When I was just a spotty oik with a fine residue of oil starting to stain my hands, an old rocker told me that the ownership of bikes would leave me poor but happy. Had he guessed that I would become the owner of one of Milwaukee's finest, he may have just said poor. After a succession of ratty Brits and big Jap vees, I finally attained nirvana.
My first real run was the Rider's Rights Demo of '88 and it was quite an eye opener. A tight engine, stock carb and very small tank did not make for a laid back demo. I spluttered and spat in the heat, kept having to refill every 60 miles and generally got up everyone's nose with my constant, insane grin. Which must've terrified the old couple I almost killed as I desperately hauled on the brakes to stop in time. It was actually the seat that made me walk like John Wayne not the closeness of the accident!
We all know the shortcomings of the standard stock hog. Like everyone else I began to throw money at it. Dual seat, higher bars, pillion pegs and longer front brake hose (all genuine HD) combined with my first service bill got rid of a large amount of dosh. Freer flowing silencers, as in noisier, gave more power and a large tank improved the range.
Then came the problems. The speedo and rear indicators filled up with water, sealed beam units blew every three months, frame paint and engine lacquer peeled off and the forks pitted. The rear fender cracked around the indicator mounts and the carb went out of tune.
All of these faults have been well documented but my genuine Harley dealer still had the audacity to claim that I had ridden through an acid spill. If so, then so had most of the other riders I have spoken to. Admittedly, all of these problems were tackled under warranty but for a company that trades on its quality I was less than impressed.
A Halogen conversion cured the bulb problem and Yamaha rear indicators improved the water tightness at the back. Then the tank split, just out of warranty. Various fasteners broke due to vibration and the battery box attempted to saw through the oil pipe (cured with an old footpeg rubber). Frame and switch paint again started to rot and then at 19000 miles, the big-end bearing went. I couldn't believe it.
My local and well respected dealer, used to BMW's and therefore well acquainted with pushrods, rebuilt it. Not much later the black box blew its guts and was replaced with points. The totally useless carb was put in a box under the stairs, replaced with an S & S Super B. A vast improvement. A trip around Wales with a fat Aussie mate finished off the stock Harley shocks and I fitted Progressive, which are okay but, as usual, overhyped.
To save my piles, I fitted a variety of seats but have not really found a very comfy one, although my solo Corbin is okay (once I repaired the snapped bracket). XLS bars are slightly higher and wider than standard, allow the controls to fall easily to hand. I've always wanted to write that, another ambition fulfilled. The rear light was held on by Quick Fix nuts which kept coming undone just as quickly, so I drilled through them and used ordinary bolts. Front suspension was spongy but thicker oil and a washer helped; Progressive springs are supposed to help even more.
I discovered that the S & S carb is also an excellent engine bar, as it sticks out so far.....if I ever catch up with the Range Rover driver he's in big trouble. Consumables are good. It used no oil, is on the original sprockets though a cheapo chain lasts only 6000 miles. It's a bit hard to find batteries and plugs but other spares are plentiful and cheap if you ignore the genuine Harley stuff. Harley battery £62, local bike shop Yausa £23.....As engine braking is good, my speed low and anticipation legendary, I have no problems with the stock brakes. Ferodo pads are supposed to help and there are loads of aftermarket brake kits for those who want to ride hard and fast
Yes, it vibrates. Unfortunately, there is a bad patch between 50 and 60mph, which is its best cruising speed but I intend to alter the gearing if the sprockets ever wear out. I get 55/65mpg regardless of speed and I've done a trip to Scotland in one go (460 miles) at 80mph plus speeds. This alone must mean I'm certifiable.
It rattles and shakes, corners like it's got loose swinging arm bearings and is noisy and uncomfortable. Either you love or hate it. I tinker and fiddle with mine and when I can afford it go for a ride, too. I don't have the Harley braces or beer-mugs but I have got an Albatross around my neck and I know that I would be really upset if I had to sell it.
A.N.Hatton
****************************************************
Having tried most vee-twins over the last few years I was looking for a replacement for the ageing CX500. I convinced myself that a Harley Davidson Sportster would be the next set of wheels. I saved for most of '91, putting a little aside each week. I spoke to a couple of Sporty owners in our town and then set my goal. It had to be a five speed 883, which meant a '91 model, and therefore would not be cheap.
Summer had passed and we had saved £3800 and I foolishly thought that this would be enough. Late October time and an advert appeared in MCN for a very low mileage 883 for £4700. He'd bought it eight months previously, with his girlfriend's money, and then the pair of them enrolled on an intensive bike training course and failed. I said I only had £4200 and considering it was an H reg and not J reg, as I had been led to believe, that is what I had to offer. He rang back a couple of days later and said I could come to collect it for £4200.
The bike was a bright orange 883 Hugger, standard except for a pillion seat, pegs and a small sissy bar. These three items together had cost the lad about £150 extra. It was in mint condition (apart from a little rust on the wire wheels and corroded alloy on one cylinder head cover). Just 108 miles on the clock!
That Sunday evening it was snowing quite heavily so I didn't get to take it out until Monday night. First impressions were that it was crap! It didn't accelerate, didn't brake, suspension was junk and it sounded like a moped. The magazines I had read had said as much, so I was half expecting the worst. Still came as a bit of a shock, though.
I then proceeded to use it virtually every day to work and back, fastidiously washing off all the road grime at night (in the dark). I don't know why I used it in the winter really. I suppose I wanted to prove that this Harley wasn't just a fair weather bike. Stupid really because the wheels started to rust quite badly and the piss poor lacquer on the engine cracked in large areas, causing the casings underneath to turn to white powder.
Luckily, my wife spotted an advert in a custom mag classified section which put us in touch with a Sporty owner who wanted to swap his mag wheels for a pair of chrome wire wheels. That week we had both wheels off and stripped, not an easy task on a bike without a centrestand, and shot down to Ipswich in a car to do the swap. The lad with the mag wheels had no tackle to remove the discs from his wheels so he let me have them as they were, complete with part worn tyres.
As the engine loosened up it started to perform better. I drilled a series of holes around the inside of the exhaust, destroying the baffles, but making the mill more responsive and less prone to popping. Winter use needed lots of choke and warming up, which brought fuel consumption down to 45mpg around town.
If lengthy warming up was ignored, selecting first gear went with a sound akin to hitting an upturned steel bucket with a large hammer! Otherwise gear selection has been very positive. Changing down is best done with a blip of the throttle to avoid the steel bucket and hammer scenario.
Fuel consumption was anywhere between 45 and 65mpg, depending on cruising speed, although at the Euro demo in '92 a quick guess had the mpg somewhere in the low eighties! The Sporty does not like unleaded. It will run on the stuff but prefers four star or super-unleaded.
Mods I made in the first few weeks of ownership included a proper backrest with a small rack on it, to strap on the tent and sleeping bags. I mustn't forget to mention the vastly superior pillion seat that I made. My wife can't by any stretch of the imagination be called big assed but after a short ride over to Halifax she said a very definite, 'No way,' to the genuine Harley pillion seat and jumped on to the pillion of my mate's K100LT Flying Brick! The comfort and luxury of the Bavarian bus had her smiling so much it took a crowbar to remove her helmet. Anyway, a wider and softer seat, using the original seat base, was made for a fiver.
During '92 we travelled to Le Mans in the spring and the Euro demo in September. Packing a tent and gear for two people became a simple but labour intensive task, making use of every little bit of space. Long runs were always a worry, especially in foreign lands, because of the piss poor small petrol tank. Steady sub 70mph cruising had consumption in the high sixties to the gallon. Travelling much above this speed had consumption down to the fifties, although once past 80mph riding became strenuous as my body acted like a human sail.
About a week after the Euro demo I was riding home from work on a sunny Friday afternoon when I had my little bump. A car pulled out from a stationary line of traffic as I crept slowly down the outside, as you do. A bright orange bike, headlight on, no baffles in the exhaust and he still didn't notice me. I braked but the left-hand bias of the piss poor single disc wouldn't pull me away from him quickly enough. We collided and I ended up being carted to hospital. X-rays showed two fractures to my pelvis. Probably caused when I slid up the petrol tank!
At first damage to the bike seemed minimal. Creased fork tubes, scratched fork leg, dented tank, buckled wheel and crumpled front mudguard......Or, fender, as I'm supposed to say in a deep southern drawl! Damage to myself took about three months for the worst of it to heal, although I kept getting the odd few aches and pains even after a year's worth of rest and recovery.
The damaged tank was written off by the accident assessor, replaced with a CCI King Sportster of 2.8 gallons capacity. This has proved to be the most useful single item bought for the bike to date. It has transformed the Sporty in both looks and touring capability.
Since not being able to stop quickly enough was probably partly to blame for the accident, my next purchase was a right-hand fork leg from an FXRS, cast with a pair of brake caliper mounts. When I get some more money saved all I need is a right-hand caliper ......I've heard it might be spongy if I run two calipers off the standard 5/8 inch bore master cylinder. A bit of Goodridge hose should see to that. I also bought a six month old pair of fork tubes from our local Harley spares shop while I had my wallet out. I was quite surprised at the reasonable prices, about £108 for a set of tubes, a lot cheaper than Jap bike spares. What gets my gut, though, is why the hell two discs aren't fitted as standard!
I bought a different set of bars, something like a pair of mini-apes. The original pull-backs felt like you were steering a wheelbarrow, wallowing through bends and twitching over uneven road surfaces. (Uneven road surfaces in West Yorkshire? Surely that can't be true!). The eight inch high bars position my arms in a more comfortable, straighter pose, better able to absorb the mild road surface imperfections. The next extra goodie is a pair of hard panniers, as I've had my throw-overs rifled through once too often.
The big question is will I keep the Sporty for a long time. Standard they are crap and have a lot of small but niggling faults. Nothing that money can't put right but it all seems a bit excessive given their five grand purchase cost when new. If you buy secondhand, make sure that all the essential mods have already been made - then it's a pretty good bike.
Mark Shaw