Harley-Davidson Sportster: Sixty Years

Author: Girdler, AllanBrand: MotorbooksEdition: NewBinding: HardcoverNumber Of Pages: 176Release Date: 01-03-2017Part Number: 9780760352182Details: Go on a 60-year ride with Harley-Davidson's Sportster Things got a little weird in the American motorcycle industry after World War II. People hungered for new motorcycles, buying just about everything manufacturers could build. But on rare occasions a manufacturer produced a machine that nobody wanted. Such was the case with the Harley-Davidson Model K. The Model K had most of the features buyers wanted in a modern machine, like hand-operated clutches, foot-operated shifters, and cool-running aluminum heads, but it lacked perhaps the most important technological upgrade: a modern overhead-valve valve-train design. The Model K retained the antiquated side-valve design because of arcane AMA racing rules written when Harley-Davidson and Indian competed head-to-head on American racetracks, but by 1952 Indian was on its last legs. This should h