Last weekend, Harley-Davidson announced the end of the EVO Sportster.Not the end of the Sportster itself——名字继续与Sportster年代模型,carrying on a line of constant production since 1957’s XL series. But, H-D will make no more Sportsters with the Evolution engine, after a 36-year production run. For many riders, this is the same as cancelling the Sportster line. And even though I’ve never owned one, never even ridden one, I’m sad to see this news.

I’m not quite sure why I’ve never ridden a Sportster. I’ve had several friends who’ve owned them, and have ridden plenty of other Harley-Davidsons. I even took a Dyna across the US and back. But for whatever reason, I’ve never been on a Sporty. But for my friends who owned them, their Sportster was their pride and joy, and I understand why. For many riders, it was the only way a blue-collar worker could get their hands on an American-made motorcycle. While some people might think that’s stupid jingoism, I believe there’s value in appreciating products built by your neighbors. And the EVO Sportster, while it certainly wasn’t a lithe supersport, wasn’t a terrible bike either. Some sub-models were, yes—with slammed suspension that was probably developed in conjunction with the American Chiropractic Association. And before Harley-Davidson rubber-mounted the engine and added EFI, the Sporty was known by such unappealing nicknames as the Milwaukee Vibrator. But if you wanted a basic motorcycle, the Sportster was there, in all its air-cooled glory, with no fairings or louvers or other bodywork to run the cost up and hide the mechanical bits.

I’ve always thought the early EVO models were perfect examples of what a cruiser should look like, with no unnecessary crap bolted on. And the later sub-models, especially the machines built over the past decade, often came with glammed-up paint that looked great, even if the engine was dated. Really, that engine itself was the best part of the package; the EVO Sportster powerplant was perhaps the most reliable air-cooled V-twin Harley-Davidson ever built, available in 883 cc, 1100 cc and 1200 cc varieties over the years. Most of the internals were the same, so if you wanted to big-bore from 883 to 1200, you could do so without sacrificing reliability. If you wanted to go even bigger, the aftermarket would help you with that, and given the decades of owners’ knowledge on this bike, you could find a lot of information from both technical manuals as well as H-D owners when you wanted to tune the engine up.

If you left the bike more-or-less alone, the EVO was reliable enough that some riders put down big miles on their Sportsters. In 2007, Brett Donahue finished third in the Iron Butt Rally on a Sportster, averaging more than a thousand miles a day over almost two weeks aboard his machine. It certainly wasn’t made for that kind of work, but the design was nonsense-free and could be repurposed to just about anything. Erik Buell used the EVO Sportster engine in several of the bikes he designed for Harley-Davidson. Harley itself used the Sportster as the base for the XR1200, a roadster that was far removed from the usual low rider HD image; the XR1200 even raced in spec series around the world. Sportsters ran at drag tracks, too. People chopped them, turned them into brats, cafe racers, whatever they wanted.

Some people made adventure bikes out of them. If you read Volume Four of the ADVrider print magazine, you might remember Canadian moto-journo Costa Mouzouris had photos of his scramblerized EVO Sportster that he ran through tough off-road trails to Quebec’s legendary Parent rally. Carducci has a whole business built around converting Sportsters into massive ADV machines.

在ADVride新利18苹果rGo Sportsters threadhas run in the Road Warriors sub-forum since 2010, with thousands of posts. If you’ve been around a while, you probably remember cavebiker’s epic ride reports based around his Sportster (see onehere). There have been many, many inmates who appreciated the EVO Sportster’s blend of reliability and (relative) affordability.

I don’t expect mass outrage or grief at the EVO Sportster’s cancellation. For years, we’ve known emissions regulations would cause Harley-Davidson to drop the bike from its lineup; I’m surprised it’s lasted this long. But I do expect some sadness in years to come, as Harley-Davidson’s American production focuses on expensive motorcycles, further and further removed from blue collar budgets. And I also expect used EVO Sportster prices to rise, if they follow the same pattern the Dyna took upon its cancellation. In our modern world, that’s progress, I guess.