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The
XLCR was the bike that nobody understood. In an era when the
Harley-Davidson image had crystallized as the easy rider's machine,
Willie G. popped up with a street racer. Next to the Japanese
wonderbikes, the Cafe Racer's underwhelming performance could only serve
to embarrass its rider.
With
61 horsepower on tap at 6,200 rpm, the rider astride the 530-pount XLCR
had 106 miles per hour available right out of the factory.
Wheelbase was Sportster-standard 58.5 inches. With forgiving
handling, the bike was one of Harley-Davidson's best inventions for
mountain roads.
One
of the XLCR's most distinctive features was its flat-back, siamesed
exhaust pipes. Everything else on the bike was either gloss black
or polished aluminum. The twin produced 61 horsepower from
cylinders with bore and stroke of 3.19x81 inches. Only 1,923 were
built in 1977, 1,201 in 1978, and only 9 in 1979. The production
of the XLCR was short-lived.
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