Clymer 2008 XL883L On The Lift Sportster Harley Davidson Motorcycle Road Test Review

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Welcome to On The Lift sponsored by Clymer Manuals.

On the lift we have a 2008 Harley Davidson Sportster XL883L, a direct descendant of Harleys original bad muscle bike street machine the fastest sporty sportster ever?. The Sportster was first introduced in 1957 as The Motor Companys answer to the British iron of the day. With 883 cc, the Sportster outclassed 500 and 650 cc machines from Norton, Triumph and BSA.

To date, the Sportster is Harleys best selling machine despite its entry level classification or otherwise known as a girls bike.

It has a 45 degree V-twin, pushrod engine…

Since 1957 the engine has continually evolved with the big change coming in 86 with the Evolution engine. The Evo, replaced the original Ironhead engine design, and uses one cam per overhead valve, resulting in four individual, single-lobe, gear-driven camshafts.

=== Engine displacement has ranged from 883 cc to 900, 1000, 1100, and 1200 cc. ===

the 07 model was equipped with the dreaded EFI.

=== H-D introduced its first v-twin engine in 1909. ===

Like left side shifters, drive belts instead of chains and oh mighty god electric starters that work, times do change in Milwaukee.

Sportsters came in 04 … engine was rubber mountedeliminating some of the engine vibration. Kind of like going to a UFC cage fight between light heavy weights Chuck Liddel and Rampage Jackson and complaining about the violence.

=== Sportsters racing … XR750 , XR1000 and XLR. Plus, Evel Knieval used an XR750 to perform his longest jump (133 feet) at Kings Island in 1975. ===

The traditional look of the Sportster … same since the 1958 XLCH model … peanut tank.

staggered shorty pipes with mufflers. Every Sportie since 1962, except for the 1979 model year which featured a dual exhaust…

=== 1977 Willie G. Davidson designed the XLCR Cafe Racer. ===

Sportster might not be the fastest bike on the block and may not feature the most high tech goodies, it is an iconic motorcycle and is the definition of a traditional standard

Not many vehicles can claim a 50 plus year production history. The Sportster joins such iconic machines at the Royal Enfield Bullet, Vespa scooter, Honda Cub, Chevy Silverado, VW Beetle, Porsche 911 and Jeep CJ.

=== The L Models were introduced in 2005. In previous models were called Huggers. ===

shortened forks and shocks along with a redesigned solo seat… 25.3 inch seat height. Other features that set the L apart from the other Sportsters are the wider and longer handlebars making the reach to the grips and controls shorter… 883N Iron and 1200N Nightster. The low seat on those models is said to be more aggressive and chopper like…nothing like a little marketing spin

=== 2009 XL883 Models run the quarter 1/4 mile at 15.94 seconds @ 81.58. ===

The Sportster may now be far from a sport bike. It would get trounced by most 500 cc bikes. The lows low enough that grinding the frame is pretty easy to do when getting aggressive in the twisties. The peanut tank may look good, but it doesnt make the motorcycle very good for long distance riding or touring. But none of that is really what the Sportster is about. Its about sitting low, feeling the wind, hearing the V-twin rumble, enjoying the generous torque curve, enjoying an American icon and just motorcycling.
M427-2

XL883L On The Lift XL 883 XL883 XL883C XL883R XL883N XL1200 XL1200C XL1200L XL1200R XL1200N Iron Nightster Sportster Sportie Evo Evolution Ironhead XR750 XLCR XR1000 XLR EVEL Knieval Harley Davidson HOG XLH883 XLH1100 XLH1200 CH XLCH XLH XLX XLS 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009

Duration : 0:6:17

Technorati Tags: 1959, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 883, 972, CH, Davidson, EVEL, evo, Evolution, harley, hog, Iron, Ironhead, Knievel, lift, Nightster, on, Sportie, Sportster, The, XL, XL1200, XL1200C, XL1200L, XL1200N, XL1200R, XL883, XL883C, XL883L, XL883N, XL883R, XLCH, XLCR, XLH, XLH1100, XLH1200, XLH883, XLR, XLS, XLX, XR1000, XR750