But It Wasn’t Harley Davidson Who Set It!
by Harry Fisher, onA 24-hour endurance speed record has been set on a Harley Davidson Sportster S, although all is not as it seems!
Endurance Speed Record Set on a Harley Sportster S
Setting any kind of record is a test of mind over matter, the matter in most cases being the human body. In particular, endurance record attempts are a test of endurance of not only the machinery, but the riders as well.
Even though it is fresh out of the blocks, the H-D Sportster S was the weapon of choice for an assault on the Indian endurance speed record. However, it wasn’t Harley themselves who made the attempt, but rather a team of Indian (as in the country, not the motorcycle brand - always confusing!) riders who made the attempt at the Hero MotorCorp’s Global Centre for Innovation and Technology at Jaipur, Rajasthan.
A new record of 1,951-miles at an average of 81mph was set by a team of five riders, including Indian national motorcycle racers Anushriya Gulati and Vijay Singh along with Vlogger Shubhabrata Marmar. Malo Le Masson and Vijay Thomas both from Hero MotoCorp also took part in the successful attempt.
Hero’s testing centre boasts a 1.74km high speed oval and this was chosen as the venue to test both bike and riders. Starting at 3pm on the 5th Feb, 2022, each rider completed stints of 62 miles before changing over. In total, 31 pit stops were made, while a new set of tyres was fitted at 1000 miles.
It’s not entirely clear why the attempt was made at the Hero facility, although the title of the spokesman for the attempt gives some indication: Ravi Avalur, Head – Harley-Davidson Business Unit at Hero MotoCorp had this to say about the attempt:
“We recently took the Harley-Davidson Pan America to the highest unpaved motorable road in the world and that inspired us to do something uniquely different with the new Harley-Davidson Sportster S. The team at CIT and Hero MotoSports Team Rally stepped in with all their experience and helped us complete this extremely challenging attempt. It is a strong testament to the quality of this H-D motorcycle to have successfully endured the test and gone further than any other motorcycle in the country in 24 hours.”
Now, look, I like the new Sportster S. It’s a brilliant update on the Sportster theme. But I’m not sure I’d like to ride it flat out on an oval circuit for 24-hours, no matter how many riders there were to spread the load!
However, joking aside, it’s quite a feather in Harley’s cap for the Sportster S to put up with that kind of punishment.
