I agree, I went down that road. I bought a 81 KZ1000 that I wanted to cafe, but buying a bike that "Needed fluids and battery" needs a whole new engine, and 4 carbs amongst other things, and ended up being in my garage in pieces for the last 18 months, and has yet to be ridden, and wont for a long time to come. The only shop around here that will touch it wants over $100/hr labor.

So thought for round two I'd go a bit newer, but have been told many times to go with fuel injection instead of carbed. which pushes me up to 2008 on the Sportster's. Now i'm looking at Nightsters that don't come up very often, or the 48 which is 2010 and up, and now we've pretty well come to the conclusion that the 2016 is worth the extra money.'

But when it comes down to it, is dropping a 2016 bike really any worse that dropping a low mileage 2015 bike?

At the end of the day I'd rather just buy the one I want and be done with it.

 

I bought my 2015 in July .. My OTD price was just a little more than that and I have 2 year service contract, gap ins, and wheel and tire protection.

 

my shadow was carbed... many many times did i pull off and ride down the road and have the bike shut off, leaving me confused. dumoss! petcock!

dropping a 2010+ anything that costs more than $8k is bad. dropping a $800 buster set of training wheels is funny.

i'm not saying he has to, but it's better to learn on "reliable" junk.

honestly, how much did you learn about bikes from your "parts selection" in the garage? quite a bit i bet. i spent about 2-3 hundred getting my shadow right. invaluable lessons. by the time i got my (4 - 5 months later) sportster, i had no fear of tearing into it.

i miss my old bike, should have never sold it.






harley made one just like it 30 years later, they called it a street 500

 

Carbs are a piece o cake




And thats before I tore them down completely to soak them

 

Psh, this bike appears to have sat somewhere that the left side got rained on, The carbs, and engine, being all aluminum looked normal for a 30+ year old bike, but when i pulled the #1 bowl, it was full of rust and corrosion, the needle was almost non existent, everything not made of aluminum was degraded beyond saving.

Got the carbs off and you could see intake valve #1 was terribly rusted and pitted, which is probably why Cylinder #1 wont hold much pressure, 50psi as apposed to the other cylinders all being at ~120psi

so now the engine is out, and the head will come off soon for new valves, hopefully the piston and rings are fine, but I'm not getting my hopes up.

Cvaria is correct however, I learned a TON about bikes after tearing apart the old Kawa, even if I never road it.

What it also taught me however....was to just buy something that works, lol.

 

Yeah, buying a project without having another bike would suck

 

^Listen to this guy^

Buy a cheap bike, ride the sh*t out of it for a year or two, then decide what you really want in a bike.
Here's another thought- you are pretty likely to drop your bike early on- whether forgetting to put the kickstand down, or lowsiding on some gravel or taking a corner more aggressively than you have the skill for. For that matter, I don't see anything budgeted for gear- gloves helmet, jacket, boots, pants- figure $1000, minimum.


I can't fathom spending $10K+ on a sportster. You can buy barely ridden used sportsters for less than 1/2 that, hell you can buy some nice used dynas or softails for under $10K.

I hate to be the wet blanket, but I'm trying to save you from some heartache, or worse.

 

A POS can ruin riding desire though. I would buy the bike I love to look at, but start slow and very cautious.

Before I bought mine, I read This great article. He wants you to start small and then grow onto bigger bikes. I just could not do that. But I was very careful. Practiced for days, literally few feet at a time, stop and go.
The 48 was my first ever bike. I'm a aesthetics fascist. If it doesnt look good I dont buy.

 

I just did it. my 2013 103 dyna wide glide was $10,150 before dealer/taxes-reg/warranty costs. heluva lot more bike.

for the amount this guy is about to drop, he could get a dyna and a sporty (and maybe a street 500 ). literally 3x what i paid for a 2007 with 187 original miles, $4400. 5700 w/1200 conversion. will eat the 48 alive

 

as long as yu know your POS is a set of training wheels, you'll keep the desire. i learned so much on that 500 that kept me safe on the sporty and still paying dividends to this day.

also made me appreciate the sporty.