Where Have All The XAs Gone?

[indianut]

Here's probably the ONLY one getting ridden hard and put away wet!

[indianut]

another

[indianut]

Only lets me post one at a time

[Rockin Ronny O]

Cool photos Indianut! Please join our XA group at Yahoo.com.

Rockin' Ronny O!

[AdminGuy]

Great photos. Thanks!

Ronnie - why do you constantly use this site to promote yahoo groups?
Yahoo will and openly does, sell email addresses to anyone under the sun.

Could you do me a favor and promote the AMCA and this BB on the yahoo group sites. Much appreciated.

Our members can protect there identity and we don't sell/give information.

[Rockin Ronny O]

You bet I can promote the AMCA on my discussion group site.

Thanks.

Rockin' Ronny O!

[mmoore]

when you get this book together I would like to know sounds like a good project I remember reading a long time ago that the xa was made with 2 engine displacements was that so?

[Rockin Ronny O]

Hi. I don't know anything about different displacement sizes. It is my understanding that they were all 45" (750cc).

However, I have read and seen photos about the XA having telescopic front forks, a longer wheel base and even some experiments with putting the powerplant into a Servi-Car frame.

But bigger or smaller displacement is not one I'm familiar with.

As the book comes along, I'll keep you posted.

Thanks.

[mmoore]

im going to look thru a mag i remember that i believe was written about 25 years ago im sure it said the prototype was made in two engine sizes im not sure how accurate it was but ill dig it up and scan it if your interested

[mmoore]

ok i just got lucky i found the artical named sleeping giants written in 1978 I havent any info on who wrote it but it states in 1942 the first h. opposed was 37 inches dubbed the xla but a hot oil problem led to the creation of the 45 inch xa I have no info on how many were built (37 inch engines)but hope this can be confirmed and make it into your book. if its true i will scan this if you would like to read it. back then I thought it was important enough to cut it out and save it. maybe this is why

[Rockin Ronny O]

Wow! that's valuable information! Yes, please scan it and e-mail it to me or what ever it takes to get it. I'd love to include something like that. My direct e-mail is ebuyou@dm-tech.net

I also have another web site at www.harleyxa.zoomshare.com that has some interesting info about the XA. On that site, I talk about the AMCA's new chapter in Chico, California as well.

Thank you very much!

[mmoore]

does anybody else out there ever recall anything about the xa development project? was it for real and sanitized from history? or am I just chasing a myth. what size engine did germany use in thier desert bikes.

[Rockin Ronny O]

My understanding is that the German R-71 (the platform the XA was patterned after) was 750cc.

[darrylri]

A few years back there was a long interview with Walter Davidson Jr. in the AMCA magazine, might have been split over a couple issues. The actual interview was conducted in 1990. The interviewer was interested in Harleys, of course, but also admitted to riding a BMW, and so asked Davidson several questions about the XA project. Davidson said that they had read between the lines of the Army request and obtained a BMW R71 and went over it.

Certainly, the bore and stroke are exactly the same (but in spec'ed in American units rather than metric). On Ronny's XA mailing list, it has been said that an R71 crank will fit in an XA.

OTOH, Harley did adapt things to fit their production. The R71 had a built up crank and one piece conrods running captured rollers and a cage. The XA had a one piece crank and two piece conrods. Naturally, the generator is pretty different. Even the driveshaft is different.

At the beginning of the war, the German army didn't want to buy the R71, even though it had a new design motor with a single piece "tunnel cast" crankcase. They were buying the R12 models (this photo is of a 1936 civilian model), which were the end of the line for the old, split case motors. The army liked them because they were built with the rugged U channel pressed steel frames and rivetted together.

In 1939, the army started buying some R71s, and by the latter half of 1941, that's all they were buying. Here's a photo of my friend Joe riding his R71. This is a civilian model. In 1942, BMW came out with the R75M, a purpose built war bike, designed to be quickly maintained in the field. The "helmet" that you can see on the first picture, on top of the gas tank, is actually a huge, pleated cloth, air filter, to keep sand and mud from plugging it up.

After the war, the BMW factory in Munich, where the R75M was built, had been destroyed, but the factory in Eisenach, where the R71 had been built, was still standing... but in the eastern zone. The Soviets took the tooling and production line, and made M72 motorcycles for years. In the 1960s, they sold the equipment on to the Chinese, and you can buy a Chang Jiang CJ-750 today that looks pretty similar. (It's also the basis for a lot of frauds being sold as authentic R71s).

[mmoore]

xla

now i found that harley used the xla model name on a sporster for the military in the 70s (i believe) this would seem strange to use this name twice