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New 2nd Bike (Read 199 times)
Wake51
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New 2nd Bike
05/15/12 at 00:16:48
 
Welp, I decided to finally cheat on my beloved Savage.

I was looking for a second bike, something a little more highway friendly (without converting to a chain). I'm certainly delighted with how the savage has performed on the interstate, it has more than enough power I just can't bring myself to run my beloved bike at those RPMs for sustained 70 MPH trips.

I knew I wanted something air cooled, ~900 CC, with a skinny versus fat front tire. Needless to say Savage styling was on my mind.

Here's what I found!




An HD 03 XL1200. I got her for 5,000 at 11,XXX miles. I consider the deal fair for both sides. The PO kept excellent care of all of his equipment and was into restoration of trucks and cars. Motorcycles just turned out not to be his thing. I can't speak for the other 2 POs.

I'll admit, I'm a sucker for the loping of the Harley sound. Reminds me of air cooled WW2 aircraft engines. It came with Screamin Eagle II after market exhaust, hi-flow air cleaner, and re-jetted appropriately by the dealer. I add a cone air intake, thunder slide jet kit, and the same fly screen I added on the Savage. She was jetted optimistically rich and had the baffles taken out, so  I order a set of Big City Thunder baffles and some packing as well as a more lean pilot to get where she needs to be.

The bike certainly doesn't corner like the Savage does on the back roads and takes more care to handle at low speed/cornering/working through the gears. However, the handling is a welcome new set of skills to learn after 2 years of Savage riding. I'm very happy with the purchase. Don't worry, there are 0 plans to sell the Savage as I take them out equally depending on what type of riding I like to do. The Savage, surprisingly as I was going to make up my mind to sell it or not after I got the HD home, means even more to me now.

One thing is for sure, the lessons learned from riding and ESPECIALLY working on the Savage have helped me bounds on selecting my second bike. First purchase was a Clymers, and I have since re jetted, fixed an exhaust leak, as well as a few other tweaks with no intentions of pulling into an HD dealer unless something proves absolutely unresolvable.

For those with Sportsters, there is a forum with assimilate support to ours, XLForum.com, that is a great resource and gets you away from the rest of the HD know it all crowd.  Cool
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justin_o_guy2
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What happened?

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Re: New 2nd Bike
Reply #1 - 05/15/12 at 00:20:54
 
Looks like a good fit, nice lookin Mo Sheen, too. Have fun, I would.
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The people never give up their liberties but under some delusion.- Edmund Burke.
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Wake51
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Murphy's Law

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Re: New 2nd Bike
Reply #2 - 05/15/12 at 00:37:38
 
I'll do my best out there. I caved to the silver color scheme. I will say that the forks decompressing with you give a loving throttle twist is a welcome shot of excitement in the race to 60.
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LANCER
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Re: New 2nd Bike
Reply #3 - 05/15/12 at 06:06:40
 

I did a similar thing, only mine was an Impulse Buy.
I was with my youngest daughter who was shopping for a SUV and saw this in the Chevy dealers showroom.  Some guy had traded it in on a minivan.  Poor guy.  

It had been sitting there for 2 months and sales were SLOW; it had been marked down twice already, having started at $7995.
Price for a new 1200C is about $11000 now.
I offered $4000, incl taxes, tag, title, etc ... bottom line, if they brought me a contract in 15 minutes.  He was back in less than 10 min.
Taxes & stuff were about $500 so I paid about $3500 for the bike.

Its a 2005 1200 Custom with 4k miles on it.  Vance & Hines pipes; name brand intake (can't remember the name right now); rejetted carb.  Runs good.

You are absolutely right, it does not handle like a Savage.  At twice the weight its just a matter of fact, but it is nice to ride ... something different.




 And yes, the sound of a V-twin is like that of the old radial engined aircraft of years gone by.  I love those old planes; my favorite is the F4U Corsair.  Biggest radial engine ever put on a fighter plane.  They choose the biggest baddest engine they could lay hands on and then built the plane around it.  The prop was so big it was going to hit the ground unless they jacked the plane up higher.  That is why they used the gull shaped wing...to get the prop up higher.  The Japaneese called it the "Whispering Death".  It just ate up the Zero's.  It was the first prop fighter to exceed 400 mph in level flight.
Can you tell I'm a little into old aviation stuff ?   Grin
 Wink

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Wake51
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Murphy's Law

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Re: New 2nd Bike
Reply #4 - 05/15/12 at 12:08:04
 
What a steal Lancer. And some snazzy V&H short shots you have yourself there.

The F4U is a personal favorite of mine as well. Idk if you've had the pleasure of seeing it fly at an airshow, but that big engine hauls it around the sky effortlessly. It's amazing how much speed that aircraft can pick up in a dive.

Aviation rumor had it that once an F4U pilot ran out of ammo. He was so determined to get his target, that he caught up to the Zero and slowly pulled into the back of the aircraft, using his massive engine and 13 foot Hamilton propeller to incapacitate the tail of the enemy aircraft. I believe the Corsair made it back, needless to say the prop and engine probably weren't in the best of shape!
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arteacher
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Re: New 2nd Bike
Reply #5 - 05/15/12 at 15:35:14
 
Three rows of seven cylinders each, wasn't it?
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Wake51
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Re: New 2nd Bike
Reply #6 - 05/16/12 at 19:44:57
 
Two rows of nine in the engine that powered the Corsair. Talk about a pain to re-jet...
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SuperSavage
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Re: New 2nd Bike
Reply #7 - 05/16/12 at 20:17:54
 
Beautiful bikes, guys...

Wake, how tall are you? The bike looks like a perfect fit. a buddy of mine has the same bike, it pulls really hard through the gears...

ps. I heard on the Dragon, Old feller, eats 1200 Sportsers for breakfast and craps out 883's for lunch... Tongue
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Wake51
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Murphy's Law

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Re: New 2nd Bike
Reply #8 - 05/17/12 at 06:35:28
 
I'm 5'8 and it feels like the bike fits like a glove for someone in the 5'8 to 5'10 range.

The bike has a very satisfying pull, have to avoid using Armor All on the seat!

I believe it,  many a turn I could have completed on the Savage by the time I finished the calculations of how much I need to slow down and how much the chrome repairs could cost in event of a lay over on the HD.  Cool
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LANCER
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Re: New 2nd Bike
Reply #9 - 05/17/12 at 15:58:19
 


I've never seen a Corsair at a air show but would sure love to.

I like riding the Sporty on easy going rides across the countryside or gentle mountain roads like the scenic skyway in the Smokey's.


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MMRanch
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Re: New 2nd Bike
Reply #10 - 05/18/12 at 23:41:25
 
ps. I heard on the Dragon, Old feller, eats 1200 Sportsers for breakfast and craps out 883's for lunch...


Doin't know what makes him like that but ,"Thats just how the OldFeller is !"

I keep up with him on the Savage but when I took my 04 1200 roadster to the mountains he took my lunch whenever he wanted it !  Till the sporterster tore up trying to keep up with em . Tongue

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arteacher
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Re: New 2nd Bike
Reply #11 - 05/19/12 at 07:00:38
 
A relative just bought a used Sportster 883 as her first bike. She is a very small woman and they had the bike lowered and a custom seat made so she could flat foot it at stops. She took the safety course  (they use Honda Rebels) and found that she couldn't hold the Sportster up. While she is doing strength training for her legs, they bought a Yamaha 250 for her to practice on.
I tried to talk her into an S40, but she has to have a Harley. Huh
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white '07, Raask exh, Corbin seat, slipstreamer shie, Raptor, Routy's fwd controls, Baron tach, Frisco bars, Isogrips, Headlight and taillight modulators, Dial-a- jet, AME 9 deg chop kit, K&N air flt
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bill67
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Re: New 2nd Bike
Reply #12 - 05/19/12 at 09:07:22
 
What I don't like about the sportster is they are to top heavy.
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william h krumpen
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