Sporty meets naughty

Harley Davidson Sportster. Photo / Supplied

Forget Harley-Davidson's bad-boy image. Nearly everyone who rides one is an accountant, a lawyer or a school principal, trying to offset their goody-two-shoes image with a bit of naughty glamour. And what better way to obtain it than by donning black leather and bestriding a Hog?

I can think of a few suggestions, but then I'm an any-roads rider, while the traditional Harley is a cruiser. It has a massive engine delivering lots of torque - and plentiful noise (partly courtesy of those after-market pipes), but not much in the way of handling. Designed for wide-open, smooth American roads, a cruiser is at its best on Highway One and not on your average NZ back road. Buells have the Harley engine, but the handling is so hard-core racer you'd fall off as soon as look at a manhole cover, and few weekend rebels buy them.

But this ... this is different. For the XR1200X has conventional geometry - read upright position and wide bars, for excellent control. Add a narrow waist, so even shorties can manage the tallish seat. The Sporty (as Harley calls its better-handling machines) is for bikers who want to tackle the odd challenging road - and who want to spend more time riding than polishing their mount. Which probably explains the XR1200X colour scheme of matte black - there's barely a bit of brightwork anywhere.

Unlike the Knightster, a caricature of a flat-tracker with its fat rear tyre compromising handling, this bike is built with real roads in mind. It has Nissin brakes and sportier, adjustable Showa-sourced suspension that actually works. It has a 1200cc V-twin engine that delivers peak torque in top gear at 100, and peak power at that speed in third.

Yes, the five-speed transmission is a bit clunky and yes, the motor a tad agricultural in tone - but that's what you expect. You don't want a two-wheeled Pavarotti warbling away beneath your black leather-clad butt. You want raw sex; the husky, knicker-loosening rumble of Leonard Cohen at his best, and this bike supplies it.

Better still, at $17,750 it's more affordable than its leviathan siblings; halfway between the entry point for the mighty cruisers and the starter-pack 883.

So I liked it, then? Yep, this XR1200X makes me feel bad to the bone, without compromising comfort or handling. And though it's by no means fast, it's at its best at real-world speeds - and therefore on the real-world roads you and I ride every day.

Harley-Davidson XR1200X

We like
Rumpy-pumpy motor, all-black looks, a Harley that goes, stops and handles.

We don't like
Agricultural transmission could use another cog.

Powertrain
1202cc air-cooled V-twin, 67kW at 7000rpm, 100Nm at 3700rpm, belt drives rear wheel.

Safety
Wear a helmet and purpose-designed riding gear.

Vital stats
2225mm long, 795mm seat height, 13.3-litre fuel capacity.