just for reference, I last year I bought a all stock 2000 883 hugger with 3000 miles $3000.00....and for the love of god don't let these sissies here tell you that you need a rubber mount motor..solid mount motor bikes handle better and are faster (lighter) ...and they don't vibrate (as far as I can tell) any worse than rubber mount bikes (except at idle)....if you are going to convert it to a café racer you definitely want a solid mount motor...Or as everybody knows "rubber mount sporties are chick bikes"...they rubber mounted the motors to keep the ladies from irritating their v'j-j's at stop lights...

 

Lol! Above post was great.

Okay to the second above post I'll go in with 2,500 cash and see what he says. If he won't take it I'll just walk away there are plenty of other deals out there I can make an offer on. One of them will have to give.

 

I agree with mrfiker 100%,,,while working on my sons 02 and test riding it, I fell in love with its feel, so I traded my VTX for an 09 sportster custom with 12k, got to say the 02 with 24k is much more agile, fun to ride and seems a tad faster,,, now my son has given me his 02 and I'm in the throws of trying to sell the 09, even dropped price to 4,000 and not a bite in two months .....guess we all need a spare, I wont go lower...

 

I buy and sell Sportsters all the time, about 4-5 a year. My method is to buy em as modded as possible in the price range I'm looking at. Generally from 1500-4000k. I only buy rigid mount ones because I can't stand how numb the rubber mounts feel. So I'll look for 1200's or 1200 swaps. Brake, or suspension upgrades, exhaust upgrades, cosmetic stuff I like and won't need to modify, etc. Getting a bike with some mods you already like saves you big $ and makes the bikes value that much better. If you're gonna "bobber" (man I hate that term) or café it out, look for one with some mods in that direction already. Or look for a 100% stock one, since you'll be changing/modifying nearly everything as it is.

 

Is it your first bike or first Harley?

If it's your first bike I do not recommend you buying a 3k bike. Chances are you wont find a nice sportster for that price. Use that money for a down payment and buy a 2004 and up bike, or just wait and save.