Sportsters rule! Why trade down.

 

I loved my Sporty and wanted to keep it when i got my RK,but I couldn't afford both.I love my RK and I made the right choice but,you never forget your first love.I used to sit in the garage while it was raining/snowing and just look at it for hours.Now the misses has a nightster and I can ride it anytime I want,you know;''bunny [I call her bunny]I'm taking your bike to the gas station to fill it up for you'' or whatever.Life ain't bad.

 

Well these might be specific to me, but the big issue for me is size. My Sportster was nimble and easily controllable. I was able to keep up with traffic on the freeway, and just took it on a trip to Vegas with no issues.

The Dyna to me is bigger and harder to handle. I had to stop quickly on my Sportster and was able to handle it a lot better than when I had to stop quickly on the Dyna.

I think it mostly has to do with how comfortable I feel on it. I'm not exactly a small guy, I'm 5'10" and about 175. The Sportster I think was just more in my comfort level than the Dyna is.

 

I know what you mean. The Sportster I had fit me just perfect at 5'10 even though I was too heavy for it I felt at 298 for a while.
I got the Street Bob and it felt really damn wide compared to the Sporty. I could barely reach my leg around the air cleaner to reach the forward control pegs (love forwards like I had on my Sporty) I fixed this by putting on a different and smaller air cleaner then I put on longer pegs (1 inch longer) and that took care of it. I also put on recently some 1 inch shorter rear shocks and that helped a little more especially with flat footing it. Yea it rides a little stiffer now but the more weight I lose the better it gets (down to 247 now). I also changed the seat to a Lepera barebones to bring it down a little lower and now the riding position is great. The only bad thing is the Lepera seat gets really uncomfortable after about 100 miles or so unless you get off the bike and even then a 250 mile ride is not the most comfortable. I needed a moe comfortable seat for longer rides so I bought a Musatng vintage solo like I had on the Sportster and it is wonderfully comfortable but the only bad thing is it sits me up about an inch higher. I guess you can't have everything

If something don't feel right on your new Superglide just find a way to fix it. The Sporty wasn't exactly perfect as is when I got it either, had to change the seat and the shocks were God awful (although I'm sure my weight didn't help)
Anyways it took a little time to adjust to the different feel of the bike and now I wouldn't trade it for a Sporty I can honestly say and there ain't nothing wrong with a Sporty.
Have fun!

 

I kept my Sporty and am sooooo glad I did. The Road King is nice down the highway, but for fun riding, that Sportster rules. It is kinda nice to choose.

 

Never saw a softail that could outhandle any Dyna model. And yes it is a big step up from the sportster.

 

What he said!

I've had to make adjustments on every bike I've ever owned to make it feel right for me.

 

I've worked on an riden a few Dyna's and I'd never ever trade a good running Sportster for a Dyna, doesn't make any sense, heavier bike with no more HP, what's the point.
One of my Sporties make 85HP and weighs 480 pounds, how much HP does a 615 pound Dyna have to make to keep up with me.

 

Depends on what you did to get 85hp out of the Sporty, try doing the same mods to a new Dyna (cams, stage 1 etc) and it would probably be a pretty damn close race.

The power to weight ratio of a new stock 1200 Sportster Custom compared to the power to weight ratio of a new stock Dyna are practically the same with the Dyna coming out a little ahead but not by much. With SE pipes on both bikes the power to weight ratio is still pretty close with the Sporty coming out a little ahead. Different stage 1 equipment would give different results obviously. Dyno charts came from here http://www.nightrider.com/biketech/h...erformance.htm

Also there is no 615 pound new Dyna out right now, the lightest is the 663 pound Superglide which is about 74 more pounds than a new 1200 Sportster Custom.

Some people are all hung up on thinking there is a huge difference in power between the Sporty and any big twin. This just isn't the case nowadays, at least between Dynas and Sportys anyways.

 

We're not talking about a 1200 Sporty here. We're talking about upgrading from an 883 Sporty to a Dyna Super Glide, which makes about 20 more horsepower and a lot more torque with a TC96 and a 6 speed. That Sporty you're talking about didn't make 85HP out of the box so forget the comparison. What we have is a rider that has yet to get the tools out to completely adjust the new bike to his comfort level and that alone would suck if you were to be riding a bike that wasn't adjusted for you. It won't take much at all for the Dyna to be pulling at and more horsepower than you are pulling on the Sporty and the best part is the Super Glide will handle as well as the Sporty too. My Sporty weighs just under 600 pounds as it sits and I love the R model with the 4.5 gallon tank and dual front discs but it doesn't have the ride of the Dyna on the open road. The Dyna won't pull the fuel mileage either.