The Sportster is the Ducati Monster of the H-D family – entry level. Although you can trace the Sportster’s roots back to the 1952 Model K (the first unit-construcion Harley) it was the 1957 XL with its overhead valves that started the Sportster

– the Sportster 72 and the Slim around some of the best roads (ever?) in the mountains above Malaga and, you know what? It was one of the most pleasant days of riding I’ve had for some time.The Slim was my favourite. It uses Harley's big pre-unit 103 cubic inch (a

degree of fore and aft weight pitch but use it to the tyre's advantage and it's a very satisfying bike to ride hard, up and down twisty roads. I found the on-off, small throttle opening fuelling quite savage - enough for me to feather the clutch a bit