Lately the little woman has been having back problems. She came up with the idea to rent a "big-bike" to take to a wedding across the state to see if different bike and suspension would be the ticket.
We picked up a 2007 Heritage Classic this morning from the stealer who has a rental program.
And this is my observation from 462 miles =
a) 96ci with stock pipes, and no modifications is slower than heck!!! I do not know if I would dare pass on a two-lane with no on-comming traffic in the same county!!! (ok, that might have been a little exagerated). However, it is slow. I tried all different combos with gears and RPMs trying to find a couple of the pony's hiding, but they were never found.
b) the bike did great on the highway(with maintaining consistant speed). The 6th gear along with the big-twin would buzz down the highway at 85-90MPH and did not even sound to be working or overly laden.
c) the stock seat........[:@]. In all honesty, I am typing this with an ice cold beer between my legs. TMI I know, but DANG!!!! I would like to find the engineer who designed that damn seat and make him sit in that SOB. In all truth, two weekends ago I rode 780 miles in 2-days back to back and never was this sore on the sporty!!!
d) The bike does have a nice set-up in that it comes with saddle bags, windscreen, and sissy-bar. Pretty well set up for doing weekends right out of the box.
e) I was actually very pleased with the handling and cornering of the bike. Seemed to corner fairly well and for the size of bike, did not seem heavy and bulky.

All said and done, the Sporty is not going anywhere yet. I still love the responsiveness, acceleration, and all-purpose(touring & round towning) of the sporty.

LONG LIVE THE SPORTY!!!

 

There ya go!

 

Some people prefer a Sportster over a Softail Heritage Classic for long range cruising (even 2-up from what I can gather), and there isn't anything wrong with that.

Different strokes for different folks.. LoL..

 

Dooo Sha Sha...

 

Thanks, it's good to hear personal comparisons of different bikes. Your performance observations make a lot of sense to me. Riding an 883, I am struck by how the front suspension is a near perfect combination of ride and handling. The Sporty's rear suspension leaves something to be desired on the comfort side, but contributes to good handling.
In the final analysis, the seat comfort does make a huge difference over a long ride.

 

Yes, I am sure the seat does make a Huge difference(as the lil'woman pronounced after getting the Sundowner).

We have not given up by adding another bike to the fleet. However, I want to wait till next year so that I can keep the sporty.

I was impressed(early in the trip) on how the suspension felt. Very smooth!!! More of a floating feeling versus a "jaring" feeling on bumps. But to sacrifice the gitty-up-and-go, welll.......

 

Next time, rent a Touring model.

 

I would probably never consider my Nightster for a long haul two-up trip. The rear suspension just isn't made for it. However, I would not hesitate to ride solo for any distance. I have ridden all day on the stock seat and had very little discomfort. I wouldn't say that I was nearly as comfortable as I would have been on say an Ultra... But I was grinning and shredding through corners all the way [8D]

 

yeah i know what you mean. they must have had the same bike here at my dealership too. they had demo days and i rode one for demo day and was cussing HD by the time we got back from our 10 minute "demo". i got back on the glide to go home, and she did just that, glided home. next time, rent a glide.

later,

wanna

ps i think, just barely, maybe i miss my sporty just a little. sshhhhh, don't tell ****** though.

 

The girl has the back issues also. I am going to try changing the HD shocks to progressive 412's .

If that don't work than the ? 413's I think, air shocks for 4 times as much $$.

If that don't work , we ain't going to be doing to many if any long rides together.