i got this bike in late may after graduation. i have been having an absolute blast on this thing. i'm not a big crotch rocket fan (not that i wouldnt like a beater one to play with, maybe a suzuki sv650 or mid 90's 600f4i ) and i really really hate the big cruising bikes so the sort of bike that the harley 1200r is fits me pretty good. i used to have a beater rebel 250 for a while and all i can say is, omg do i love the torque of a big v-twin. having power from 1500rpm up is the shit and i even enjoy driving it in traffic because i get to zip in and out of gaps. the bike also handles suprisingly well in the twisties, and dual front discs bring it to a stop nicely. i recently re-jetted it, added screamin' eagle slip ons, and upgraded the air filter. those mods greatly increased throttle response and gave it a much smoother and stronger pull through the whole powerband. bike put down 72whp and 76tq down after some carb tuning. anyways, its been a great bike so far (1600 miles in 6 weeks)




me driving the bike home from the dealer




pic of bike after upgrades




my best bud on his 1200r





i love this motor

7/22/2005 4:18:17 PM

the dyno chart

7/22/2005 4:22:31 PM

nice

put the 4.5 gallon tank on it and ditch the full helmet.

new pipes

7/22/2005 4:24:15 PM

i like the peanut tank, i hate the 4.5 gallon tank that sits on the 1200 custom.

no way i would ditch the full face helmet since i ride the hell out of my bike. i might eventually go for a full vance and hines header back system though

7/22/2005 4:32:50 PM

my helmet is big and gay though

7/22/2005 4:33:23 PM

The little tanks just remind me of the 883 Harleys, and they aren't really Harleys at all.

I had a 1200 XL a few years back that had Screaming Eagle pipes on it when I bought it. Oh it sounded goooooood. My best memory was sitting next to a kid on a vespa and revving my engine at him.

I like the full helmets, they just look completely out of place on a HD.

7/22/2005 4:49:06 PM

Naw, keep the full face . I have a nice chip in mine from a rock that was thrown up from the road by a semi truck. It hit right above my shield, a little lower with an open helmet and it would have been in my face. That sold me on fullface helmets Bugs to the face suck as well. Thats a sharp bike btw.

[Edited on July 22, 2005 at 5:50 PM. Reason : -]

7/22/2005 5:49:44 PM

Dood, 883s not Harleys, come on! 883 is as fast as a damn Big twin! and that sportster tank screams Harley! it is a stample shape all the way back to the 57 K model

When you wanna mod that beast lemme know, I try to keep on top of the sporty stuff, and i am not afraid to jhack on it.

7/22/2005 5:50:00 PM

yeah, if you don't need the range, screw that big tank. the little one looks way better.

maybe add some cafe bars.

oh, and you're gonna hate life if you wreck dressed like that.

7/22/2005 5:57:41 PM

hell yeah that bike is sweet

first harley i may have ever said that about...

7/22/2005 6:06:31 PM

wear that jacket.... lol

7/23/2005 6:37:36 PM

so how fast are these things say compared to my gsxr? would there be any comparison seriously jwing.. as in what kinda 1/4 mile

i mean 1200 cc's and only 70hp?

[Edited on July 25, 2005 at 2:21 AM. Reason : asdf]

[Edited on July 25, 2005 at 2:28 AM. Reason : asdf]

7/25/2005 2:21:31 AM

got some gloves home slice, your hands will be the first thing to touch the ground if you wreck

7/25/2005 3:01:23 AM

Hard to relate HP to a sportbike to a Harley, a harley makes alot of torque compared to most sportbikes, see how soon his torque curve hits?


until the V-rod sportsters have always been the fastest Harleys, and until the corperate retard started billing them as "girls bikes" they were the best selling best handling fastest harleys, and ironically it is the longest lasting product as well there has been a Sporty ever since it's inception in 1958. Me, the 04s up are not bad but they are heavy, and the ruber mounted motor jsut takes alittle away from the sportster Mystic. Now go get yourself a good air cleaner, ditch the crappy Dunlops for some Avons and ride the hell out of it

7/25/2005 7:31:33 AM

Quote :

"so how fast are these things say compared to my gsxr?"

no comparison. gsx-r 600 has like 2/3 of the weight and 50% more horsepower.

i raced against a modified sportster 1200 at rockingham a couple of times while riding a yzf600 (which is noticeably slower than, say, a gsx-r 600). i beat him every time, and the only times it was close were when i got really bad launches.

7/25/2005 11:16:43 AM

^ speaking of bad launches on that yzf600, its even worse with me, since i weigh half as much as the bike, so a couple inches forward or back with my chest is the difference between a good hookup and unloading the front suspension, and just lighting up the rear tire. the bike is just too light to be consistant with a heavy rider, even with a steel frame.

7/25/2005 11:26:46 AM

yeah i like the bike, although i dont usually like harley's this one doesnt seem that bad.

about gear, yeah wear the gloves man, the first thing that got torn apart when i laid mine down at low speeds were the palms of my hands.. no fun believe me. i wear gear wherever i go no if ands or buts about it. even in 103 weather.

7/25/2005 1:27:15 PM

^ two months of therapy and doctors visits to regrow the skin on my right palm and fingertips and most of the tip of my left thumb when i laid mine down with nothing but a sleeveless shirt and open face helmet on.







i tested it out, but it was just like i thought, the road was tougher than i was. even years later i occaisonally scratch out a piece of sand or grit from my arms and shoulders that works it way out

7/25/2005 2:14:12 PM

I dropped my sportster once and had the metal cap at the end of the grip cut me open from my shoulder to my navel. I was more worried about my bike, so I didn't notice it until I saw some friends and they asked me why I was covered in blood.

7/25/2005 2:45:43 PM

^yea I did the same thing. I laid mine down going 20 on a dirt road. damn dog walked out in front of me. I hit the brakes and the front locked. jerked the steering left and laid the bike down. cut my palms all up and jammed 3 fingers and wrist.

7/25/2005 5:16:38 PM

Quote :

" I hit the brakes and the front locked. jerked the steering left and laid the bike down"

what in the hell did you do that for?

brake as hard as you can without locking anything up (using both brakes on something like a harley), then if you can't stop, RELEASE THE BRAKES and swerve around it, maybe even smoothly adding a little throttle at the same time if you are a good enough rider to multitask.

7/25/2005 5:23:37 PM

Quote :

"so how fast are these things say compared to my gsxr? would there be any comparison seriously jwing.. as in what kinda 1/4 mile i mean 1200 cc's and only 70hp?"

it probably runs a mid 12 at a little more than 100mph. 0-60mph is like 4 flat. the buell xb12 uses the same motor but with a different cam and slightly better heads it makes 100whp and 77wtq. the harley motors are in a relatively low state of tune, and there are thousands of hop-up parts out there. i know a guy down in charlotte that has a orange 2005 sportster R and it is making about 140hp and 80tq with some sick heads, nasty cam, and high compression pistons. i didnt get this bike to nigger up and run 9's at the drag strip, i bought it to ride hard and enjoy, and its a bike that has some class and will run hard and long for a long time.

7/25/2005 8:10:14 PM

Quote :

"got some gloves home slice, your hands will be the first thing to touch the ground if you wreck"

i have a full set of riding gear, i just dont wear all of it when its 95 degrees outside.

7/25/2005 8:11:07 PM

Quote :

"I hit the brakes and the front locked. jerked the steering left and laid the bike down""

the sportster is super forgiving. i locked the front brakes in a corner one time and the front tire went chirp chirp chirp as it locked, which let me know i needed to let go of the brake. its almost idiot proof.

7/25/2005 8:13:56 PM

damn 69, thats a helluva roadrash.

7/25/2005 8:15:03 PM

Quote :

"brake as hard as you can without locking anything up (using both brakes on something like a harley), then if you can't stop, RELEASE THE BRAKES and swerve around it, maybe even smoothly adding a little throttle at the same time if you are a good enough rider to multitask."

beginner's mistake. made me want to take the class. gave me new found respect for v-twins and gloves

7/25/2005 9:04:57 PM

^also buy Twist of the Wrist II by Keith Code. probably teach you more than MSF, anyway.

Quote :

"the sportster is super forgiving. i locked the front brakes in a corner one time and the front tire went chirp chirp chirp as it locked, which let me know i needed to let go of the brake. its almost idiot proof."

HAHA, if you'd done that on something like an R6 (or even a GSX-R, for that matter), you would've eaten pavement HARD. i can't believe that you rode though that on a Hog, actually.

***don't try to turn and brake at the same time on a bike. not only can you overtax the tires (just like in a car), bikes just don't like to brake and turn simultaneously (it's more pronounced on a sportbike. they'll straighten up and run wide off the corner.) bikes actually like to be ACCELERATED the ENTIRE way through a corner. it's not like a car where you start gassing at the apex. on a bike, you start rolling smoothly into the throttle immediately after initial turn-in, and you keep pouring on the coals the whole way through the corner.

[Edited on July 25, 2005 at 9:29 PM. Reason : asdf]

7/25/2005 9:26:43 PM

^ i had to get on the brakes because i entered into a decreasing radius turn too fast without knowing it before hand. but yeah, if i can, i brake before the turn and accelerate through it. its so much fun doing that when you have a lot of torque

7/25/2005 10:30:43 PM

do you still have aim?

7/25/2005 10:32:00 PM

^

yeah, i'm just not on it all the time since i graduated

7/25/2005 10:33:42 PM

cool, you still around here?

[Edited on July 25, 2005 at 11:01 PM. Reason : 704 i see]

7/25/2005 10:35:44 PM

Quote :

"i had to get on the brakes because i entered into a decreasing radius turn too fast without knowing it before hand. but yeah, if i can, i brake before the turn and accelerate through it. its so much fun doing that when you have a lot of torque "

yeah, shit happens, but you're actually still better off gassing and leaning. you might drag pegs and exhaust all over the place, but unless you drag hard parts hard enough to lift the rear of the bike, you have a better chance of making it than you do if you brake in mid-corner. a motorcycle chassis REALLY doesn't like that at all.

if you're damned and determined to brake in the middle of a corner, i've found that lightly using only the rear brake works better.

7/25/2005 11:46:04 PM

UNLESS THE DUMBFUCKS AT BARNETTS SELL YOU A CAP THAT YOU "NEED" THAT ACTUALLY FUCKING DISABLES YOUR REAR BRAKE

btw, read Twist of the Wrist 2 before you read 1, it's a lot more useful in that order.

7/26/2005 3:19:56 AM

did installing it involve removing your rear caliper? if so, you know you have to pump the brakes a few times to re-seat the pistons before it'll work right...right?

7/26/2005 3:26:58 AM

I pumped my foot til my leg fell off and nothing. When I took the cap off and pumped a few times, stopping power came back slowly

7/26/2005 10:25:22 AM

While we're posting our new bikes

Here is my new Fatboy

7/27/2005 9:53:26 PM

Nice.

I think I might be picking up a new FXDI this summer.

7/28/2005 10:01:20 AM

Gratious Sportster shot

7/28/2005 8:00:16 PM

i love that bike, mark.

something looks different about it than the last time i saw it. different bars? different pipes?

7/28/2005 8:08:59 PM

looks like he changed the front wheel

7/28/2005 8:09:31 PM

no, that was on there last time i saw it.

7/28/2005 8:10:08 PM

GTFO HD

7/28/2005 9:39:18 PM

^^^^^ are those drag bars or is just the angle?

7/28/2005 10:46:31 PM

im gonna guess that's ur new bike big blue i likes it

7/28/2005 11:35:27 PM

trying to work out a trade on one for my newport plus some $$ to me. damn things are 10sec. bikes, it'd give your gixxer a run for it's money in a straight line. oh, tips the scales at nearly 600lbs. and has a 60 something inch wheelbase too.

7/29/2005 12:46:02 AM

there is probabally tons of stuff different but you are probabally noticing the bars, they are by chica out os CA the Headlight actally mounts to the bars as then come togther in the front

7/29/2005 6:56:50 AM

Do you take it with a grain of salt whenever someone has wrecked like 5+ times on their bike is giving you advice about riding?

7/29/2005 8:13:51 AM

I had a V45 damn it was quick. It was very comfortable too. I weigh 240, it had 40k on the clock and it would still get the front up about a foot with a good holeshot on hillsborough st. ohhhh the torque. they are wild above 8K, its like having the bottle on there.

7/29/2005 8:50:33 AM

^^^^^^^ is that a v45 or a v65? I'm guessing if it's 600lbs, then it's a v65...those things are hot. I almost got a v45 sabre...but even that was too big for me.

7/29/2005 8:57:40 AM

Quote :

"brake as hard as you can without locking anything up (using both brakes on something like a harley), then if you can't stop, RELEASE THE BRAKES and swerve around it, maybe even smoothly adding a little throttle at the same time if you are a good enough rider to multitask."

or just take the fucking dog out

7/29/2005 9:33:03 AM