There are 100's of other bikes Id have first, however, in the unlikely event i have a brain storm and feel the need for a Harley, the only one that would merit a second glance is the XR1200
Rode a friends Fat Boy and liked it, but then saw cost of them. Don't get the Sportster thing so much and although I think the XR styling was good the build quality was shocking - I recall seeing rusty 6 month old demo bikes. I did get the chance to ride a Buell XB12 (Firebolt? The one with the small fairing) with silly exhaust, "race" ECU and lowered gearing. That was a lot of fun! Shame Harley let Buell go to Rotax as a V-Rod engined Buell would have been interesting.
Those discs look like something off a Jap bike circa 1984. Amazing. Or are bigger discs just unnecessary because the Hardly is so slow?
I've had two: A 1200 Sportster Custom in 1998 and a 1340 Deuce in 2001. Both bought new from Black Bear in Newmarket,enjoyed both of them but if I'm honest preferred the Sportster over the over the Big Twin. I'm no riding hero but on the 1200 I passed plenty of so-called sports bikes round the lanes and circling roundabouts,loads of bottom end grunt and a low centre of gravity helps. Like the majority of cooking spec pushrod motors they run out of breath pretty quickly and the brakes were awful but factor that in to the way you ride and they are a hoot. All that chrome dazzles some ladies too:a young lady reached out of her car to goose my bum and whispered,"nice bike,mister",when I stood next to the bike reading my paper one fine afternoon,and a mature female wanted to run away with me when I had a weekend in Cornwall on the Sportster....never happens when I'm out on my Duke...or my KTM....or my BMW...or...or... Great bikes....they are not Ducatis,but still great bikes.
You must be doing it wrong. When I'm out on my Ducati or my KTM I have to beat them off with a stick. :Wideyed::Happy::Cigar: I'm thinking of getting an MZ to ride where females congregate just so I can get a bit of peace:Smug:
A bit of a tangent but not q off topic ......................quite fancy a little biking holiday on the west coast of usa so been checking out harley rentals in san fran ,,,, $ 100 pd and only standard horrible things available , i think for the pacific highway a proper chopper would be required .
Love the phot on the mountain at Cadwell, that looks like a right laugh. I'm all for taking unusual bikes around a track.
I think from what ive read everyone has missed the obvious....placement....before I say any more....not for me, if you held a gun to my head, maybe a v-rod but even that would be a stretch....and while im typing this...in fact no...no I wouldn't... A couple of years back we were on hols in the states.....on the freeway/interstate heading down to the keys...hot and sunny, Miami dolphins stadium on the left and on the right a hulk Hogan lookalike on a Harley chugging along in the middle lane....I shot him a look thinking "yeah....I could do that....that looks kinda cool...." and then snap back to reality....no, that wouldn't look cool in the middle of Bristol in the winter, pissing down, and wearing waterproofs...no matter which way you cut it, Harleys don't work over here....it like me buying a dodge charger...looks good in the pics driving round New York but not good in Middlesborough/insert whatever city you like there...in English weather...they just don't work...from a visual point of view for me...the English scenery/surroundings are totally wrong for American motorized hardware...
Its like me driving a ford Cortina over there....just wrong...im mean - I think were all agreed that theyre not performance orientated in any shape way or form so its got to be asthetic...
me and my older bro hired v rods in vagas for a few days. i had the ltd edition night rod special (he had the standard) and fucked him up draging down the strip light to light. till we stopped for gas and i had lost the fob. few hundred quid later and on the standard v rods we did the red rock canyon and a few hic bars along the way...it was the nuts.. £80.00 per day we paid (in 09 i think it was) but i thought that pretty cheap for the fun you have. you can drop that sorta money on f all anywhere....
HESKETH..........said through gritted teeth and a simultaneous loud cough. Made out of girders they is, them!
