opening Northants V-Twin was as a distribution manager for computer software. He worked on his own Harley and helped mates fettle their machines in his spare time. The big question: Can you turn a hobby into a business? The answer appears to be yes. His one regret is that it no longer leaves him the time to ride as much as he would like.
Dave and his small team are Harley and Buell specialists. They service them, repair them, restore them, tune them, customise and live and breathe them. The Internet and an article or two about one of their custom creations have got them noticed.
Restoration of a Heritage Softail is one of the projects they have on the go. The bike was among those standing in the alley when I called. Rust covered it like autumn leaves. Dave joked: “That came from Hong Kong and, judging by the look of it, the owner rode it here.” The owner wants it restored because of its significance to his family history. Dave can appreciate that…
Corner of the workshop
He hauled his XLCH from the corner of the workshop for pictures. It was dusty, the road tax had expired and its HT leads had been ‘borrowed’ to help in a faultfinding exercise on a customer’s bike. Dave’s everyday bike was parked outside: A 2001 X1 Buell Lightning. Dave said of the Sportster: “It has served me well but now it is in semi retirement. When I need to jump on a bike to get anywhere I take the Buell.”
Sportsters are now the cheap starter bikes of the Harley range, but they weren’t in 1978 when the XLCH cost a fairly hefty £2250. The model is most definitely an acquired taste. Most riders would be far happier with an Evo Sportster (the later the better) but Dave rates the 1977/78 XLCH as the pick of the crop, a model with left gear change and an exercise in raw power that was soon to lose its edge with changes to the cam profile and chassis.
There were drawbacks that many would find unacceptable: poor handling, terrible brakes, a tiny range due to the 1.5 gallon tank and a starting technique that changed according to how hot the engine was, how long it had been run and whether or not a black cat had crossed your path.
Dave said: “It took one technique to start it from cold in the mornings, another if you had stopped after a few minutes for petrol and yet another if you were kicking it up again after a long run.”
Sportster’s Leg was a common affliction in those days. You could spot a sufferer a mile off—right leg bulging with muscles and twice the size of the left. Dave cured the starting problem by switching to an SU Eliminator II carb. A Brembo brake caliper and master cylinder made it a lot easier to stop and a girlfriend on the pillion improved the handling a tad by pre-loading the shocks.
The engine has done between 60,000 and 70,000 miles and an inlet valve spring and a couple of primary drive belts have been the only casualties. Simplicity of the design is an aspect that Dave finds appealing.
The same can’t be said of the four-speed gearbox. Fortunately it has never given any trouble, but it’s appallingly complex and a nightmare to strip and reassemble. The original forks were snapped in an accident with a car that jumped a set of traffic lights into Dave’s path, landing him in hospital with broken bones in both feet. Like any true biker he was more concerned about damage inflicted on the bike than his body and could have wept when he saw its injuries.
More mods followed and, although a purist may mourn the loss of the machine’s originality, Dave thinks it looks better now than it did new. He dismisses the original look as Heath Robinson. “It was like one of those home-built specials that you assemble from whatever parts you have got lying around from different bikes. When you sat on it and looked down it was all engine and I liked that, but it was very bitsy.”
The spec now includes the front end of an Evo Sportster forks, discs, calipers and wheel a Lester rear wheel, drag pipes (fitted since day two of ownership) Dyna Glide 3.5 gallon tank (with a very neat cutaway for the SU Eliminator carb), after-market clocks and Fat Boy rear mudguard.
Some years back Dave also went the whole hog by building an Evo Sportster with every engine and chassis upgrade in the book. Then he rode a standard off-the-shelf Buell and found it better. He started with an M2 and now runs an X1.
He said: “It’s fast, it’s reliable, it stops, it goes and it’s very easy to ride. I use it as my commuter bike. It has got character and I am still riding a Harley but it doesn’t require the same degree of attention.”
Dave had his picture taken with Buell founder Eric Buell. It is pinned on the wall. Customers come and go as we talk, and there is a phone call from the owner of a recently acquired XLCH. He wants some advice: “How do you start the bloody thing?”
