Harley Davidson Sportster XL883C 2005

[iBiker]

I've had this bike for about 10 months now and it will soon be time for a change but it's been enjoyable and although I could never see myself on an extra large Harley, I'd gladly take the Sportster for another whirl.

It's not really a day to day bike mainly due to the crappy weather in the UK but once the sun comes out the Sportster gets plenty of use.

The bike is standard but does have full Screaming Eagle pipes and Stage 1 kit.

Good points:

Really cheap insurance
No mechanical problems so far (touch wood)
Fairly nippy and unless you want a bike purely for the speed factor it's fast enough. I've been up past 80/90 on decent road and it feels fine. Not sure if I'd want to slam the brakes on at that speed though!.
OK around town and you get plenty of attention.
Looks like a proper bike.
Low maintenace, fairly easy to work on.
Sissy bar is very comfortable for pilion passenger and can get load lots of gear onboard for rallies.
Economial. I can get around 50mpg and this has a 17 litre tank so I'm filling up less often than the sports bikes.


Not so good points (but not really bad either):

SE pipes will wake the dead on a quiet morning and you need to leave it running for a few minutes on half-choke to warm the engine up. This is pretty standard on any non fuel injection Harley.
Handling not great but that is no surprise. I've been caught out in the cold and wet and had to take it very easy, especially when over taking and riding over white lines etc.
Lots and lots of cleaning. Make no mistake Harley's need to be kept clean in order to keep them tip top and that means lots of chrome polish, Autosol and elbow grease. If it's mainly for dry use then it's really not too hard to keep clean but then again we all love cleaning bikes anyway right?!
Weight: It's about 250kg so if you're not careful and lose your balance you'll struggle to keep it up. the plus side of that is that it takes some serious wind to move you around the road.
No fairing. Bah.

Over all I'd recommend this bike to anyone except speed freaks. This is my first big bike and I've found it good to gain experience. Bottom line is the bike looks good, sounds good and is great for cruising. Harleys hold their value very well if looked after, if you don't believe me check out used Sportsters with fairly low mileage.