Hi Veeky Forums, I don't lurk this boatd very often so I'm not sure if there are many Harley guys here...

Hi Veeky Forums, I don't lurk this boatd very often so I'm not sure if there are many Harley guys here, but I'm looking at a few Sportsters on CL and was just wondering if there is anything I should be on the lookout for/avoid. All the ones I'm looking at are 1200s from the 2000s, mileages ranging from 3k to 19k. Harley thread as well. Post your hogs!

>anything I should be on the lookout for/avoid

Yeah, harley a shit.

You're welcome.

One has Vance & Hines exhaust, the rest have SE or stock. Which is considered the better kit? I've only owned jap bikes so I'm not too versed in Harley hardware.

Thanks. I'll keep that in mind.

Harley is shit. If you must get a cruiser bike, the best out there is the Indian Scout and the Victory Octane, which just happen to be sister bikes.

As a former Harley owner I can tell HD forums are suffering.

You're going to run into a lot of hate toward Harley's if the daily bike thread, /dbt/, sees this. There are a few of us Harley guys here though. I have a newer 883 Sportster and don't know much about the older ones. I do know that around 2004 they went from a solid engine mount to rubber engine mounts which realy reduced vibration and in 2006 they switched from carburetors to fuel injection. Generally anything '06 and newer is going to be pretty reliable and a slightly older model should be fine if you know a thing or two about carbs. The biggest thing is to try and avoid anything from the 90's which it sounds like you aren't looking at anyways. They had some serious bearing issues that often caused engine failures and rebuilds around the 30k mile mark. It's pretty much expected to go 100k miles on a newer Sportster without having to open it up for anything.

Vance & Hines pretty much THE big name in aftermarket exhausts, SE is just Harley's line of products that they jack the price up on even more.

Would be nice, but I only have about $6k to spend.

would've been nice to include that in the OP.

This is exactly the kind of advice I was looking for. Thank you, very much appreciated. That narrows it down for me, I'll stick with 06 and newer.

Is that yours in the pic?? It's nice as fuck.

Oh something else to consider is buying an 883 which is well within your price range, then getting an engine kit for it down the road. That is what I'm doing Full coverage insurance for me is only $42/mo but would have been a little over $100/mo if I had gotten a 1200. You can get a 1200 engine kit that comes with new cylinders and pistons for under $1,000 later which makes it just like a 1200 (only difference is that 883's have a lower belt sprocket ratio) and your insurance will never know the difference. If you're really feeling frisky, Hammer Performance makes a kit with everything you need to take the bike up to 100 hp for under $3k. A stock 1200 puts out about 60 hp.

Glad I could be of assistance
Yes it is, thank you senpai

That's definitely something to think about. I pay liability only on my GSXR but I think I want better coverage on a Harley.

>1200cc
>60hp
Fucking pathetic.
Japanese liter bikes are nearly 200hp
Hell 450s can get over 60hp
All while weighing less than a fucking metric ton like a harley

But user, Harleys don't make you look like a huge faggot

Yes, and the Harley's V-twin redlines at 6k rpm while the sport bikes inline engines redline at 16-17k rpm. They're a completely different animal, you can't really compare them side by side.

>Japanese liter bikes are nearly 200hp
Not very many of them.

I'll assume you're saying the opposite of truth.
Compair to any Japanese cruisers.
They get destroyed.

Nobody buys a Harley for racing. Nobody is going to be doing shitty wheelies in front of their mom's house on a Harley. They're called cruisers for a reason, ya dingleberry.

Yeah it takes horse power to cruise

>Compair to any Japanese cruisers.They get destroyed.
Nah. The build quality and materials of an HD are far superior to Japanese cruisers. Nearly everything is made of metal and solid.

As if anybody wants to be caught dead riding a Japanese cruiser.

>HD build quality
Hahajahahahahahahahahshdjdjdbvskabvagah
Stay ignorant harley faggot

People who ride Japanese cruisers are the mall ninjas of motorcycling. Ever seen the type of guy who rides a Shadow? Total faggots.

Yeah no. Harley's are the epitomy of "cool"

WTF would know? You haven't owned either A Jap cruiser or a Harley. Pogue bastard.

I've owned both.
But sure.

Bullshit. Go pee sitting down.

You're right, Boulevard/Vulcan owners are totally less obnoxious when they rev the fuck out of their engines constantly to impress normies who can't tell the difference between their jap shit and a real Harley.

Fuck off pedo

Shadow 750, 48 ft/lb, 46 hp
Yamaha 650, 37 ft/lb, 40 hp
Kawasaki 800, 47 ft/lb, 54 hp
Harley 883, 48 ft/lb, 45 hp
Harley 1200, 65 ft/lb, 61 hp

Are the Japanese cruisers 'better'? Sure, but I'm not sure I would call that 'destroying' the Harley's.

Nah my dick is big enough to hold while I stand up. Because I don't ride a Harley.

They also weigh less. Get better mpg and last longer.

Just because you owned a beat up pos shovelhead from the 70s your meth-head uncle gave you doesn't mean all Harleys are crap.

Had an 883 nigga
Biggest pile of shit on earth.
Zero power. All noise
Turning circle of a aircraft carrier.
If you had a passenger you would die.
1gal gas tank. Wtf
Sold that shit quick

>and last longer
Nah. They're like the disposable lighter of motorcycles.

They last longer because their owners stop riding them out of sheer embarrassment after they get cucked by Harley riders.

Basically this. So many people are still completely stuck on the idea that Harleys aren't reliable today because the ones of yesteryear weren't reliable. That's simply not the case. Build quality and reliability has improved tremendously over the past couple of decades.

Underrated analogy

>many people still riding jap bikes from the 60s, 70s, 80s, etc
They last MUCH longer

>1gal gas tank. Wtf
2/10 Because you didn't know when to stop.

Wtf kind of 883 did you have? Mine does the msf figure 8 box like a champ with 14" apes and has the smaller tank available at 3.3 gallons.

Funny I have an 883 and I take myself and my fatass gf all over town with no problems. Sounds like you suck at riding, goober.

Not according to local Harley techs.
>same bike in for repair over and over in a short time frame
>brand new bikes come in with less than 500 miles broken.
Shit can't even make it through a break in.
>inb4 you blame the rider
It's not the rider. The bikes are shit

1gal tank
Sure ya do bud.

Vtx1800, 101hp
Vulcan 2000, 116hp
Lol

I found your problem, it's a fucking 85. Everything from the 80s sucked dude. My 86 Z28 is a pile of shit.

I beat the shit out of mine banging through gears and redlining it all the time. I bought mine new and now have 16k miles on it. The only thing that's happened is a broken exhaust heat shield clamp.

No, those are the ones that got stored and forgotten in garages and on back porches.

>"14 inch apes"
> on an 883
Could you be any more of a faggot

kek, a fucking '85
Yeah, my grandfather told me stories about his first bike

Serious question: if Harleys are as shit as everyone here says, why is the resale so high?

I just google imaged your pic. How does that make you feel. Embarrassed?

My 79 CB650 had some pretty damn high mileage.
Ran like a champ and never let me down.

We can ignore the fact that the engines you just posted have twice as much displacement if that would make you feel better.

B T F O
T
F
O

It's not my bike moron. It's an 883 with a 1gal tank

Because Harley has a long history that gives them, and others on the used market, to overcharge because of the Harley badge. Like BMW does with all their cars.

The only name more prominent and more storied than Harley Davidson in the Motorcycle world is Indian who were Harley's direct rivals for the longest time.

>has to dig up a pic of a 30yo bike to support his argument

Kek

>didn't know a 1gal tank existed till I dug up a pic of a 30 year old bike to prove my point.

Same reason boomers sell rusted out 6 cyl 4 door novas for 40k

>Because Harley has a long history that gives them, and others on the used market, to overcharge because of the Harley badge. Like BMW does with all their cars.
lol you like fruit loops for breakfast in your spiderman briefs?

Seems pretty fucking irrelevant since op is asking about 2000 and newer you nigger.

...

>compares a 650 against a 1200
>"b-b-but displacement" in response to getting btfo

33 year old 71hp japanese bike reporting in : )

I get your point, 1 gallon tanks existed at one time. Doesn't affect anybody buying a newer bike. You were generalizing.

HD never made a 1 gallon tank. Also, THAT tank isn't 1 gallon.

Sweet bike. How many times do you have to fill up on your way to the highway rest stop where you run your glory hole?

I put the 883 on the list because it was comparable and added the 1200 because it was the bike I had originally mentioned. All of them listed had the displacement right there for simple comparison, it's not like I was trying to pull a fast one on you. You just tossed out two very high displacement bikes that are in the next league.

Jesus fuck. Yes they did. And yes it is.

What motorcycles do Australia make? Oh that's right they don't!

Sorry dude nope

Nice evidence.

I don't have to fill up at all because I'm not pouring all my gas out the exhaust instead of the cylinder like a certain make of bike

>implying I'm that guy
>implying I'll ever ride or care about anything bigger than 1000cc

Get a BMW R-Series you buttclown, it does everything except better and also cheaper, ironically.

Sorry, I'm having trouble finding a source saying 1gal tanks don't exist. Perhaps you can find a source saying they do, cause I sure as fuck can't.

Ugliest cruisers ever produced.

>google bmw r-series
Oh for fuck sake, is right.

You won't her anyone in Paris agree with that statement

Did you look at 50 year old ones or modern ones?

>650

No thanks.

Triggered?

how about a 400 then? 40hp seems to be your kind of thing

post tits then faggo

You've been responding within a couple of minutes, now nothing at all. That's what I thought, goober.

dont spend any more than 4k on a sporty, especially not a 883. always get a 1200 build instead of a factory 1200 since the 883 has better gears, thus getting you a slightly quicker kick. your going to get a lot of hate from Veeky Forums and dbt about harley but fuck them.

Nah, not my style. I only ride streetbikes. Why do you have 2?

How much can I expect to pay to get an 883 converted to 1200?

I don't. Was riding the 400, got the 650 for a sweet deal and sold the 400. Currently saving up for an R6

As much as I love bullying harleyfags you guys really gotta loosen up

for an 06-09,around 4500-5500 for a bike. the kit isnt that bad though. something like 1500 range.

did some digging. '11 883s go for about 5-6k here.

Seems similar to here (sf bay). I'll keep my eye open for 883s, I'm reading some other forums where it seems like conversion is the way to go.

Got more pics?

harley a fucking shit

I ride a shadow cause it's cheap and I'm in college. Fight me

Harley a shit user

Consumer reports reliability study: % of failures in a four year span

>Yamaha/Star 11%
>Suzuki 12%
>Honda 12%
>Kawasaki 15%
>Victory 17%
>Harley-Davidson 26%

v star is best star

Owned and commuted on a 1991 883 for almost 2 years. 70 miles a day, 16k each year. Biggest POS ever. 1gal gas tank, I weigh 150, ridiculously soft front suspension, uncomfortably hard rear suspension, dangerous wooden brakes. Crazy unreliable drivetrain, leaked and burnt oil like nobody's business.

I commuted 4 more years on a Buell Blast, Ducati Monster and a CB550. NIGHT AND DAY difference. Even when comparing the Buell.

Source ? Cauz I've heard the exact contrary

>boomers

Get a Suzuki. They're fun as hell and you still get compliments from normies. Plus with the Cobra pipes they sound badass.