These motorcycles are about cruising. They’re about unfettered riding down the open road like simpler bikes did in a nearly bygone era. Right? Well, it’s also true the Sportster originally represented cutting edge performance, and was raced through the years. Today, after receiving a life-enhancing Evolution engine implant in 1986, it lives on as the legend that it is. It’s kind of like an old champion horse that’s out to pasture but still a joy to behold, and well able to entertain riders at a less-brisk pace.
Likewise, an alternative perspective for the Shadow RS is that it’s a carefully-designed creation by the intensely technologically driven Honda Motor Company. This is the same envelope-pushing engineering powerhouse that, for example, created a 125cc 5-cylinder racebike in 1967 and soon will be selling corporate jets.
As a twist to the old adage “if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em,” Honda has long since beat ‘em in many meaningful ways. But Honda has also joined ’em, and if someone minding the store at Harley-Davidson is not careful, Honda may beat them some more as it continues to earn a great deal of its bread and butter churning out these kinds of bikes. What should we really call them? Repli-racers, ’50s style?
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