i was reading the 35 mph thread and it reminded me of when i bought my dyna,

for a period of about 5 months i owned both before selling off the sporty to put the cash towards the street bob,

of course after just purchasing the bob my sporty got a little negleted and i would only go out and start her up 3 or 4 times a week and let her idle to keep everything fresh,

well after about a month off the sporty i hopped on to take her for a little spin, and couldn't believe how top heavy it felt compared to my dyna,

i had heard this term before but didn't really understand it til that moment, that you sit in a dyna and you sit on a sportster,

so i ran it around for a while and on a couple of slow turns it felt really awkward compared to the dyna
to the point that i had to let my feet drag the ground to feel comfortable

so what do you all think who own both or have driven both?
i gotta say the dyna handles much better as far as i'm concerned
freebyrd

 

Uh huh.

 

One word is more power

 

Not sure I'd say better, just different.

I used to love slamming my Sportster into curves. I also loved to crank it hard off the line. Always rode the Sportster a little more on the edge.

My Superglide is a more cruising kind of ride, but gets every bit as aggresive if I crank it. I would rather ride it as a cruiser than a sport bike.

I do miss the Sportster sometimes.

 

My Nightster was the first bike I had owned in 20 years……I wasn’t exactly out tearing it up, but when I did try to get quick around corners with it I would drag something hard…..

Probably a bad example comparing the Nightster…..I feel like I can feel the increased weight of the Street Bob in the corners, but I’m not as hesitant to lay it over to turn fearing something dragging really hard and causing me to wipe out.

I’m not much for pushing a Harley through corners though…..I’ve dragged a peg pretty good just once on the Street Bob.

 

I don't know about Dyna to Sporty, but going from the Ultra to the Sporty I feel like I'm riding a dirt bike.

 

Both are great. The Sporty is very manueverable when riding slow, even though it is top heavy, its all in the technique. Wife and I proved that Sunday in the HS parking lot. Rear brake, throttle and clutch control, with a little counter weight works great. The Dyna feels like it has more torque/power, but that may be deceiving because of the weight/power ratio. I like the sporty better for twisties... but both are great fun to ride!!!

 

I haven't ridden a Dyna but I can relate about the sporty. I'm new to riding and have an 883L. It's a fun bike and I like it. But it definitely takes some technique and practice to be able to feel comfortable on it. I've dragged the exhaust a good handful of times. And I'm still trying to get comfortable doing parking lot manuvers and keeping my feet up. It's all about the proper technique. And after watching the Ride Like a Pro dvd, I'm using those techniques and getting better every day!

I think you hear the top heavy comment about sportys a lot because the attract a lot of forst time riders like me. It's the smallest engine and cheapest Harley you can buy. So while I certainly agree that it's not a "beginners bike," there's no doubt that a lot of beginners buy one. I shopped around and decided that I really didn't want a metric bike but I also really didn't want to spend $10-15k on my first bike. So the sporty allowed me to have a Harley and know that if I did drop it (which I did) or have an accident as many new riders are prone to do, I didn't have "that much" invested in the bike.

I think Harley has made some really wise decisions with the Iron and Nightster bikes. But I think they'd really take the market by storm if they remodeled the Sportster and made it more balanced and easier to hop on and ride.

 

I had an 883 Sportster before I got my Fatboy. I loved that bike, and I didn't feel the top heavyness as long as I was rolling, but when I was stopped at a stoplight with my foot down, it always felt like it wanted to fall one way or the other, but with my Fatboy, I just sit there steady as a rock.

 

I owned a Sporster for about 2 months,and never felt comfortable on it.Same reasons,it also felt too small.