Why The Evo Sportster is the Best Harley-Davidson Motorcycle

Ah, the legendary Sportster. A motorcycle that has changed so much, but also so little, since it’s introduction in 1957. Let’s get one thing of the way: my opinion here applies to the sweet spot of 5-speed, frame-mounted Evo Sportster models. This means ones made from 1991-2003. Everything after that isn’t as hot.

Rubber-mounting the engine to isolate vibrations for a “smoother” ride took a svelte’ish (by Harley standards) 500 pound motorcycle and turned it into a 600 pound motorcycle. In an era where motorcycles are being engineered to be increasingly lightweight and powerful, the Sportster has only gotten heavier and slower, which is antithetical to the notion of being “sporty.”

12 Years of Perfection?

However, those 12 years of relative perfection, are pretty great. It’s a visceral experience riding these Sportsters, and that quality alone makes up a lot of what riding a motorcycle is about in the first place. It’s like a hot-rodded riding mower. It’s beefy, rugged, and thoroughly unrefined. There’s abundant shaking and vibrations. Yet it simultaneously feels like it’s solid and durable. It is a machine that feels tight and well-built, while also being on the verge of exploding into pieces. Tim “The Toolman” Taylor approved.

“Performance”

Is it fast? Yes and no. Like all Harleys, there’s gobs of torque down low. Throttle response on these carbureted models is instant, and connected directly to your hand, so it just feels right, too. These old Sportsters are absolute featherweights by Harley standards. Combine the snappy throttle response, gobs of torque, and light weight, and you have a motorcycle that is surprisingly capable of leaping off the line.

Stoplight-to-stoplight, it’ll scoot. I’ve dusted much faster muscle cars and motorcycles on my Sportster for at least the first few hundred feet or so. Then that punchy 883 runs out of revs, and just doesn’t have the ponies to keep up.

Handling and Ergonomics

Handling presents another dichotomy, this time between being unresponsive yet nimble. At low speeds, maneuverability is questionable, to put it mildly. It takes work. Work that is akin to trying to put cycling shorts on a walrus. Get it moving, and it almost feels as agile as it’s erstwhile competitors; UJMs from the 70’s, though.

It doesn’t require too much coaxing to get it to lean and change directions, though. Unfortunately, when equipped with the ever-popular forward controls mimicking its big-twin brethren, you sacrifice the clearance of mid controls. Given the low seat height, low ground clearance, and half cruiser’ish ergonomics of the Sportster, forward controls are almost a must if you’re taller than 5’6″.

Suspension is relatively poor in its stock form. Travel is too short for spirited riding, and it is undersprung for a motorcycle this heavy. The suspension must be upgraded if you want to ride it hard and make the most of the Sportster’s capable engine.

Build Quality and Maintenance

It’s a ruggedly-built bike that is refreshingly easy to work on, thanks to everything being held together by accessible fist-sized bolts. This is a huge advantage, since you will be wrenching on it often, both in regards to maintenance and repairs, as well as customizations.

Despite having only owned mine for a short five months before it got totaled in a wreck, I spent more time working on it than any other bike I’ve owned, especially relative to the length of time it was owned

Some of that was the need for constant maintenance, adjustments, chasing down gremlins, and putting Loctite on stuff that had rattled loose, but a lot was done in the name of customization. That predilection for customization is what makes the Sportster a truly special motorcycle like no other.

It’ll also score you cool points with real bikers, because HARLEY, but not too many cool points because “IT’S A GIRLS BIKE!” so you can maintain some hipster street cred at the coffee shop by not morphing into another geezer on a Black Street Glide. You get the best of both worlds.

Final Rating

As a rad motorcycle that is a blank slate for customization, these frame-mount Sportsters sit head and shoulders above every other motorcycle made. The aftermarket has embraced them like nothing else. Objectively, they’re not particularly great, though. It has so much character, tries so hard be a good motorcycle, and is so at odds with itself, that it transcends objectivity. Make it your own, and it’ll be one of your favorite bikes ever.