1983 Sportster XR1000 Street Racer
The kind people at Zylstra Harley Davidson and Buell in St. Charles, Illinois, United States made available to us these photographs of this 1983 Sportster XR1000 Street Racer. The XR1000 is a direct descendant of the famous XR-750 dirt track racer. When launched in 1983, the XR1000 was Harley-Davidson's fastest street motorcycle ever made. Unfortunately, probably due its high price, the XR1000 was not a big hit, and production ceased after 1984.
Strictly speaking, with its aluminum heads the Harley XR1000 is not an Ironhead at all. However, its design is so deeply rooted in the classic Ironhead Sportster design that this could be regarded to be close family.
With its special high flow aluminum cylinder heads, its dual 36mm Dell'Orto slide valve carburators with accellerator pumps and its dual megaphone exhausts, the Sportster XR1000 boasts 67 brake horsepower as delivered by the factory. That's about ten horses more than the Sportster XLCR Cafe Racer and about twenty more than the regular Sportster XLH of 1983. Harley Davidson also sold a mod kit to boost the XR1000 to 95hp "for closed circuit riding"...
XR1000 Street Racer Engine
With a bore x stroke of ∅81.0 mm x 96.8 mm (∅3.189 inches x 3.812 inches) and a displacement of 997cc (60.84 cubic inches), the XR1000 engine has the same principal dimensions as the normal 1000cc Ironhead engine. However, the Harley engineers fitted this Sportster with the better breathing XR aluminum special ported high flow cylinder heads with racing valve springs and titanium collars, like on the factory's racing machines.
Whereas the regular Sportster has a single carburator feeding both cylinders from the right hand side in between the cylinders, the XR1000 has twin carburators, each one feeding one cylinder separately from the right hand side to the rear of each cylinder head. And each cylinder head exhausts to the left hand side at the front of each cylinder head, whereas the regular Sportster exhausts around a sharp corner to the right.
Harley XR1000 Sportster Photo Gallery
(September 2008)
Harley XR1000 Streetracer
The XR1000 was a further development of the famous XR-750 dirt track racer. When launched in 1983, the XR1000 was Harley-Davidson's fastest street motorcycle ever made. Unfortunately, probably due its high price, the XR1000 was not a big hit, and production ceased after 1984.
Strictly speaking, with its aluminum heads the XR1000 is not an Ironhead at all. However, its design is so deeply rooted in the classic Ironhead Sportster design that this could be regarded to be close family.
With its special high flow aluminum cylinder heads, its dual 36mm Dell'Orto slide valve carburators with accellerator pumps and its dual megaphone exhausts, the Sportster XR1000 boasts 67 brake horsepower as delivered by the factory. That's about ten horses more than the Sportster XLCR Cafe Racer and about twenty more than the regular Sportster XLH of 1983. Harley Davidson also sold a mod kit to boost the XR1000 to 95hp "for closed circuit riding"...
MORE Ironhead Classic Sportsters Photo Albums:
Clymer Service and Repair Manuals
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