How Harley-Davidson Created the Sportster to Fight the British

By Jerry Perez - September 1, 2016

It was 1957 when the British launched a small motorcycle invasion they described as “necessary to survive,” otherwise known as the “export or perish” post-war economic strategy. Harley was in trouble, and they needed to act fast…

To make matters even worse for H-D, the Hollywood superstar at the time, Marlon Brando, chose a British Triumph instead of an iconic Harley-Davidson for “The Wild One” blockbuster movie. Some say it was that exact moment when the Milwaukee-based manufacturer realized they had to do something, or suffer the economic consequences. The British had officially penetrated their homeland.

The Harley-Davidson Sportster was born, but for some reason it took until 1977 for the Americans to snap out of their traditional ways and go for the full cafe racer style. Now, I know what you’re thinking, the Sportster was born in 1957, but it wasn’t until ’77 that the idea was fully integrated into the Harley way of life. It simply didn’t “feel right” until then.

From then on the Sportster became a household name, and was able to take the fight to the Brits, but some would say that it was simply too late and the damage had already been done — I would agree. Harley allowed Triumph, Norton, and even Honda of Japan to take an enormous chunk of market share, and things would simply never be the same. Amongst some of the Sportster’s big moments, was the legendary Evel Knievel choosing it as his official stunt bike. A simple marketing stunt that sent hundreds of thousands of Americans rushing into dealerships looking for their own famous Sportsters.

Fast forward to 2016 and the Harley Davidson Sportster is a profitable seller for the brand, and it shows no signs of slowing down. In fact, it’s this particular segment to continues to grow and evolve with the ever more important young customer demographic.