Bought a 2003 XLH1200S, Anniversary Sportster Sport. Had 3,000 miles on it when I purchased it in 2020, been nothing but a good machine.

That is about 180 miles per year. Went through it, put new tires on it and have been riding it ever since when I feel like scooting around town. Trike for long trips, Sporty for short ones.

Ya got to know what you are looking at and sometimes take a chance to get a good deal.

100 year Anniversary Model, last year of the Sportster Sport, last year of the hard mount engine to frame.

 

Funny thing with motorcycles, and especially Harley Davidson motorcycles: Lots of people, especially guys, who have no experience riding them, get a bug that riding a motorcycle has got to be the COOLEST THING EVER! They've got to buy that brand new Harley Davidson because they just KNOW that they're going to LOVE IT! Then the reality sets in. They either discover that they don't care for riding, or it scares them. I suspect that it scared the living **** out of the owner of this Sportster and only one short ride convinced him to never try riding again. I've been involved with motorcycling over 40 years now and see this happen again and again.

Personally I love people like that. I've never bought a new bike, only garage queens. Both of my dynas were 4 years old when I bought them, one had 4,000 miles and the other had 1,850. Big wins for me.

 

Why so low miles?
Lots of possibilities. Several or more bikes to ride, short riding season, lost interest, too busy, tons of things. I love finding mint-condition old bikes. Would not hesitate for a second with the right bike and the right price of a garage queen.

 

I've bought quite a few garage queens. Most just needed tires and fluids.
I change cam shoes with Cyco pads on 99-05 twin cams.
A couple needed carburators rebuilt. Almost fun with a ultrasonic cleaner.
Other than that a gasket here and there.
I fix them, ride them a while (some more than others) and sell them.
It puts a couple extra dollars in my pocket and lets me sample a lot of different bikes.

 

It's a lot easier to find a low miles bike in the snow belt.

 

2 years ago I bought a 2005 Heritage Springer (at a great price) with only 900 miles on it and it wasnt moved in 3 years. I had my indy change the tires and perform a total rebuild of the fuel system. I put in about 3500 in total then did custom, old school paint. The bike was a day-1, stage-4 build by Maroney's and then included hideous tweety bird yellow paint. The bike was built as a show bike that left the circuit.

After my work, the bike was issue free and was one of the few bikes I actually made coin on. The miles wouldnt bother me on the right bike..

 

I rode an 883 Sporty for five years and 41,000 miles. Was your statement supposed to be funny?

 

You buy a house. When I was a renter, I might easily rack up 10,000 miles/year. Since buying a place of my own I haven’t even managed 2,800 so far this year.

 

As someone who just spent 2-1/2 months remodeling an 5x8' bathroom, I wholeheartedly agree with this. 😡

 

Exactly. Even weekend warriors like my wife and I are going to at least a few hundred miles a month. A day trip just twice a month and a bike night here and there will easily get you that.

Granted I have seen a year-old bike come in with just a few hundred miles. That is pretty clear the rider just made a poor decision and didn't do a proper test ride before signing the papers. Some dealerships don't even allow that. But, that said, I would certainly do my research and ride that same bike at a dealership that does allow test rides. Or better yet, the demo days where you can try them all. All of them new, of course, so you are limited by nature. I tried the Road King, Fat Boy and Softail Slim. When I hopped on the Heritage, it spoke to me.