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Can someone do a data dump on pre-'04 Sportsters? I'm seeing a bunch of them pop up for cheap-ish on CL lately. Is the older frame-mounted engine as punishing as rumors make it seem? What are good years to look for or avoid? Other than the obvious hamfisted Harley owner aftermarket 'mods', is there anything critical to look out for?
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Jul 25, 2012 03:18
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Snowdens Secret posted:Can someone do a data dump on pre-'04 Sportsters? I'm seeing a bunch of them pop up for cheap-ish on CL lately. Is the older frame-mounted engine as punishing as rumors make it seem? What are good years to look for or avoid? Other than the obvious hamfisted Harley owner aftermarket 'mods', is there anything critical to look out for? I'll expand on this tomorrow when i'm at a computer but here are a few thoughts: 86-90 - have 4 speed transmission which isn't as desirable. Harder to find some parts as they are a bit different. Harder to work on. Also they were chain drive versus belt so more maintenance. If I were looking, I probably wouldn't get one. I had an 87. After 90, the changes were pretty subtle. In 2000, they came with 4 piston calipers which are an improvement. Sealed bearings in the wheels. To me, the frame mount ride isn't bad at all but i'm biased. I have a 2000. I have ridden a nightster quite a bit and the ride might be slightly better but very similar. I found that upgrading the rear shocks to road king air shocks and the front springs to progressive drop INS improved the ride quite a lot. If I were to buy a specific sportster, it would be a 1200s. The "sportster sport" it came with dual front discs, dual plugged heads and better cams for a bit more performance, upgraded shocks and some black accessories. Aside from that model, upgrades I would look for are a 2 into 1 exhaust, a nice seat as the stock seats suck and just a bike that has been well maintained. These things run forever with even half way decent care. Other performance considerations would be whether you want to do an 883 or a 1200. Obviously the 1200 will have more performance but if you plan to go for hi performance in the future, the 883 heads are desirable for porting when you do a 1200 or 1250 conversion. My bike was an 883 originally and I had it converted to 1250 but instead of porting 883 heads, went with the 2004 heads which are even better. On that note, if you find an 04-06, I wouldn't be afraid of that either. Better performance and still carbureted. As far as models, they had the sport as I mentioned, the883c and 1200c which came with more chrome, different riser and handlebar setup basically top of the line. The standard 1200 and 883 and the hugger which was just the lowered version like the low today. Hope that helps some. Condition is everything to me. These bikes are so easy to change things on, get a good canvas and change it how you see fit.
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Jul 25, 2012 05:12
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Snowdens Secret posted:Can someone do a data dump on pre-'04 Sportsters? I'm seeing a bunch of them pop up for cheap-ish on CL lately. Is the older frame-mounted engine as punishing as rumors make it seem? What are good years to look for or avoid? Other than the obvious hamfisted Harley owner aftermarket 'mods', is there anything critical to look out for? I'm seeing the same phenomenon. I don't think I've ever seen so many drop into the low-mid 3s. Even high 2s if you're willing to go Ironhead. This puts them squarely in inflated UJM territory. Get to know what a Roadster looks like. Most people who put one up for sale are unaware they have one and market it strictly as a Sportster. This is occasionally true of the Sport version--I know, department of redundancy department--which as Scrapez points out has an atypical amount of stock goodies. Most owners of these, however, realize they've been changing twice the usual number of spark plugs. Hard to miss, therefore usually marketed as "rare." I have never ridden a pre-rubbermount, but if it's like any other HD hand-me-down wisdom, I'm sure the rep for vibration is somewhat exaggerated. Even if it isn't, the Sportster was never designed to be a long range weapon anyway. V-twins shake. It's what they do. I know we'd all like to reduce it to some innocuous energy pack the size of a Kit-Kat, but if we ever do, re-introducing this shake will be the #1 aftermarket accessory. I'm thinking maybe Sony Dual Shock technology writ large. 
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Jul 25, 2012 07:15
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So I have been presented the opportunity to pick up an '08 (or '09 - not sure what year it is yet) Crossbones with 1200 miles on the ticker. The bike is in mint condition and has the Black Ice Denim paint. Since I'm family, my uncle only wants $9500. I have to buy this, right? (Disclaimer: I've been riding bikes since I was 10, had various sportbikes over the years, and now have a VStar 1100 that will get sold if I decide to pull the trigger on this)
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Jul 25, 2012 19:47
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I don't know about you folks but I am mentally on my way to Sturgis. I am pretty much an oil change, wheel bearing replacement, and 40 clocked hours away... and I am useless. Am I the only goon going?
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Jul 27, 2012 01:37
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clutchpuck posted:I don't know about you folks but I am mentally on my way to Sturgis. I am pretty much an oil change, wheel bearing replacement, and 40 clocked hours away... and I am useless. Not I, good sir. When you consider what I'm working with  It's pretty, but that's a long way from Pittsburgh for an old ironhead sportster. Yes, this was an excuse to post a picture of my bike.
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Jul 27, 2012 15:38
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Thursday I'll be taking my first bike trip, about 400 miles one way (I think) from Mississippi to Houston Texas. I'll be riding my new to me 96 Sportster, an 883 converted over to a 1200. My buddy bought his wife a Midnight warrior, and he'll be going over there with me on his Roadliner (wife will fly in then ride back with us). They have helmet cams and junk, so I should be able to bring back some pictures. Anyway, as far as the shake on this pre-rubber mount bike, I have nothing to compare it to but a sv650 and it seems about the same. If I take the Sportster to work (60 miles one way), I sorta feel live I've just cut the grass when I get done, kinda numb but nothing bad. We'll see how it goes on the longer trip, I'll let you guys know.
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Jul 31, 2012 23:32
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Jack B Nimble posted:
Depending on whether you've got the peanut tank or something larger mounted, you're going to be stopping around the 100-120 mile mark anyway. So it'll be like cutting your lawn and the neighbor's. I think I pushed it to 150+ on one leg of my last long excursion, but we're talking exit to exit freeway with a 4 gallon tank and no particular desire to hang out in Kentucky. Safe travels, and if you somehow wind up at 61/49 in Clarksdale, get a pic with the big blue guitars.
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Aug 1, 2012 01:49
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The trip went well, and I got a few pictures I'll post later. The sportster was way better for prolonged trips (500 miles a day) then I had thought. Once I got the highways pegs situated how I wanted I really felt like I could have ridden forever, since you have to take breaks for gas anyway. Only worry was up in Arkansas when it started to knock. We ended up taking the valve cover off in a church parking lot, but in the end decided it had to be the gas we'd gotten in Pickens, MS. After letting the bike cool down the knock stopped, and we put premium in it from then on just to be safe The bike is an 883 converted to a 1200 and we don't really know what all was done to it. It also currently has the 883 ignition (I ordered the correct one but it hasn't come in yet). I'm going down to the dealership to pick up a few things, then I'll take the bike over to my buddies and we'll check the plugs and stuff, see how it's been since the trip. I need to buy an outer primary gasket and ... the o-rings or whatever that go where the clutch lines go into the outer primary. Anyone know what that last part would be?
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Aug 6, 2012 19:18
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 2010 Crossbones. 1400 miles and pretty much all stock. No big plans for it since I love the bike as it is. I'll probably methodically replace all the chrome bits with black. It's my first Harley. Bonus: Already have a 17 day bike trip planned for the end of this month. Curious to see how Death Valley in August feels :/ Edit: anyone know of a good place to get a license plate bracket that vertically mounts to the side, preferably NOT in chrome? Braincloud fucked around with this message at 21:33 on Aug 8, 2012 |
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Aug 8, 2012 21:30
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I am a sportster guy and don't have a lot of love for the big twins, but if I were to buy one, it would be that one... great looking bike! I would ditch the rack and the highway bars if it were mine, but the rest looks pretty drat good as is.
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Aug 9, 2012 13:19
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DILLIGAF posted:I am a sportster guy and don't have a lot of love for the big twins, but if I were to buy one, it would be that one... great looking bike! I would ditch the rack and the highway bars if it were mine, but the rest looks pretty drat good as is. I actually like the highway bars, but the rack and bags are gone once I get back from my trip.
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Aug 10, 2012 18:27
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The crossbones is just begging for a small pair of throw-overs right under the saddle.
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Aug 11, 2012 21:36
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DILLIGAF posted:I am a sportster guy and don't have a lot of love for the big twins, but if I were to buy one, it would be that one... great looking bike! I would ditch the rack and the highway bars if it were mine, but the rest looks pretty drat good as is. I haven't ridden one, only sat on them, but the Crossbones™ by Harley-Davidson™ seems really comfortable, and part of the reason are those bars. Some modest apes also are surprisingly comfortable
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Aug 11, 2012 22:04
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Schlieren posted:I haven't ridden one, only sat on them, but the Crossbones™ by Harley-Davidson™ seems really comfortable, and part of the reason are those bars. Some modest apes also are surprisingly comfortable I was talking about the horrendous crash bars  They don't work for poo poo unless it is dropping it in the driveway anyway...
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Aug 11, 2012 23:03
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DILLIGAF posted:I was talking about the horrendous crash bars As you can see however the top of them make a great spot for stretching out your legs
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Aug 12, 2012 01:15
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Schlieren posted:As you can see however the top of them make a great spot for stretching out your legs Yes they do. But they now scare the piss out of me and will be coming off. After doing some spirited riding yesterday and scraping the floorboards a few times I started to wonder about clearance. When we stopped for lunch I realized that the bars are about a mm higher than my floorboards. If I'm scraping the boards I'm about to scrape the bars. And, while my boards are spring mounted, those bars are rigid. I took corners a lot gentler after that.
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Aug 12, 2012 17:43
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With the fat front tire on my bike, there is a lot of stress on the forks when riding twisty roads. After a couple of days at Deal's gap, my fork seals were shot, same thing happened the next year. Looked around and couldn't find any 41mm wide glide fork braces that I really liked, and the prices were ridiculous, so I figured I could redneck something together that would help. Some 1/4" steel, a hole saw, an angle grinder, some steel tubing and threaded rod, this is what I came up with.    While I was at it, I changed out the sliders, completely rebuilt the forks and did a brake job. Now to take it back to Deal's Gap and see if it helps!
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Aug 12, 2012 20:15
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DILLIGAF posted:With the fat front tire on my bike, there is a lot of stress on the forks when riding twisty roads. After a couple of days at Deal's gap, my fork seals were shot, same thing happened the next year. Here is some constructive criticism:  The above drawing shows the loads on a fork, in a turn, hitting a bump. On the bottom left you can see your fork brace. The brace parallelograms about the threaded rods of your brace and the axle to fork bolted joints. On the bottom right, you can see the "superbrace" style approach. This design has more stiffness in the axis to resist the loads I drew in the top picture.
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Aug 13, 2012 17:21
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DILLIGAF posted:With the fat front tire on my bike, there is a lot of stress on the forks when riding twisty roads. After a couple of days at Deal's gap, my fork seals were shot, same thing happened the next year.
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Aug 13, 2012 19:04
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Giblet Plus! posted:Here is some constructive criticism: Not an engineer or even pretending to be. This basic design is one I copied from a couple of companies that make fork braces, just not in the size I wanted. What you drew out makes absolute sense, but the issue I am having (I think!) is not that the two legs are compressing at different rates along the longitudinal axis, but that they are torquing? Twisting? at different rates, as though the leading edge of the tire is attempting to turn at a different rate than the trailing edge of the tired (if that makes ANY sense at all) If you are right about what is causing the seals on my sliders, I have no problem trashing these and starting over. I guess I will find out next time I take it up, eh? Crayvex posted:Wouldn't it be better to put the stock tire back on? Better? Um.... maybe easier, but where is the fun in that? Besides, I like the look and the way this rides, with the exception of the seal issue and that has only been a problem after several days of running US129. For the rest of the year, commuting and the occasional romp, it is just dandy. DILLIGAF fucked around with this message at 19:09 on Aug 13, 2012 |
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Aug 13, 2012 19:06
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DILLIGAF posted:Not an engineer or even pretending to be. This basic design is one I copied from a couple of companies that make fork braces, just not in the size I wanted. The current design will provide very little stiffness to the forks twisting relative to each other, due to the small jointed connection between the tubing and the side plates. They will parallelogram along the axis of the fork as well. If you have a bench press drill, hole saw, and radial or belt saw, you should be able to make a superbrace style brace yourself. 
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Aug 13, 2012 19:38
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Alternately get a bigger bike's thicker forks?
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Aug 14, 2012 00:38
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It just seems to me that blowing fork seals for something that supposedly rides better and looks better seems horribly unsafe to me. Thinner tires means more grip for cornering. Thicker tires is for riding in straight lines. To each their own. Just stay safe.
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Aug 14, 2012 01:41
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Wow, why the gently caress are footpegs so expensive?! Anything other than plain rubber is ridiculous, and I don't even want chrome.
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Aug 14, 2012 07:00
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Anyone know offhand if there are significant physical differences between the Sportster engine and the other Harley V-Twins? Other than displacement I mean. The Sportster builds always seem quite high centered. I was wondering if that was something to do with the geometry of the engine.
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Aug 14, 2012 14:17
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Backov posted:Anyone know offhand if there are significant physical differences between the Sportster engine and the other Harley V-Twins? Other than displacement I mean. They have a unitized crankcase / transmission. The mechanical drive for the cams uses gears, compared to the silent chain of the big twin. The high centeredness probably comes from the more ideal belt/chain and swingarm angles than from the design of the engine. This one looks somewhat high centered, maybe a little less just because of the overwhelming size of the big twin:  http://thekneeslider.com/archives/2012/08/05/big-twin-torque-in-a-sport-bike-package/
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Aug 14, 2012 17:47
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So I got this last Tuesday... Dealer leftover 2011 XR1200R with 25miles on the odometer. I was out with the wife, stopped at the local dealership to get some fork oil and was drooling over one they had that was a contest prize some guy had won. Wife rolled her eyes, then said "Just get one if you want it!" Took a couple of days of searching to find one, it was in Spartanburg SC... drove down, paid cash, rode it home. In about 6 hours, a bunch of Sportster guys are leaving for 5 days @ Deal's gap, should be able to give it a good workout. 
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Aug 16, 2012 07:34
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The XR1200R is seriously the sexiest bike the motor company makes. That thing looks amazing. Plus, factory applied rim-tape? I'm onboard (not joking)
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Aug 16, 2012 14:37
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They look so weird in pictures but they're so awesome in person.
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Aug 16, 2012 23:04
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I dunno, they look pretty great in pictures too.
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Aug 16, 2012 23:20
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I like how you went from saying that a fork brace was too expensive to just buying a new bike. That matte white is a really cool look.
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Aug 16, 2012 23:36
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Hold on, are those inverted forks? On a Harley? This isn't the America I was born in
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Aug 17, 2012 00:58
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I can't wait to simultaneously hate what you are going to do to that bike because you have questionable taste, but respect the fact that you do most of the work yourself and do at least somewhat original things to your bike.
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Aug 17, 2012 01:08
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DILLIGAF posted:So I got this last Tuesday... Dealer leftover 2011 XR1200R with 25miles on the odometer. cool bike, easily the coolest harley made by harley in the last ~20 years or so. but I'd still rather have a buell s1. 
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Aug 17, 2012 01:45
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Good news! You can buy 4-5 X1s for the cost of a XR1200x.... If you can find them!
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Aug 17, 2012 02:45
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n8r posted:I can't wait to simultaneously hate what you are going to do to that bike because you have questionable taste, but respect the fact that you do most of the work yourself and do at least somewhat original things to your bike. Ha ha ha I agree. I'm not a big sportster fan but I do enjoy seeing what Dilligaf comes up with even if I don't like it.
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Aug 17, 2012 05:59
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I was gonna say, "please dont modify it", but I know that wont happen, so godspeed.
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Aug 17, 2012 14:11
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Giblet Plus! posted:cool bike, easily the coolest harley made by harley in the last ~20 years or so. but I'd still rather have a buell s1. That thing with the flag on it is the rear suspension damper, right? And does it actually extend when the rear wheel hits a bump? Crazy.
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Aug 17, 2012 20:05
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Sagebrush posted:That thing with the flag on it is the rear suspension damper, right? And does it actually extend when the rear wheel hits a bump? Crazy. I believe thats the rear shock, and the spring doesnt expand, it contracts like a normal shock, it just sort of works backwards from a normal shock 
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Aug 17, 2012 20:36
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