My gas light has worked perfectly so far, just lucky maybe. Our school & playground zones are 30 KM limit (18MPH), in first gear mine will just idle at that speed without chugging.

 

At 5 to 10 mph you will definitely have to feather the clutch or you will lug the engine which is no good. The burr...burr you are hearing is most likely lugging. Harleys are geared much higher than Japenese bikes so if your used to being in third gear before you clear an intersection like I was with my Yamaha, you can forget that. Couple the high gears with a 2 cylinder with a long stroke and lugging is a very strong possibility. Low speed driving with a HD requires clutch finesse. Sometimes I wish there was a lower first gear for low speed cruising.Hell,on myYamaha, as long asI was moving, even a little bit, I could easily start in second gear. Not so with the HD.

 

Nice! At least I know people who weigh 260 like me ride the Sportster. What preload did you put your shocks on? I had them adjust it all the way up to setting '5'. I don't know the bike has a lot of power because I know I'm a fatass but the bike takes off where it sort of jerks you back, from the line. I think thats great.

I would hate to see what my back profile looks like from the bike. I hope I don't look like one of those clowns in a circus that ride a small trike, or like I'm riding a pocket bike.

Just did about 2-3 hours off and on the bike, and I thnk my first purchase will be a new seat. My butt hurts!

 

Can't help with the fuel light, I'm one of the guys that has the "antique" carb....AND A PETCOCK!!!The law will even allow you to fiddle with it in public.....hehe

[sm=bounceybounce.gif]

For storage, you can build a pretty secure little bike barn for a few hundred dollars.

As to the clutch, something doesn't sound right there. I can ride my bike down to around 5 mph before hitting the clutch, and I'm not lagging the engine. I tend to do quite of bit of low speed riding from time to time, and it's not a problem.

As far as touring. Go wherever you want. I do recommend getting rid of that 2 x 4 that harley calls a seat. I logged 9,000 miles on my stock seat in about 7 months. Then about 5 months ago, I upgraded my seat. HUGE improvement. I'm hoping the feeling (results from all the stock seat time) returns to my butt sometime in the next few months. I figure it took seven months and 9,000 miles to build up that numbness...I should be getting close to return to normal.

 

SloRider answered everything perfect. I will add to #3. You cannot possibly be in 1st gear and be going 25mph at idle, having toslip the clutch! 1st gear, clutch out should chug you along very slow almost per the beat of each piston. Check that one again, report back in the morning.

 

I'm not doing 25 MPH at idle. Its just by the time I roll off the clutch, fully engaging the tranny, the bike feels solid and its already doing 20-25MPH. When I let the clutch fully out under 25MPH I have to feather it to keep the bike going. I just want to make sure this is not damaging my clutch or tranny. From what I'm getting Harley's are supposed to ride like this?

 

It's the 883 gearing that lets you do that, SportyPig. Plonking (slow riding) is really had to do (and tough on clutches) on the 1200, butit's taller gearingdoes let you cruise down the highway nicely.

 

Having to feather the clutch under 25 probably means you idling too fast or don't know where 1st gear is. Well... really.

 

Good point about the gears. I do miss "plonking" on my Yamaha. I guess the best of both worlds would be 883 gearing and an extra 6th gear for highway on a 1200. Maybe the 6 speed gear box will eventually make it to the sportsters some day.

 

I don't know if a 6 speed tranny will be available. If you got a custom like me for $3-$4K more you could've got a Dyna Glide, which has a 96cubic engine and a 6-speed tranny. Pretty soon the standard Dyna will give way to the sportser.

Don't get me wrong I still like my Sporster, and I love riding it all the time gives me the ability to learn in turns I couldn't do before, with my forward controls, and throttle pumping response when I give the throttle a flick.