Rare XRTT Racing Bike Pops Up in Dubai

A road course terror, this bike helped to make Cal Rayborn a household name.

Harley-Davidson’s XR750 race bike is nothing short of legendary. Produced since 1970, it’s perhaps most closely associated with Evel Knievel, who spent most of the 1970s atop red, white, and blue-painted XR750s as he performed his daring stunts and wild jumps.

For most Harley-Davidson fans, the image of an XR-750 tearing through the dirt sideways or flying trough the air is nothing short of iconic. However, the XR-750 was quite impressive on paved race tracks, as well. The XRTT variant was designed explicitly for this purpose, and it performed well.

The XRTT, with its dramatic, aerodynamic fiberglass fairing, was designed to perform at the highest possible level on road courses around the world. In fact, the legendary road course racer Cal Rayborn would ride his XRTT to many victories.

Seeing a Harley-Davidson with a swoopy fiberglass racing fairing is an unusual and unexpected sight indeed. However, the black and orange color combination makes it clear that this bike couldn’t be anything but a good old Harley-Davidson.

Most of what lay beneath that fiberglass fairing was shared with the more dirt-oriented XR-750. Major differences included a fiberglass fuel tank, as well a front drum brake. The XRTT was the last racing motorcycle produced with a front drum brake.

The drum brake used on the XRTT wasn’t any old drum brake, though: it utilized twin leading shoe drum brakes, paired up on either side of the front forks, for a grand total of four leading shoes. That’s some serious stopping power, but it also added a lot of weight, which slowed the bike down.

Still, the XRTT was competitive in its day, and is one of the reasons why Rayborn became the legend that he is today. As you can imagine, owning a piece of history like this isn’t cheap. This example, found on Hemmings, is offered for sale in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates.

On top of the $75,000 purchase price, the buyer will have to spend a chunk of change to ship the bike back home. That is, unless they happen to have a luxury apartment in Dubai that’s in need of one seriously cool living room decoration. Think of it as a mixed-media sculpture, in rubber, fiberglass, and steel.

Photos: Hemmings

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Cameron Vanderhorst

Cam VanDerHorst has been a contributor to Internet Brands' Auto Group sites for over three years, with his byline appearing on Ford Truck Enthusiasts, Corvette Forum, JK Forum, and Harley-Davidson Forums, among others. In that time, he's also contributed to Autoweek, The Drive, and Scale Auto Magazine.

He bought his first car at age 14 -- a 1978 Ford Mustang II -- and since then he’s amassed an impressive and diverse collection of cars, trucks, and motorcycles, including a 1996 Ford Mustang SVT Mystic Cobra (#683) and a classic air-cooled Porsche 911.

In addition to writing about cars and wrenching on them in his spare time, he enjoys playing music (drums and ukulele), building model cars, and tending to his chickens.

You can follow Cam, his cars, his bikes, and his chickens at @camvanderhorst on Instagram.

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