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Hi from east of the Pond

939 views 8 replies 7 participants last post by  Gromit 
#1 ·
Hi all,

Newbie here so please be gentle with me! :)

After over 20 years' riding bikes I rode my 1st Harley last wednesday - Mrs Gromit and I decided, seeing a sit was my birthday, to rent a bike for the day and took an FXDL for 24 hours from Warr's in London. Wasn't keen at first but, on remembering the advice of a Fat Boy-owning friend, started to ride the bike how it wanted to be ridden and we got along fine from then on. In fact I LOVED it!! 24 hours later the bike had to go back but Warr's went on to lend us an FXDX to play on for the rest of the day - really great fun, especially with the louder pipes ;)

Now to a quick ques if I may; I really love the Sportster look but have not ridden one yet. A 1200S would be better for me in terms of insurance because the Twin Cams are very expensive, especially where I live in London. Any advice anyone can give me would be most gratefully received - what are they like to own? I was v impressed with the smoothness of the Dyna's but no doubt the 1200 would be much more buzzy? Oh, plus the Sportsters are over 3000GBP (about 4500 $US) cheaper than the big boys which kinda sways things!

Many thanks for any input - looking forward to getting the bike and spending plenty of time both on it and on this excellent forum :)

Richard.
 
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#3 ·
Thanks for the welcome :)

As to leg length -I'm 6'3" so a Sportster may be a bit cramped! I'm going to try one anyway - see how we get on. I'm not intending doing mega-mileage as an old shoulder injury precludes such things to a large extent. I'm out for a bit of fun and the Sporty does look gorgeous :)

I'll report back when I've had a go.
 
#6 ·
Hey mate
The sportsters are great bikes but are relatively small. Have you considered a second hand big twin? There should be enough of those evolutions out there for eveyone to have one (at least those who want them anyway).
 
#9 ·
Hi all,

Many thanks to all your kind words of encouragement. Well, I took out a Sportster 1200S demo this afternoon and loved it!! Obviously not as smooth (nowhere near) as the Dyna's I rode but up to 60 it's damn quick - and extremely good fun. You know something? I think I've just ridden my next motorbike and fallen in love with it. For the kind of journeys (most short sub-1 hour) I'll be doing it'll be perfect - the riding position's not too bad but can be improved with a thicker seat. So, the order's going in for a 100th Anniversary bike as soon as my present one is sold.

Regards,

Richard.
 
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