This Ain't No Japanese Bike! That's For Sure!

I'm just learning what it's like to own a Harley. I'm really enjoying having all that torque at the twist of my right hand. Of course the bike handles much differently than my sport bike, but it's a welcomed difference- I really needed a bike with an upright riding position and I figured if I was going to get a cruiser, I might as well get a Harley rather than a Japanese wannabe.

It's such a great feeling having my arms stretched out forward with the wind hitting me in the chest. My knees and legs are in front of me comfortably resting on the foot pegs- my legs are relaxed.

I must admit that the stock seat and suspension do make for a little bit of a rough ride. With the 11" rear shocks and it's one inch of travel, every little crack and pothole in the road can rock your kidneys. The front shocks aren't quite as bad as others have complained about, but they are a little loose and imprecise.

Changing gears is a little bit of a task. The clutch pull doesn't seem to engage in the right place- it's way late in the travel of the lever. Also the gear changer seems to stick a little upon shifting. It does seem to shift more willingly if I let the motor rev down a little between gears. As soon as I get the chance, I'll change the tranny fluid and do a clutch adjustment.

One thing that is going to take getting used to is that unlike Japanese bikes that have the signal changer on the left handlebar that change left and right, the Sportster has individual turn signal changers one on each side- if you want to turn right, you hit the right side changer, for a left turn, you hit the left changer.

So far, I've only taken the bike up to 80 mph, but it seems stable at speed- with speeds any higher, the motor seems struggle a bit and it gets buzzy. With future plans I have for the bike, I'm not too concerned about any current idiosyncrasies. Since the bike already has Vance & Hines slip-ons, I'm planning on getting a new air intake and a tuner of some sort.

I haven't started commuting to work on the bike yet. I'm still feeling out the bike, making sure that it's going to be dependable and roadworthy. I may start using it as my daily driver in as soon as a week, as soon as I'm confident the bike's not going to kill me!