How Long Has Harley-Davidson Been Making The Sportster? Here's When The First Model Came Out

William Harley and Arthur Davidson built their first motorcycle in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1903, and the rest, as they say, is history. Over the decades, the duo's company, Harley-Davidson, has seen its share of highs and lows. It barely survived the fallout after the Great Depression in 1929, when it and Indian Motorcycle were the only two American bike companies to come out the other side. It provided motorcycles for the military in both World Wars, forever placing it among the pantheon of iconic companies. It even survived the ugly years of the American Machine and Foundry (AMF) ownership between 1969 and 1981.

In 1957, John Lennon and Paul McCartney crossed paths for the first time at a church party. Dwight D. Eisenhower became the first U.S. President to ride in a helicopter. And to the chagrin of park goers everywhere, Wham-O unleashed its Frisbee onto the world. That same year, Harley-Davidson rolled out its first XL Sportster, setting the stage for one of the company's oldest continuously produced motorcycles.

The XL stood for extra lightweight (not extra large) and was built specifically to be affordable, maneuverable, and, as the name implied, sporty. This was mainly in response to the influx of European bikes with those qualities invading the U.S. market at the time. It was equipped with an 883cc OHV V-Twin engine that made 40 hp. With a dry weight of 495 pounds, it could hit 100 mph.

The XL Sportster had a nickname, one perfectly suited for a mean, lean, rumbling machine — the Ironhead. Many of the European bikes at the time had aluminum engines, which provided better cooling and had a higher endurance threshold. Aluminum was also the choice for nearly every American radial engine used in combat during WWII, but Harley-Davidson had encountered gasket issues due to the continuous expansion and contraction of aluminum cylinders and heads. Thus, Harley decided to build the XL's cylinder heads and rocker boxes out of cast iron. Coupled with steel bolts, this meant that all components would expand simultaneously. 

The cast-iron motor was such a hit that the same basic design was used on the Shovelhead in 1966. The Sportster borrowed many of the same design choices from Harley-Davidson's preceding Model K, which had been released in 1952, so it was only fitting that some of the Sportster's DNA would pass down to the next generation of Harley bikes. The Sportster was able to best the British bikes and subsequently won over legions of fans, becoming one of the best Sportster models ever made.

It took a while, though: In 1957, Harley-Davidson sold only 1,983 Sportsters. In 1970, it sold 8,560, becoming the company's best seller and beating out the much bigger Electra Glide by almost 1,000 units. In '74, it sold 20,000 for the first time. Future versions like the XLCH — which was faster, offered higher compression, and introduced features like staggered dual exhaust pipes and the now-famous peanut gas tank — would help it become a true legend. It's estimated that Harley sold over 1 million examples between 2001 and 2022, when it discontinued the traditional Sportster line.