Harley learned a lot from the experiment, though. The ’55 Model KHK even had hot cams, polished ports, and a roller-bearing bottom end but at the end of the day, none of these changes saved the K from extinction. In 1954 Harley tried to remedy this by upgrading the displacement in the Model KH from 45 inches to 54 (aka 883 cc). While the K model was a leap ahead of the W, it still fell short of the scoots offered by BSA, Norton, and Triumph. H-D’s shiny new toy also had a new swing arm suspension to replace the W’s old rigid rear, a foot shifter, and telescopic front forks. Unlike the Sportster you’ve come to know and love, the K had a chain final drive instead of a belt. The flywheels, crankpin, gears, cams, and four-speed transmission were all unified inside said cases. For starters its motor was a single, compact unit in one set of cases. That’s when Harley replaced the W’s with the K series in 1952. The old WL and its flathead motor were reliable (for the time) but not very fast or maneuverable compared to their UK counterparts. When American riders took to the streets on the new imports, Harley took notice. Harley didn’t see the need for a new middleweight until British bikes invaded American soil in the ’50s. ![]() This, as we all know, gave rise to the first bobbers and choppers. A light middleweight in the late 1940s meant stripping down a flathead-powered WL or similar machine. With Indian on the ropes, Harley-Davidson didn’t have much domestic competition after the war. Finding those lighter bikes in America proved about as easy as finding a clean hooker in Bangkok. In the years during and after the war, American troops stationed overseas partook in the local culture, gaining a taste for all kinds of things that were hard to find back home among them pizza, foreign beer, and British motorcycles. A series of bikes, which featured the famous WLA Army bikes the military used while kicking the Axis Powers’ asses for making us put our beers down and getting up out of our chairs after Pearl Harbor. ![]() Origin Story: I am Iron Head Harley’s involvement with middleweights goes back at least as far as 1929 with the 45 cubic inch WL. The bike’s tale runs the gamut from racing to touring and everywhere in between. No other Harley has as long or rich a story as the Sportster line. I wasn’t able to keep up with the pace set by all the crotch rockets but that’s as much a function of my own limitations as anything else. That’s where I got my first inkling of what the so-called “beginner Harley” could really do. I didn’t meet my first Sportster until I was an editor at Hot Rod Bikes back in 2000 when I rode a 1200S at Jason Pridmore’s Star Racing School out in Pahrump, Nevada. How many bikes can you name that outlasted Elvis, the Beatles, the Cold War, and TV’s Law & Order? If you want to know how much history you can pour onto two wheels, look no further than the Harley-Davidson Sportster.
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