BIKES: 2012 Harley-Davidson Seventy-Two First Ride

New Models

BIKES: 2012 Harley-Davidson Seventy-Two First Ride

We were kickin' it old school as we cruised around Bike Week on the 2012 Harley Seventy-Two, the latest Sportster with throwback styling including a peanut tank, spoke wheels, whitewalls, and mini-apes.

Bryan Harley | http://www.motorcycle-usa.com | Posted July 09, 2012 Eugene, OR

At the core of the ’72 is a revvy 1200cc Evolution engine that provides a spirited ride. (Photo: MotorcycleUSA.com)

The tribute band stood onstage at the Broken Spoke tightening strings, tapping drums and testing mics with the standard “Check, check check.” And though the musicians tried to concentrate on their sound check, they each took turns snatching peeks at the Candy Red motorcycle parked in front of the stage that was stealing the show. With cameras flashing and video rolling, the 2012 Harley-Davidson Seventy-Two was the star this day, Harley’s latest bar hopping Sportster with the time-honored styling cues blending right in at the Spoke like Norm at Cheers. With a thumb of the electric start, sound check stopped as the burble of the Seventy-Two’s pipes took center stage. And though we thought about bidding the Spoke adieu with a nasty smoky burnout on the weathered plywood in front of the stage, we had agitated the band long enough and caused enough disruption with our impromptu photo shoot at the Spoke so we exited the establishment peacefully.

The 2012 Harley Seventy-Two harks back to the hey-day of the chopper. Resurrected is the famous Harley peanut tank which The Motor Company originally debuted in 1948 before ditching it a few years back. Its metal flake Candy Red Paint screams late ‘60s, early ‘70s, and they started bobbing fenders as soon as the boys got back from WW II. Lean and clean, the Harley Seventy-Two rolls on spoked down whitewalls, 21-inches on the back and a svelte 150mm wide on the rear. Ten-inch tall mini-apes on two-inch risers thumb their nose the best they can at conformity considering it’s a factory chopper as the styling elements of the ’72 combine to inject a vintage feel to the vibey V-Twin.

At the core of the Seventy-Two is a revvy 1200cc Evolution engine. It too, is a bit of a throwback as the original Evolution engine, the spawn of Harley’s Shovelhead and Ironhead engines, made its debut back in 1984. The latest iteration of course enjoys the benefits of Harley’s Electronic Sequential Port Fuel Injection that consistently meters out the right amount of fuel and air to keep the cable-actuated clutch dialed in to the input of a rider’s right wrist. A chromed out, round 8-inch air cleaner works hard to feed a healthy flow to the Harley mill. The Evolution mill is rubber mounted, so even though there are plenty of vibes at idle in the bars and foot pegs, the situation remedies itself once you’re rolling and thankfully you aren’t checking all of the bike’s bolts after every other ride like Harleys of yesteryear.

The Seventy-Two’s 1200cc mill has enough torque down low to pop the front wheel with a drop of the clutch and a heavy roll on the accelerator. There’s good mid, too, because if Harley’s claims ring true, peak torque of 73 lb-ft comes on @ 3500 rpm. The Seventy-Two is geared short enough to maximize the spread of thrust that favors the bottom end of the powerband more so than the top. We affectionately call the Harley transmission “Old Reliable” because you always know what you're going to get, a solid clunk and reliable engagement. Staggered chrome exhaust with slash-cut mufflers completes the drivetrain and drums the Harley cadence proudly without bringing about the call to arms by neighbors because the exhaust note is tamed down by the small diameter of the mufflers.

Though it tips the scales at a claimed dry weight of 545 pounds, the engine output makes it feel lighter, especially when you factor in the narrowness of the bike and the nimble feel of the front end. Harley trimmed the fat on the mill by using aluminum heads and cylinders. The engine is a combination of black powerdcoated cylinders and a flat gray finish topped off with a touch of the shiny stuff in the form of chrome rocker covers, its tones played down to place the focus back on the lustrous metal flake paint of the tank and fenders.

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