It’s been over a year now that the murdered out 2012 XR1200x found its way to the Asylum from the swamps of north-central Florida, Sanford to be exact. Our goal was to take a fresh, bone stock XR, right off the Kansas City line, as God intended, and morph it into a “just this side of the track” weekend fun machine. No engine mods allowed (at least not yet), and John Law approved……..no undo attention from Texas’ finest, thank you very much.
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| The stainless V&H system and wheels are the definition of dope |
I’m gonna confess right from the jump, the Harley XR is one of the funnest (it’s a word) bikes you can throw a boot over. There’s simply no way to spend time on one and not walk away grinning from lobe to lobe. Fast? Puhleeze, my old PE-125 could probably beat it in a drag race. Lightweight? Oh sure, for a middle displacement touring bike. So it must handle like a scalpel in the hands of a Beverly Hills plastic surgeon? Well sort of, if by “surgeon” you mean the nineteen year old med-tech at Dr. Tattoff. It’ll get around the twisty bits good enough, but you’re gonna sweat, a lot. Here’s the deal, it’s not what the XR doesn’t have in comparison to other more “modern” sport bikes (say anything north of an ’82 Honda 900F), it’s the combination of the qualities, uniquely Harley we might add, that it does have which make it a pretty special machine.
It’s fast enough, with that extra helping of Milwaukee v-twin torque coming off the bottom, much like that Briggs and Stratton go-cart you hustled around the local raceway, the XR feels a lot speedier than it really is. It’ll move, just don’t challenge a 600……any 600, ever!! To even the odds a bit, and keep the lead footed soccer moms honest, we raided the Vance & Hines race shop and threw on their super sexy Widow stainless exhaust system (we ditched the quiet baffle of course). Not only does it look ultra-trick, but it also shaves off a whopping 18.6 lbs, nearly a 50% reduction! On the intake side we installed the V&H Performance air filter and the FuelPak Special Edition (street version). The result is a smooth revving to redline growl that cuts to the bone but is never obnoxious. While we haven’t put the beast on a dyno yet, the seat of the pants test says this badboy picked up some ponies.
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| The Tail Tidy is so very sano, note the LED taillight all tucked up and almost out of sigh |
Which brings us to getting the pile whoa’d up. The stock brakes are some of the best ever fitted to an Harley, Nissin four piston jobs, that are more than adequate. That said we couldn’t resist an upgrade, after all that’s what this whole project was about right? So we fitted up some uber sano Brake Tech Axis Series full-floater oversize stainless rotors, mated with a set of Ferodo Platinum organic pads. The resulting performance is nothing short of incredible. The lever feel is progressive and sure (the stock brake and clutch levers were replaced with adjustable units from Oberon Performance, works of art) with no surprises. The harder you squeeze, the faster you stop, simple as that. In our opinion this is an absolute “must” upgrade. And the bonus? As the full-floater rotors get broken in they develop that oh so melodious rattle when sitting at idle (fingers off the lever)…….think Ducati dry clutch. Cool. Of course all the stock brake lines were replaced with braided ones, that goes without saying, right??
With brakes this bitchin we rounded out the tire and wheel selection with a set of V&H Assault wheels front and rear fitted up with a set of Dunlop’s finest sticky hoops, Q2’s. The wheels not only look a ton better than the stock three spoke units, but they tip the Toledo’s at only around 15lbs, spacers and all, which in the case of the rear wheel alone saves about 20lbs. On the front, the Assault wheel lets you go from an 18” hoop to a much more common 17” (needless to say that opens up a whole bunch of tire choices that simply don’t exist if you’re stuck with an 18”) The Assault wheels are not cheap, but if you’re serious about weight loss and good looks (and who isn’t!?) these 10 spoke beauties are a must. The handling is noticeably better, especially the turn in and transition in medium to slow corners. You might even mistake the XR for a current sportbike……maybe, just for a second.
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| Progessive 970's and massive Brake Tech rotors guarantee sweet handling |
While we’re on the subject of handling, we dumped the stock rear shocks for a set of Progressive Suspension 970’s. The new 970 Series features top shelf quality and adjustability, just what you’d expect from the folks at Progressive. With their high pressure gas monotube design and deflective disc damping these shocks offer a level of tuning that’s impossible to achieve with the stockers. If you’re really serious about your canyon carving the 970’s are available in 15” and 16” inch versions so you can jack up the XR’s tail for additional clearance. Up front we left the stock Showa upside-down forks in play, settings dialed into the “middle” for the most part. Just for fun we also bolted up an Ohlins SD004 steering damper. I’m not gonna lie, no need for it on the street, but it doesn’t add much weight, and it just looks sick. Dial it out to the softest setting and forget about it.
In our efforts to lighten up the Tupperware Torpedo (tell me the side panels are not made out of the same stuff your mom served up mac and cheese in when you were a kid) we tore out all the ugly plastic license plate mounting crap the factory deemed necessary and replaced it with a Tail Tidy kit from Twisted Throttle (the Twisted Throttle people are tops by the way, they know their stuff and are super helpful, check them out). The kit gives you a slick LED brake light and bracket for the plate, throw on the optional micro turn signals, and the transformation is amazing…….who knew the XR had such a svelte derriere??
Speaking of butts, the stock seat went bye-bye, replaced by a Corbin unit with “Carbon-Fiber” leather seating inserts and Asphalt vinyl sides to give just the right contrast. As with all Corbin seats the quality is unsurpassed, and the comfort level is about a hundred times better than the OE buckboard. Worth the investment.
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| Inspiration, we're getting there, just stay tuned |
Other bits and pieces we couldn’t resist were the H-D pillion cover, a “Day Maker” high intensity LED headlight from the Motor Company (you really have to try a bike fitted up with one at night to appreciate the difference…..unreal!), V&H’s carbon-fiber front fender, and H-D’s combination mirrors and integrated LED turn signals. For a final touch we chose a Dark Custom skull derby cover, a little sinister goes a long way.
Bone stock the XR1200x is one hell of a fun ride. And if more of us would have bought one, it might actually still be in the line-up (they built it, not enough of us showed up). Put a little effort into it, and it’s a one-of-a-kind “grin gin”. Massive torque, great brakes, and decent acceleration (not to mention surprisingly competent handling) all add up to one of the great under-appreciated bikes of the last decade. No doubt the nearly 50 pounds we shaved off contributed to the XR’s nimble (bet you never thought you’d see nimble in the same zip code as a Harley-Davidson) feel. Next up, after the warranty is history, we’re going to see what we can do with the motor…….stay tuned folks, plenty more mac and cheese coming up.
Special thanks to Fort Worth Harley-Davidson for doing all the mechanical heavy lifting, and Seminole Harley-Davidson for the smoking deal on the machine, without you guys this project would still be just a beer induced dream........and all the damn XR's would be gone.
