I have a question about Harley Davidson motorcycles- please help if you have H-D experience?

Question

Hello from England! I'll cut straight to the chase.

I passed my CBT and first rode a Honda C90 Cub. Then a Yamaha DT 125, which I have now. My Direct Access is in a fortnight as I now want to move on to bigger bikes.

I love cruisers, and so obviously I've always looked towards H-D. The Sportster XL883L has caught my eye and is within my price range of £5000-£6000. All the others in the range are either too expensive or look too modern.

Would the Sportster be a good choice- does it look enough like a true, timeless cruiser in the flesh, in your opinion? Does it have the famous H-D sound? Are H-Ds generally suited to the UK? The reason I want a new bike is so that I can start it off stock and modify it later if I wish, to my own specifications.

I know some people hate H-D. Would a Triumph cruiser, like the America, be worth looking into? I want to stay away from the j*p moderls. Are cruisers in general suitable for a younger rider on their first 'big' bike? Is the performance novice-friendly?

Any experienced and sensible insight welcome. Thanks!

Answer 1

hello from california/    i  have a 1999 h/d road king classic . i think that harley's are the best . can you get parts for harley's in england  ? .. if so go for it . my friend when buying a bike  let the bike pick you / not you the bike // what i mean is when your looking at many bikes you see one that lookes back at you .get that one . its felling ..youll know what i mean ..good luck.......p/s let me share my story to you . i was looking for a bike for about two months and the night before i bout my bike i had dream about a dark green h/d roadking . well the next morning me and a friend were headed out to the harley dealer at the same time i was looking at the paper [wanted adds]  in the paper there was a h/d roadking for sale  so i call . the guy say's he's off the riverside exit off the 10 frwy. at that point i was at the 10frwy at riverside exit , i had to see it . so we got off . we went to he's place when he pulled the cover off the bike it was the bike i saw in my dream..  ..she's my babie...............good luck./

Answer 2

sportster is a great bike untill and unless you go out on the freeway with it. it has a solid monted engine which will shake your fillings out!!!! it will also try to shake itself to bits on the freeway.Great light to light bar hopper though. great around town to work school whatever. needs a bigger gas tank to. but since it shakes so much on the freeway you need the gas breaks.

Answer 3

Had a 883 sportster couple years, decent road bike for US roads at the time and handier than bigger HDs. I put on a larger K tank for better range. Sound is HD classic. You say you can afford it- get it then. Some of my old riding buddies had been riding in England and Europe in military tours- the road conditions in England were described as similar to Illinois: good pavement, speed limits, some fun twisties, gas stations usually available- BSA, Triumphs, Nortons and sportsters all good for those conditions. Germany was faster roads, cruiser big twins slightly better for autobahns.  

Answer 4

It's too bad you don't have longer than 2 weeks so you could save some more money and get a big twin.The Sportster is a good bike though.If it was me i would want a 1200 though.The Triumph is a very nice bike too.

Answer 5

cant go wrong with any HD,,,,,your friends will agree.

Answer 6

Sportster is a good bike, but depending on your size, and future aspirations, you might want to save up for at least a dyna. Saves on the buy it, ride it, sell it experience.

BTW, Americans don't have the  vaguest idea what a fortnight is.

I'm CDN, so I do.  

Answer 7

I beg to defer with the comment, 'Americans have no idea of what a "fortnight" is................. fourteen days (two-weeks).

Now on to the question (matter) at hand.  Of the six (6) H-D in my stable, the Sporties are my choice for around town and any trips least the 100 miles, though I've ridden them longer then 250 miles.  The two Sportster are VERY different. One is an old Iron Head, 1973 XLCH.  The other a 1993 XL883. If you know Sportys then you understand what I'm saying.  As for purchasing 'new' vs 'used', I'd suggest per '06.  Here in the States marked a difference in the fact that ALL HarleyDavidson scoots are NOW injected, which in and of itself are good for the end-user.  However the addition of o2 sensors makes it costly to change some aspects of 'do-it-yourself' performance upgrades. While in it's stock configuration you'll be quite happy with engine/drivetrain set-up, modifications will be expensive.  Even the Stage One mods would put the cost of and 883 up to what a 1200C would go for stock.  A co-worker purchased a 1200c ('06) and is now looking to sell/trade for a Fatboy.  With less then 3k on the clock, the dealer offered $7500-8350 trade valve. Even though the 1200C has had the Stage One performed, which includes just the exhaust and breather (basically), the Screaming Eagle ignition moduler had to be re-programmed AND every future mods on the engine will require yet another re-programming.  That gets costly at $250+ per Dyno.

I'd still buy another H-D; though it would have to be the package from the onset.  By the time you spend the money for an upgraded Sporty, you're into the Dyna family price.  The downside, at least here in the US, is that most used Sportys can be bought for under 5k, they are probably worth more on that side of the pond.  Bottom line, get what you want and enjoy the ride.  We only get one go-around on this plain before moving on.

Answer 8

Cruisers are good bikes for new riders.  A Sportster is a good bike for a novice rider.

The 883L has a low seat height, comparatively low weight and the modern ones go, handle and stop pretty well, too.  You will want to modify it to make it your own - everybody does; that's part of the fun of owning a Harley.  And of course, the world and his wife knows what a Harley looks like and sounds like - you will always get attention!

An alternative might be a Victory Vegas 8-Ball.  New, they are about £8,000, which is a little outside your price range.  But check for secondhand bikes on the web and in dealers.

Answer 9

Just something I will add to the answer I agree with above me (reddishpa's)......  You mentioned some bikes looking "too Modern".... if you like the "vintage" look, look into the soft tail Deluxe.  The Deluxe is bigger than the sportster and more expensive.

Answer 10

I speak only of your HD inquiry...ive owned and ridden many Sporties...the name exactly fits the bike...it really does have a sporty ride.

sure you can lug it around and cruise on it, but should you feel the need to get down in some twisites, the bike will more than respond.  the 883 is a very nice bike, both the 883 and the 1200 have more performance upgrades than you would believe out on the market.  if it were me, and it was gonna be a novice bike, i would get the 883.  its cheap, thats the biggest thing.  the quality is very good, youd be very happy to stare at it while youre not riding it:)

you should be able to get all or nearly all of your money back should you decide to trade in.  talk to your dealer, i know they still do that here in Chicago.  if you bought an 883 here, you can trade it in next year and lose no money.

a Dyna is a very nice bike, but youre entering the realm of spending 10000 US.  an 883 is around 6K or less.  

Good luck, get a HD!

Answer 11

I've had 50yrs of HD experience. I think the 883 is a very good little bike , it definetly has the HD sound. In the USA, where we have a lot more wide open highways, the 883 is more of an around town type bike. If you are going to get on the highway and run 70-80 MPH for a few hours you should get something a little bigger. Maybe in England you don't have that type of highway running so the 883 should be fine. If you really want the HD, get it. Don't go for something else and be disapointed.

Answer 12

I loved my 883 as an 883, but it was a lot more fun as a 1200 after the conversion. I did do some fairly long trips on it when it was still an 883 though. I never had any trouble with it at all. It would hold 75-80 all day long on the highway. It didn't have much left for a reserve of power at that speed though. It passed about as well as an average car at that speed. It looked great and sounded like a HD should. I think they get sold short. They really are a nice bike, and even though they have the reputation as being small, they really aren't physically much smaller than most of the HD non-touring lineup.

They are also really rewarding and easy to wrench on.

As long as you understand the bikes purpose, you will be totally happy with it. I also noticed on some of the HD websites that UK riders don't have nearly as many negative feelings toward the Sportster than some US Harley riders have.

Be sure to get an '04 or later though. They are rubber mounted and don't vibrate much at all on the highway. It's a really nice setup. You get a really nice mechanical feeling around town, and then it smooths out when the revs build up.

Good luck on your purchase.

Answer 13

I know this comment probably won't answer everything you need to know but I can give an input into a few points you raised. I know for a fact that the Sportster defenitely sounds like a defenitive harley Davidson you expect as A guy near me has one and I always here it cruise past, I've also seen it in the flesh. If you were thinking about a triumph America then I personally (my taste and love for British Engineering) would choose the Triumph. But unfortunately I havn't ridden either of them and therefore I'n probably useless to give you 'proper' inside information on what it's REALLY like having one of the two bikes.

Although here are some advantages of both bikes: The XL883L is one of the lowest bike harley have ever made and is recommended for smaller riders (uner 6 foot) so if your quite small then this should be a push factor for buying the XL. The Triumph America is much lighter bike weighing in at 226kg where as the XL is around 251 which is quite a big difference for such a similar sized bike. Another good thing about the America is that it uses a parallel twin engine where as the Harley uses a V-twin which isn't a huge difference it's just that the parallel twin has it's pistons usually in a 180-360 degree angle.

As I said I'm not much help on the owning side of both bikes but I do understand some of their specs on both models. And if I were you I'd try and buy an Triumph America as opposed to the XL. But on the other hand the harley has that distinct sound from it's exhuast that you get from no other manufacturer. At the end of the day the decision is yours entirely, try and find someone who has one of the models your after or ask around at both dealers to see which one defenitely takes your fancy and make sure you find it comfy.