I get pretty tired after 200 miles and I'm looking for a shield to take some of the load off. Thanks for your recommendation.
I've owned 17 Sportsters and around 10 big Harleys. I think personal expression is fine but why do most Harley riders want to paint naked women on their bikes, or loud pipes, or any other number of dumb things. That's what gives Harley riders a bad name. No other make of bike riders acts so juvenile. It almost makes me not want to ride a Harley because I've been riding since 1958 and have had 100 two wheelers.
Personally I like naked women. You can look at any sub-group of riders and find bad examples. If that is what you want to look for. Example; Why would you put an extended swingarm on a sportbike ,fit a fat 300 size tire, and then lower it? It screws up the handling. It looks dumb. (answer, it comes from dragracing. Some do it just for the "look" and some do it to go fast in a straight line in a 1/4 or 1/8 mile) Different strokes for different folks.
Took off the Batwing and bags to clean mine up after a weekend @ Laguna Seca. we were parking in deep loose dirt. Couple of big bikes I saw needing a boost to get out of the rut they sank into. needless to say, it was a mess. Kinda liking the bare look. I think I'll leave it for a while. Just feels lighter, even if really isn't much weight. If I want them on, the fairing's quick detach, and I've modded the bags to pretty quick. 15 minutes should put it all back on...... Before- After-
i cant believe i've just now found this thread. i had a '96 1200C and i miss that bike terribly. i never even had any trouble doing 600 mile days on the stock seat which so many complain about. it's awesome to find other Sporty fans on ADV and now i'm certain my next ride will be a Sporty done up Roadking style.
Bluebone said, " i'm certain my next ride will be a Sporty done up Roadking style." I nearly went for a Roadster, hard bags and a windshield when I bought my RK. Sometimes, I still wonder.
Yep. And who would ever take a nice bar-hopper like a sportster and actually add luggage then ride the thing. Ruins a perfectly good bike. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk 2
Well, obviously it's your bike, and I certainly don't want to presume to know anyone's bike better than the owner. But, if you are only getting 1/2" of fork travel during everyday riding conditions, something isn't right. Just normal static sag should be using 1/4 to 1/3 of the total available travel, and that's just sitting still. A properly set up fork should never bottom, but it should be using up most of its total travel when subjected to the worst conditions that the bike sees. Otherwise it's set up too harsh to have good compliance. Your bike should have somewhere around 4" of fork travel, maybe more. I'm not familiar with the specs for your particular model, so I don't know the exact number. But, given 4" I'd expect to be using somewhere around 3" or so when hitting decent bumps and under hard braking. Ideally, under panic braking and a really bad bump, you'd want to almost, but not quite, be bottoming the suspension. If not, the suspension isn't doing it's job as well as it could. If your suspension isn't doing its job of absorbing the energy that energy is going into things like deflecting the tire off line, bouncing the tire over bumps, etc. Very bad things for handling and traction under the wrong set of circumstances. A suspension isn't just there to make for a cushy ride... it's also designed to allow the tires to follow the road surface and maintain contact and traction. Not hopping, skipping and bouncing over holes and bumps. And that's not even mentioning how it negatively affects the ride quality. If I found my forks were only moving 1/2" I'd be digging to find out why. If yours isn't, it could be due to several things. The most obvious would be either a spring rate that is too high, way too much preload for your weight, or too much oil in the forks. After that, I'd be looking for problems with the bushings or bent tubes causing excessive stiction, blocked bleed holes in the damper rods, or maybe incorrect assembly. Just trying to offer some helpful advice, not be a smart ass.
Appears to be a "Hugger" with the short suspension, so there's not much travel to start with. Looks like that bag would block the lower part of the headlight beam pattern... and kind of looks like a giant purse.
You can't just put that up and not provide more details!! What IB changes did you make to it, what rally's did you ride it in (The sportster from 2-3 IBRs ago?) How did you mount the Happy Trails boxes? Does it put out enough Amps for all your electronics and heated gear? BTW, I'm on an IBA ride right now, Circling the Great Lakes. The gentle one taking 100 hours.
Anti-dive? Probably hydraulic locked from too much oil, or too much preload as you previously posted... Also, blocking everything from the top of the fender past the bottom of the headlight would block most of the direct airflow from cooling the motor, no?
It's a Hoppe. Works pretty well. I'm sure I'll be putting it back on. Think I'll order a taler shield, tho......
ENGINE IS GONG TO BLOW UP TOO because I've got a big tool bag up front! You armchair experts are a hoot! Now, can you find someone else's bike to tear down? Mine's doing just great, thanks.