H-D XR1200 Review

A Harley that handles? Well, blame it all on everything that’s non-Harley on this Euro-inspired sport(y) American motorcycle.

Ron Lieback
AllAboutBikes.com Content Editor

The moment I felt the V-Twin rumble beneath my worn leathers, I wanted to be part of the untamed few, part of the 1 percenters. I pictured myself roaring along, sparking controversy from whoever’s near.

But by 1 percenters, I’m not referring to the riders covered in tats who refuse to abide by the law, leaving their chromed machines sinking into the blacktop outside the nearest bar; I’m talking about the few who get a knee down on Harley.

Knee down on a Harley?

Yes, it’s possible. I personally put the XR1200 press material to the test and found out on a beautiful apex near practically nowhere that it’s achievable. But though the knee scraped, don’t mistake this Juneau Avenue product for a pure-breed sport bike; my knee only hit the pavement a few times because quite honestly it felt equally scary and awkward, both physically and psychologically (plus I didn’t make it to the track). With that said, the XR is more like an extremely sporty Sportster rather than a sport bike, although Harley-Davidson markets it neither as a sport bike or Sportster, the latter not even mentioned in the XR1200 brochure.

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H-D XR1200 cont.

So what’s the idea behind a Harley that actually handles well from a sport bike perspective? Hoping to enhance European sales, Harley wanted to tap into the naked sport bike frenzy that stirs more emotion across The Pond then it does here, and built an unfaired bike based on the iconic racer that won more flat track championships than any other machine, the XR750. Harley figured Europeans would appreciate the XR1200’s sporty suspension and brakes, both non-Harley traits that create some excellent non-Harley handling. So the lucky Europeans, as always, got it first, the XR arriving there in April 2008.

The bike quickly stormed through the press, with videos populating YouTube, and Americans were in dire need of having the XR available at home. After many requests rushed through corporate, The Motor Company listened, and the bike was available stateside during spring 2009.

Like anything that makes a great first impression, the rumors started multiplying, and the public needed answers, including the big one: Was this amalgamation of naked sport bike meets Sportster anything medicating for a handling-junkie’s needs? I needed to know, and three weeks and almost 3K miles later, I found a few answers, most deriving from the “non-Harley” features on the XR.

Besides the looks, the obvious non-Harley features immediately noticed are the hollow-cast aluminum swingarm, the sporty suspension, and the twin Nissin four-piston brakes with sport bike-like 292mm discs up front and a single 260mm disk mounted on a two-piston caliper out rear.

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