HARLEY-Davidson has announced the company's intention to begin production of the XR 1200 for the European market next spring.

The XR 1200 is reported to be a great handling, high performance, naked street motorcycle - having seen it being ridden I reckon H-D have got it right first time by taking their styling cues from the legendary Harley-Davidson XR 750 flat track racer.

I'm anything but impartial about the styling of the XR 750 and XR 1200, I love the look of those flat trackers.

The XR 1200 Prototype was first unveiled to huge acclaim from customers and the media alike by Bill Davidson (great-grandson of one of the Harley-Davidson Motor Company's founders) at last years Intermot motorcycle show.

"The incredibly positive reaction we received to the XR 1200 Prototype and sustained level of anticipation amongst customers and the press across Europe confirmed how much interest there is in a Harley-David-son motorcycle inspired by our racing line" said the director of motorcycle product development.

The XR 1200 is the result of a close collaboration between the motor company's Milwaukee-based product development team and Harley-Davidson's Euro-pean product planning team.

Reflecting the importance of the European market to Harley-Davidson, the European team played a significant role in defining the specifications and ergonomics of the XR 1200, and worked with US Ride and Handling engineers on suspension, braking and handling development.

European pricing for the XR 1200 is yet to be finalised but pre-tax is expected to be below 10,000 euros excluding applicable VAT and luxury taxes, this will equate to no more than 12,000 euros - about £8,000 - including VAT in most major European markets.

Harley-Davidson Europe has collected a large amount of customer and media feedback since the XR 1200 prototype's unveiling.

There have been a huge number of visits to the customer site www.xrdna.com, the dedicated website that showcases the XR 1200.

The result points to the most powerful air-cooled European specification Harley-Davidson yet, with a high torque 1,200cc downdraft fuel injected engine combined with suspension and braking that have been fine-tuned to suit European roads.

The XR has a generous lean angle, specially tuned Showa sports suspension - including 43mm USD front forks, high performance Nissin brakes and specially developed Dunlop Qualifier tyres.