Harley Sportster Sport 1200

Over the years, Harley made more performance oriented Sportster models - the XR; styled for the off road heritage, and then alternated with the Sport; styled for the street. In more more recent years these were replaced by the Roadster which followed the Sport setup.

I’ve had a chequered history with my Sport with the engine blowing up twice, resulting in more time off the road since I’ve owned it, than on. First time, the oil pump failed, resulting in the crank running dry and taking out the bottom end of the engine with cylinders. Second time it fell foul of a Sportster weakness, which is being held at high speed for a sustained time on the highway which led to the rear cylinder overheating and detonation taking out the heads and the cylinders (again).

Rebuild

The engine was rebuilt (again) but the bike mainly stayed in boxes as I had other bikes to build. Age, salt and being left outside for a few years had taken a toll on the condition of the bike so when time allowed it came fully apart for a rebuild, and slowly now it is coming back together.