OK now I have figured it out...I am 56 years of age; this bike is made for the daily European younger guys that ride 365 days a year, park outside, ride in the rain, snow... and for us older folks here in the U.S. who want a all day comfortable, twisty carving, peg scraping, non sport bike, non cruiser bike that will get it done!

 

...raced a TM400 for years.

 

The XR1200 has been flat tracked in Europe for two years. there has been video's posted on a sportster site where about 60 of them were flying around the track. they were first sold in Europe because Sportsters have a large following there. The same site had pictures from France with about a hundred customized sporties. Many were amazing.

I draw the analogy to the Miata which is a very fun to bang around roadster. The XR is the same thing. It is just plain fun to bang around. Its does it with great agility.

I am collecting all the families of air cooled Harley bikes and the best example of the Sportster is the XR as it represents a part of Harley's racing heritage.

Some may be irritated that the little bugger will out perform their 96" motors with Stage 1 mods. My 07 FXSTC is in that category and the XR runs away from it at any speed.

 

Hey Notorius. How many fractures did you have on that TM400? LOL. I actually rode one a lot but never raced it. No flywheel and throttle like an on/off switch with that flexy frame made it a handful. It was a blast to play around with on a small oval track we used to ride. The main thing I remember is that you had better have it pointed where you want to go when you crack the throttle.
I loved my XR mostly because the handling was so sweet. Unfortunately, a big deer T-boned me and the bike landed on my ankle in July. I've had 5 operations and we're looking at one more. The bike was totaled, but it would have made a great project. I don't know where it ended up.

 

Sup...

your right when you jac the gac that motha went and you better be holdin on...
I can't tell ya how many times I was hanging off the back- WFO and no way to shift doing the super man before it was cool.

broke and welded the frame too many times...

nobody rode it cause nobody could start it...LOL

TM=Total Madness, best It can be said... most violent moto I have ever ridden...period.


On/off says it all...you're real.

 

Seems like every guy who got a TM ended up in plaster. One dude had dominated the local MX tracks for several years on Maicos, generally half tracking the field. A Suzuki dealer offered him a free bike and parts and he took it. He broke his leg in his first MX on the TM. It was a scary machine, but probably the most fun I've ever had on a bike.

 

LOL, now that I have thought about it...how many times did you re-lace the rear wheel. Seems like after every ride or so I had to do it. The first time I kept hearing popping and couldn't figure it out then I noticed spokes broken/missing that evening...It's a wonder I didn't get hurt more than I did.
I always wanted to put the motor in a go-cart and make a rocket sled.

 

I like the new xr1200,i would like to take one for a ride and give it a 'texas tune-up' and see how well it goes