2009 Harley-Davidson XR1200
Miles: 30,002
Clean Title
Listed Price: $7,300 Or Best Offer
Listing Ends: December 4th, 2024
Although obviously not known for building sportbikes, aside from the very cool XRTT and an abortive dabble in World Superbike racing a while back, Harley-Davidson have a rich motorsports history in flat-track and board-track racing that the company itself would seem to have almost forgotten about, but for bikes like today’s XR1200. In fact, the XR1200 reportedly wasn’t even originally intended for the US market, although it did make it here in 2009, one year after its introduction in Europe. Styled to evoke the XR750 flat track racers of the 1970s, the bike is largely a hot-rod Sportster with adequate cornering clearance. The motor displaces 1202cc and comes fitted with a large oil cooler, high-compression pistons, and Buell heads for nearly 80hp at the rear wheel. The front tire is an un-sportbike-like 18-incher with a pair of much more sportbike-like four-piston, dual disc brakes. In spite of the very nice aluminum swingarm, the XR1200 still weighs in at nearly 600lbs wet and, given the powertrain, weight inevitably has a heavy rearward bias. All of which undersells the fact that the bike works as intended and handling was considered very good, given the bike’s somewhat uninspiring underpinnings, and the motor has plenty of midrange punch and undeniable charisma.
2009 Harley XR1200 with $3200.00 value suspension upgrade kit includes SHOWA external compression and rebound adjustable forks with spring preload and SHOWA piggyback reservoir shocks with adjustable preload, external compression and rebound settings. THIS BIKE RUNS AND HANDLES GREAT. I’m an engine and suspension tuner by trade, 67 yrs old. I hate to get rid of of it, but it’s time for the street bikes to go. 30k miles. You will see a picture of the environment that it lives in. It is well taken care of.
Thank you for looking.
The styling of the Harley-Davidson XR1200 doesn’t quite work for me: it’s a little awkward and lacks the simple elegance of the XR750 that inspired it. But as a whole, the bike works better than it should, and these seem to be owned by guys who know damn well how to ride, natural contrarians who wouldn’t be caught dead on some Japanese sportbike: I’ve seen these out on track, sometimes scraping their way around in a shower of sparks, and there was even a one-make race series put together to support WSBK racing. Mileage for this example is on the higher side for a bike this new, although it’s to be expected, given the lashings of touring gear decorating the bike. Obviously, the rider is an enthusiast, so the miles wouldn’t put me off, and the suspension upgrades should make a solid handler even better.
-tad
