The XLCR was the bike that nobody understood.  In an era when the Harley-Davidson image had crystallized as the easy rider’s machine,Willie G. popped up with a street racer.  Next to the Japanese wonderbikes, the Cafe Racer’s underwhelming performance could only serve to embarrass its rider.

With 61 horsepower on tap at 6,200 rpm, the rider astride the 530-pount XLCR had 106 miles per hour available right out of the factory. Wheelbase was Sportster-standard 58.5 inches.  With forgiving handling, the bike was one of Harley-Davidson’s best inventions for mountain roads.

One of the XLCR’s most distinctive features was its flat-back, siamesed exhaust pipes.  Everything else on the bike was either gloss black or polished aluminum.  The twin produced 61 horsepower from cylinders with bore and stroke of 3.19×81 inches.  Only 1,923 were built in 1977, 1,201 in 1978, and only 9 in 1979.  The production of the XLCR was short-lived.