Is the Harley-Davidson Sportster Living On Borrowed Time?
Exhibit A: Tighter Euro 5 Emission Rules
The Sportster is popular for export markets because it has that unique Harley mystique, but is better sized for use in tighter urban areas.
Currently, under Euro 4 rules in effect since 2013, a Sportster can put out 1.14 g/km of CO, .09 g/km of NOx, and .17 g/km of hydrocarbons. Those numbers are already reduced from Euro 2, which were 2.0 g/km, .15 g/km, and .30 g/km respectively. Unfortunately, 2020 brings in Euro 5, and the limits drop again down to 1.0 g/km for CO, .06 g/km for NOx, and just .10 g/km for hydrocarbons.
Now, Harley officials have said that they have engineers that can get an air-cooled Sportster to meet Euro 5 emissions. And Ducati, Yamaha, and Moto Guzzi all have air-cooled models that they don’t seem in a hurry to replace. But the Euro 4 rules have been given as one of the reasons for the elimination of the V-Rod from the lineup. The Ducati and Moto Guzzi Twins do have a long history, but unlike the Sportster, they have had constant and extensive revisions over the past 30 years. The Yamaha Star Bolt 950 was drawn up from a clean sheet of paper in the last 10 years, and their big V-twin debuted in the late 1990s, and it has been revised several times since.
In order for the Sportster to blow clean you have to assume it needs a substantial going over, top to bottom, to lower friction, lower engine noise, control heat, and burn cleaner.
You must be logged in to post a comment.