Go Sportsters

The brake mod looks good. Mine is a 1200 2004, and after riding the XR some years ago, mine feels distinctly under-braked!
I was intending to fit a second brake disc/caliper as per XR.
So the braking is much improved, Randy? Maybe this is all that I need to do.
Rob

But damn randy, your front disk has heated up, since its colored up.

Yeah, it got that way bedding in the new pads. I subscribe to the "transfer pad material to the rotor" method. Got em a little hotter than anticipated, but all seems well now.

"Much improved"? Yes, for sure. Of course that is a very subjective measure. The twin disc/caliper of the XR is, I'm sure vastly superior. But it would be a cheap experiment I guess. If the left side caliper will fit and work with your wheel, you could try it before adding the right side fork lower, disc and caliper. Then if your satisfied you've just saved yourself a bunch of dough and hassle. If not, then you've already got the left side caliper anyway.

As far as I know the XR forks are different to the XL forks.

Yes, the XR forks are very different from the XL forks. In order to mount a right side caliper to an XL, you either have to do a complete front end swap, or in some cases just add a right side fork lower from a model that had a right side caliper, such as a Roadster. Several models with left side only brakes are compatible with the Roadster right side lower. Some, such as the 48, are not, due to the location of the fender mounting lugs. If, for example, you had a model that was compatible with the right side Roadster fork leg though, you could add just the left caliper from the XR, like I did. Then if you still wanted more, you could add the fork lower and the right side caliper, along with the necessary wheel mods to accept the rotor, as well as a new master cylinder that could pump enough fluid to actuate two 4 piston calipers. Doing the twin brake conversion can be a complicated and costly endeavor. :eek1 That's why I went with the upgrade that I did.

All in all though, I accept some concessions to the fact that I have the bike I have. I wanted it for a different riding style, and with a few upgrades it'll do what I want it to do. If I wanted or needed top level performance a Sportster wouldn't have been the bike I would own.

Hopefully someone here knows, I haven't found anything on this. I have a 1999 883 custom. It has the shorter rear shocks from the factory. Do I have the standard length forks, or the short ones like on the 'hugger' model? I'm looking into putting road king shocks on it, but I can't find out if I need to change forks or anything.

Thanks.

All typos and misspellings blamed on my phone.

I can't say for sure, but I believe that the Custom had the long forks and short shocks for that "raked out" look. I mknow that the later rubber mount Customs had the same longer forks as the Roadster, but I'm not up on the rigids. Measure the fork tubes from the top of the cap to the dust cover. I believe the longer forks should measure somewhere in the range of 15" when fully extended.

Awesome, thanks. Makes sense, that explains the heavy handling.

Once I get the rk shocks on I'm pretty well happy with the bike I think. I don't want to mess with it too much, its reliable and everything works as intended. Just want to quicken up the handling and get a bit better ride. It blows through the travel pretty quick on bumps.

All typos and misspellings blamed on my phone.

female friend of mine wants a bike and a Harley is the only thing that she can really fit on. on some other sites ive seen where they installed buell front forks. lowers it even more and helps handling a lot.
shes looking at a 2008 1200 r model now. putting 17 inch wheels on both ends would be awesome.

You're not going to get much lower than the current crop of Sportsters. If you do, it'll ride worse than my 48 and that means like total crap! I'm not familiar with Buell front ends being used for lowering purposes. The only thing I've seen them used for was to gain higher quality forks and brakes for better handling and increased braking performance, but I suppose with certain modifications it might be possible to use them to lower a bike.

If not interested in ride quality or cornering clearance, it would be relatively cheap to lower that Roadster. Bout all you need is a set of damper rods, a pair of shocks, and a sidestand from a 48. Then with a lower seat, she'd be looking at a seat height 2-3 inches lower.

I'm going the opposite route with my 48 by adding parts to bring the suspension travel back up to that of the Roadster. More travel = better ride quality and cornering clearance.

How short is she? My girlfriend is 5'4", and before I changed the seat on my 883C she stood flatfoot over the bike. I would think anyone over 5' would flat foot the current models.

All typos and misspellings blamed on my phone.

and randy
yeah it lowers the front. then i could raise the rear and put 17 inch rims on it with a 180 rear tire.
found this info on an xl forum.
can i link the thread to this site?
http://xlforum.net/vbportal/forums/showthread.php?t=33810&page=13

also go to page 15 for a side by side pic

Hmmm... Learn somethin' new everyday! I guess the forks have a shorter overall length so you get the front lower without sacrificing travel? Then the 17's with low profile radials lowers it still a bit more, I guess. Still gives limited cornering clearance though. Of course for those severely vertically challenged... Then again I'm 5' 6-7" and ride a standard height R1150GS and a KTM 640 without troubles...

Gotta admit though, that bike looks pretty cool! Looks like it has a similar ride height to my stock 48, just looking at the fender to tire, and frame to ground clearance.

If you do go that route, I'd recommend picking up some nice shock, and not a used set of current H-D shorties, or even the Progressive shorties. Maybe some decent Ohlins, or Ricor's? And personally, while I could definitely dig the 17's I probably wouldn't go that wide on the rear tire. I'd probably stick with a 150-160 series tire since I think that unless a bike makes gobs of power (not a mild Sportster) that narrower tires generally feel more nimble, but to each their own.

yeah true on a 160. looked a little at your build over there. there is another build over there with an older buell rear end grafted onto a sporty. lots of work and it didn't come out too well in my opinion.
was never a Harley guy at all. now im liking them. lol

Same here. I'm still sorta shocked at myself actually.

this is the one she is looking at. got him down to $6000 just thru email.

http://www.renegadehd.com/used/Harl...+XL1200R-c979e7b50a0a0065001122024c24d2c8.htm

Wow! I was just in there a couple of weeks ago!

My dad was in Rapides Regional ICU for 11 days before passing away week before last. After several days going to the hospital, and dealing with all the stress, I had to get out and go do SOMETHING to get away. Naturally, I found a Harley shop.... My mind wasn't really in it though, so I don't even remember looking at much in particular. But, I probably saw that bike if they had it then.


I don't really have my finger on the used Sporty market yet, so I don't know if that price is good, average, or bad, but it looks nice.

in the video it smokes on start up pretty good. black smoke. im thinking it needs a tune. I know nothing about these bikes really. learning is fun. lol

IDK, didn't seem to want to settle into an idle very well either. '08 is fuel injected, and IMO shouldn't run like that on start-up. I know mine doesn't. Mine just fires right up and settles into an idle right away, hot or cold.

Might be just stale gas, or whatever, but it would worry me just a tad since getting the fueling right on a FI H-D can be a spendy process. Not like the good ol'days where a few jets and little time could have it sorted in your garage. Now you need a laptop and a fairly pricey tuner to get 'em dialed in correctly They come very lean from H-D, so pipes and A/C can really screw up the powerband, and make them run very hot unless something is done to richen the mixture and get the fuel curves right.

Used Sportys are fairly common on Craigslist though, and if you have cash and are ready to pounce you can find some really good deals.