Never thought I'd buy a Harley

Not taking a dig, just sharing a favorite bike song. Looks like you got a hell of deal, and even though I don't ride, I'm a bit jealous, and very happy for you with it. I hope it brings you joy.

fatallightning said:

Nice! that looks like a Roadster with the dual disc front end and longer shocks. Probably the best riding and handling of that era. I like that 2 into 1 pipe also.

Roadster with longer Progressive rear shocks, and a set of shorter Progressive rears came with it. He had the front forks reworked by Traxxion Dynamics. Felt pretty good on my brief ride to put fresh gas in it. 

But I definitely need to fix whatever's going on with throttle slop. 

Might have had an aftermarket throttle tube put on, some people do that when they change grips.

I work at a Ducati shop, and ride different stuff all the time, but irrationally enjoy my Sporty. Probably because it's technically not a very good bike. I also don't feel the need to ride hard like I do on sportier things. I did ride a new Low Rider recently, and I just can't gel with forward controls though.

In reply to Spearfishin :

Reach out if you have any trouble finding parts diagrams or service instructions along your Sportster journey.

Are you into pirate cosplay?  Kidding...we all know Sportsters aren't REAL Harley Davidsons.  Good score, a Sportster is a fine motorcycle at that kind of price.  Most of the $2k bikes I've considered were clapped out (badly modified) CB750s or XS650. 

Transformation into a scrambler, flat-tracker, or cafe racer should be relatively straight-forward if you want to change it up a bit. 

I'll never forget calling Barnes Harley Davidson for parts.

"Razor" answered the phone.

By the time the call was over, I had managed to call him "Blazer", "Laser" and "Taser".

In reply to ShawnG :

One of us.  Join us. I love my Harley's. A bit to much to be honest. The modern stuff 2011+ are really good bikes. The 2018 softail is amazing as a daily rider. Only a few percentage of Harley riders are weird the rest are very chill. But there are a lot of us so the small percentage is viable. We wear the shirts so we can find people in airports or on vacation to talk too. 
 

So, throttle clamp/manual cruise. That root of my issues? Anyone see anything amiss?

It's just really sloppy. Like have to twist to take up slack, adjust my grip and twist again to actually go. 

Docwemple said:

I haven't 1 pleasant word to say about them.

Then don't!

Like sex, even when a bike is bad it's still good!

In reply to Spearfishin :

Sounds like too much slack in the cables.

Docwemple said:

Proud to say, after riding a few, ill never own one. I haven't 1 pleasant word to say about them.

That might be why different brands of motorcycles exist, I would imagine. 

03Panther said:

Docwemple said:

Proud to say, after riding a few, ill never own one. I haven't 1 pleasant word to say about them.

That might be why different brands of motorcycles exist, I would imagine. 

Ass for every seat, I always say!

I might make fun of your Milwaukee paint shaker but you're out there riding and that's what counts. 

Except KLR riders..  They're weird. 

Just kidding...

But not really...

Did you know that 70% of all Harley-Davidson motorcycles ever made are still on the road?

The other 30% actually made it to their destinations.

I'm contractually obligated to Yamaha to tell this joke.

chaparral said:

 

Did you know that 70% of all Harley-Davidson motorcycles ever made are still on the road?

 

 

The other 30% actually made it to their destinations.

 

 

I'm contractually obligated to Yamaha to tell this joke.

I have two Yamahas in the garage next to the Harley. One of them gets ridden regularly. It leaves oil spots. The Harley doesn't. It's a 2012, Harley is 07. Point: Harley!

ShawnG said:

In reply to Spearfishin :

Sounds like too much slack in the cables.

I took everything out I could with cable adjuster. Better, but still sloppy.

In reply to Spearfishin :

When you own a Harley, you need a Japanese bike too. That way you've got something reliable in the garage.

Same applies to Italian bikes.

As someone said. I wonder if there an aftermarket throttle on there and it needs less cable than the OEM throttle.

Yeah makes me wonder if the cable is too small for the housing or something? Without knowing parts prices, maybe do a small parts-cannon deployment to make sure it's all compatible? 

Speaking of those who never considered Harleys before, my son actually got me looking at Road Kings as a way to fit in better on rides with his more cruiser-oriented friends.  Intrigued, but due to unforseen events (aging and body falling apart), that will have to wait abit. 

I have found these dual cable sets to need the "pull" cable adjusted first, and then the "idle" cable adjusted second. I had to fiddle with the set on my Dyna for a while to get it tolerable.

I like Sportsters a lot. IMO they have some big advantages compared to any of the big twins, and as long as you keep oil in it, it should run absolutely forever with almost no maintenance. I have a 2000 that i've made a flat-tracker-ish thing, and is pretty fun to rip around on. It does shake like a paint mixer though. Yours is a rubber mount ('04+) so it should shake slightly less than enough to dislodge any fillings you have in your teeth!

I have no idea if this bike is one of them but some bikes have another cable adjustment on the throttlebody/carb end of the cable.

In reply to ShawnG :

Interesting. I have a 95 900ss/cr with over 100k. Finally tore it down due to a broken head bolt but that was the only failure. Ever stock (ie crappy) carbs. Man does it need(want) flatsides. Anyway, anyone here have a Japanese bike with 100k?

Docwemple said:

In reply to ShawnG :

Interesting. I have a 95 900ss/cr with over 100k. Finally tore it down due to a broken head bolt but that was the only failure. Ever stock (ie crappy) carbs. Man does it need(want) flatsides. Anyway, anyone here have a Japanese bike with 100k?

That comment was made in jest.

I've got a 1980 Moto Guzzi LeMans, a 2013 Moto Guzzi Stelvio and a 1976 Ducati 860GT.

The LeMans is great, it's loud, unrefined and agricultural but I love it more than I should.

The Stelvio had absolutely garbage fueling from the factory and tore up a valve guide in the first 600km. It's great now that I've fixed all the "Tino and Nino had too much grappa with lunch" issues.

The 860GT is currently dismantled from having to replace a stator.

I will say that they are more reliable than British bikes but not as good as all my nearly worn-out Japanese bikes were.

Nothing makes me smile like the LeMans does.