How bad are Sportsters at cornering...?

You can keep the windshield on all the time. Rolling up to 5bucks or any other establishment on a bike looks cool with or without a windshield, with or without sidebags, etc, etc :)

The 883R and 1200R have dual disc front brakes. The other models do not. The 883R was discontinued in '07.

'06 and earlier 883's can run on 87 octane. All 1200 and larger Harley-Davidsons as well as the injected 883s require 91 octane.

Sportsters generally get very good mileage and are a blast to ride. Stock suspension isn't great and provides for a stiff ride (particularly the custom, nighster, and low versions), but progressive makes some economical suspension that transforms the bike. I was very happy with the Progressive 412 rear shocks and front fork springs I put on my 883R.

No one has told me any inside knowledge, but I have a feeling the info that comes out of the dealer show later this month is going to make a lot of you who are on the fence line up to part with your cash

1st time I saw Aaron Yates was at Road Atlanta during an AMA race and he was power sliding, smoking the rear wheel leaving corners, basically riding the wheels off of a 883 Sportster in the AMA Supertwins class. "That" sportster seemed to be OK in the handling department

Me at the Dragon, 2006, on my Sporty (Custom with fwd controls). In some turns I scraped pages, kickstand, muffler......

Actually, the shocks on the Custom are more adjustable than the Roadster models. I had to adjust mine to the top (5 steps) because of my fat butt, and all the stuff I hauled in the Boss Bags.

I did get the Sundowner seat though. the stock seat sucked.

The only Sportster I've owned was an '84 XL1000 (final year Ironhead) and it did very well overall. The vibration you hear so much about in older H-D's was very much there, but it had several smooth points throughout the RPM range. It seemed as though I worked on it more than I rode it, but it's that way with most bikes I own.

Mine was sensitive to tires. Actually, that bike taught me to quite griping about the money and try something else until I found a tire that worked. I spent quite a bit of time tweaking the suspension, too. Heavier fork oil, lighter fork oil, preload spacers, etc.

The bike would top at around 105-110mph, but it took awhile getting there.

Cool thread. Lots of solid advice about how the sporty handles. I have a 08 1200C sporty and previously came off of a Ninja 650R, the tried and true KLR 650, and not to mention countless dirt bikes of various flavors. You get the idea of what kind of bikes I am used to riding.

You gotta put your cruiser hat on and think "cruiser" if you are coming off of lighter quicker handling bikes. The sporty is nimble compared to the bigger HDs and is a blast to ride but you will drag parts if you try to ride them as such.

The bike is heavier which equates to freeway (wind) stability and it also makes you aware of counter steering more so than sport bikes or dual sports... Pull!!

HD builds a nice bike and I have been enjoying my torque monster. Get yourself a wind screen if you plan on doing a lot of highway riding. The wind blast and torque of the bike will tire you out sooner, but in a good way! Oh yea I have been getting consistant 50 mpg on my fill ups, even crept into the mid 50's depending on how I was riding it.

My 883 R stock shocks had the same 5 step adjustment range.

The reason the suspension is not as good on the custom is because it is lowered by using shorter shocks with stiffer springs. It rides more harshly than the Roadsters. Nonetheless the rear shocks on all Sportsters except the now extinct 1200 S leave a lot to be desired in my opinion. The Progressive 412 shocks make a huge difference in the ride quality.

+1 to that for sure! I've been riding less than a year, and have no problem admitting that I have a lot to learn about my bike (let alone riding)...but as has been said, the sporty isn't going to handle like a Versys/FZ6/SV right? I'm asking because I don't want to switch out and then realize that I messed everything up (again). I've been amazed at what some people can do on their sportys...like finishing third in the IBR

Give me an X. Give me an R...

Can you say "real shock absorbers" and "proper fork set up"? I thought you could...

I think it'd be fun to have a well set up Sportster with normal peg position and decent handlebars (not those damn "buck horn" things). They do work very well and the better suspension raises them enough to make ground clearance a virtual nonissue in most cases.

I have an 07 XL883R. I love it in the twistes and on fire raods, it does all I ask. I have done 500 miles in a day on it but more than that I'll take the Ultra, thank you very much!

883 or 1200 ….I have an ’03 XL 883, I took a deferent rout when I purchased my bike, I went with the 883 with the plans to add a stage1 then punch it out to a 1200 over time as money allowed

A stage 1 is pipes, air cleaner, and carb jetting.
You can go with reverse dome kits for about 700.00 dollars but they make less power then a 1200 because of the heads and smaller valves.
For 1000.00 you can go with flat tops and have the heads relieved and a competition vavle job done and make the same HP as 1200, later you can go to more aggressive heads and cams and approach 100 HP
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Just a note 883’s have a 27 tooth front belt pully where the 1200’s have a 29 also ’04 and later 883 standards have 5.6 IN. of ground clearance and lean angles of 32/32 and a dry weight of 555. the 03 and earlier standards have 6.7 ground clearance and lean angles of 37/37 and a dry weight of 485. but keep in mind that the older bikes also has a service intervals of 2500 miles and the new one are 5000 miles not a big deal if you do it your self but can cost you if your taking it to a shop
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I’ve seen Sportsers drag race, hill clime, road race, and flat track once you start hopping one up you will never be done there worse then crack, hmm maybe friends should not let friends work on Sportsters

Haven't ridden a Sportster in along while, fun ride, partly influenced by heavy weight (mine, 300 lb ), suspension needed help. Handling predictable and therefore pushable.
Worst feature, "personalizing" bike costs, and is addictive.
Also some of worst saddles ever made (or has this changed)?

The stock XLH883 comes with a bar that's got a real similar bend to the NH750 stock bar--like the K&N "Superbike" bend.

Here's where I started:


Front: Progressive front springs, modified damping rods, and some expreimantation with fork oils. The rear: WP double-adjustable shocks. Works well enough that tires become the limiting factor: it's too easy to run right off the edge of that square rear tire. Changing to a 17 or 18" rear would allow a much better tire selection, but then I'd start grinding parts if I rode it harder.

Surprisingly well.
And they can be made to do better.
Upgrade the suspenders at both ends and
don't run a silly (albeit cool) 21" front hoop like i did.

"tastes great if ya like dogshit"




ok enough harley bashing.




if you're going to ask such a question, it might help to let us know what you have experience riding. a sporty can either be "fantastic for a harley" or "the scariest thing on two wheels" for a dyed-in-the-wool sportbiker.

nawmsayin?

abe

Abe... you scare way too easily man.

you better believe it...

this weekend i tooled around on an 80s nighthawk 700...or somethin...mystery bike.

the steering head bearings were so bad that there was a notch just off center...took work just to keep it going straight:eek1

still hustled it up kelly drive in philly...i figured it couldn't be THAT bad as slow as i was going.

i would hope a new HD would handle better than a tired nighthawk...or is that simply "damning with faint praise."

abe