Honda or Harley?

[CentralOzzy]

Today I put the deposit on a 2006 1200 Custom. I added a sissy bar with pad for my babe, and a crash bar..or "motor protector" as they call it.

I will get some leather saddle bags later.

It'll be here end of this week, or beginning of next.

The fun part was when they asked "How would you like to finance your purchase"...I replied...Cash..you do still take that...right?

Great!
The Sporty is a fine bike.

I've left my engine and exhaust bone stock for the time being. In a few years I may want to do something to mod it, but right now it hauls my 226 pounds like crazy.

Same here, they kept trying to get me to finance the bike, and I just wrote them a check. (Of course, my savings account is empty, but at least I own everything I have, except the house.)

BUT....as soon as your re-chip it & change your exhaust! you'll wonder why you didn't do it sooner....

How you could ride a Harley around without hearing the engine note is a bit rare....This doesn't mean it has to be loud....just BREATHING.

Perhaps consider a set of 'Slip on' mufflers, Harley make them as 'Screaming Eagle'....& there is bound to be after-market ones as well.

Stock Pipes SUCK, Performance wise, with the possible exception of....if you had fuel injection.

[DustyJacket]

Ozzy - you are probably right.
However i am happy with what I have. For now.
And, after 2 bikes in 3 months, my savings account is empty.

In a couple of years (maybe sooner), I'll do a Stage I and get those SE II pipes. I can hear the motor, especially when Idling or when at speed and wearing ear plugs. I have no need to impress anyone else with the sound, and the power is all I need at this time.

I realize I am unusual in not paying the Harley Tax right away - but I am happy. broke, but happy.

[PhilD9er]

"Gee....sounds like your quite the Harley expert."

Wow, that would be quite pithy and devastating with an apostrophe.

"sounds like you wrote that in 1978"

Why? Harley has marketed branded Zippos and six-packs of beer, but no real advance in technology. This despite making billions in the 1990s. Why is Buell still saddled with 1940s lawn mower engine technology?

When they announced the V-Rod I cheered, but what did we get? Not a modern, world beating hooligan bike. We got an overweight, slow sculpture costing 20 grand. V-Rod: 1/4 mile in 11.31. Kawasaki ZX-12R: 1/4 mile in 9.92.

Who is channeling 1978, eh?

[PhilD9er]

But seriously, folks, whatever you ride is good.

I just wish you Harley guys in SoCal would ease up on the snobbery. I wave to you a-holes all the time, and you never wave back! Snobs.

As for my Harley 'expertise', well, I've worked on any number of my buddies Hogs free of charge. I helped one bud set his bike up for the drags, changing over from belt to chain drive so he could break 11 seconds at LACR.

I've also stood in between some Vagos and LAPD Hollywood division cops, and got a billy club in the balls for the effort. Does that make me a Harley guy, at least among the meth heads/former meth heads/county jail inmates?

What I resented was that these same Vagos refused club house parking to my bud with a Honda 250. The dude rode his bike 10,000 miles a year, in all weather. He was a true biker.Harley Snobs.

[paul246]

I have test ridden the new rubber mounted Sportster, both 2004 and 2005 models. The heavy vibration has certainly been reduced, no doubt about that. However, there is a weird second or third order intermodulation of engine and frame resonances that always surfaces as the bike is being brought down to a stop. I found this to be most irritating. Other complaints were clunky shifting, some weird screes and scraping sounds noticeable while riding in the city, and as expected, not a lot of power. The finish work was good, and the fasteners were of good quality. As far as the Sportser goes, it is probably the one Harley where you are NOT being totally hosed with the price.

[CentralOzzy]

If you ride a big azz Honda Valk, why are you test riding a weenie little Sportster?

That MUST have felt STRANGE!

[Gummiente]

However, there is a weird second or third order intermodulation of engine and frame resonances that always surfaces

Is that like some kind of secret cult...?

[Mintbread]

I can't believe the term "skirtster" has not appeard once in this entire thread. That is the only thing I have ever heard the 883 referred to as.

[CentralOzzy]

Funny you should say that....It makes me think of the XR-750's....& those babies are small & FAST like a Sporty.

I'm sure those XR riders don't wear skirts that's for sure, so why should people refer to the Sportster as a Skirtster....cause they go hard if you want then to, just like the XR's.

Whatever.

[PhilD9er]

"Funny you should say that....It makes me think of the XR-750's....& those babies are small & FAST like a Sporty."

Yea, I mentioned the AMF XR-750 -- which only became competitive after AMF pumped in enough money to use sand-cast aluminum in the engine.

You dismissed me, and your rubber ducky friend added ridicule.

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