I recently purchased my first Harley, an 03 Sportster, after wanting to do so for years. It has not taken me long to decide that while riding this bike around town and on short trips; the last thing I want to do is ride this thing at hiway speeds for very long.

Well now I have a chance to get an immaculate 05 Heritage. Problem is, there are none around here to take on a test ride. The guy is 600 miles away and wants to trade it for a boat I have. All the people I know either have Sportsters or full touring bikes.

So can anyone tell me just how much of an improvement the heritage is over the sportster for taking long road trips. Primarily in the area of vibration and comfort. thanks.

 

I liked my Sportsters better than my Softail, so beats me

 

I went from and 05 Sportster to an 09 Heritage and have never looked back. I use to ride into work in Atlanta every weekday about 95 miles round trip with out any side trips. The difference between the two is the difference of night and day. The Heritage is far more comfortable single or two up, I think it cruises with traffic much better and I didn't feel a tried when I got home.

Don't get me wrong I loved my sporty for kicking around and riding in the mountains but for Hwy riding and distance it beats the Sporty hands down.

 

I have owned an '03 1200 C before and sold it to buy my '04 Softail Deuce. The '03 Sportster engines were hard mounted to the frame which is why they vibrate so much at all RPM's and speeds. They started rubber mounting the engines in '04 for the Sportys.

That being said, the Softails motors are also hard mounted to the frame, but they are balanced. They run very smooth, almost no vibrations at all. At high RPM's they vibrate slightly, but coming off of that Sporty you have, you won't even notice it.

I got rid of my Deuce for a Street Glide because it didn't fit me right and I couldn't go much farther than 300 miles / day on it. That is just my knee problems talking there. The Heritage and Deluxe are the touring models of the Softail family. I think you will really enjoy the ride over that of your Sporty.

Try renting one from EagleRider or something if you can to see if you like it. If it is in trade for a boat though, I say do it. Boats don't hold their value half as good as motorcycles... at least mine doesn't.

 

night and day. go for it

 

I just got to ride a couple of Softails - the difference is huge. You can easily see riding thousands of miles on the softail, and you know you wouldn't want to do that on a Sportster. I wouldn't hesitate. I wouldn't mind keeping my Sportster for local riding, but as soon as possible I'm getting a Softail for any ride out of the county.

 

coming from a sporty to a fatboy in some ways i agree... my sporty had a lot more ***** and rode and felt like a true motorcycle. my fatboy is great for cruising but the thing is an absolute dog, i mean dogs*** slow it's almost embarassing. i have mini-vans that can beat me off the line.

but riding with the wife (she's getting into it now with day trips, getting lunch) no comparison, and riding the freeways the fatboy is a much better ride.

i tested out a few heritage softails and they are very comfortable but almost embarassingly slow and sluggish.

 

Go for it. I had a Sportster for about a month and traded it for a Softail Standard, and the difference was night and day. Six months later, I traded it for an 06 Heritage Classic have never looked back, until now. I'm wanting another FXST to go with my FLSTC.

 

They are both great bikes, as I have had both. Different rides though. If your cruising the Heritage is great. If you are into really hitting the curves the sporty is great. Really cant go wrong on either and since your trading a boat for the Heritage, go for it and while you have both bikes ride them both and decide. I say keep em both.. and about the Sporty long range- rode mine from evansville indiana to seattle washington when i had it....nobody told me I wasnt suppose to...lol

 

If I'm not mistaken, the '05 Sporster is rigid mounted, the newer ones are rubber mounted, that makes an even bigger diff between the counter balanced Heritage and the Sporty. If your thinkin about tradin up, go for it... it'll be worth it.