Hey I have always been a jap bike guy due to all the rumors I hear about Harley's breaking down every trip. But the Harley nightster has caught my eye. I am wondering if anyone here owns one and if so how long into the trip do you start getting uncomfortable ? I like to take long rides or 2 hours or so and it dosent seem like the nightster is going to be able to handle that but I thought I would ask anyway.

 

I rode for about 5 hours Monday and I have a nightster though it has a mustang seat on it now and we stopped at a few places to check out bikes and get gas.

 

Ggo to the Sportster section for more info on this too.

 

^ That may have been the case about the time Reagan got elected.


My buddy just picked up the new Iron last weekend. He said it was a little firmer ride than he expected. But like Slaps said, with a different seat you should be good. (assuming you aren't expecting it to ride like a cruiser)

 

yeh at first I was really into the yamaha v star 950 tourer because I really wanted a bike i could do weekend trips on. But it occurred to me that the majority of riding i will do is around town and around the city. and the v stars are kind of big bikes for that and also lack that "im a bad boy" feeling. So my hope for the nightster is that when I do decide to take a weekend trip once and awhile it will be just fine with my tank bag and saddle bags on it.

 

well you def dont need to worry about the reliability factor. as far as comfort, every person is different so you'd have to make that call yourself. best thing is to hit a dealer and do a demo ride.

 

Like everyone has said already, Harleys are pretty reliable these days.

As for comfort, not the most comfortable but if you've been used to sportbikes, as I have, the nightster should be no problem for you. I put 330 miles on it last Sunday and although it kinda beat me up a little, it wasn't too bad for sporty. Now if you think you can get handling remotely near how a sportbike handles, you will be seriously disappointed.

 

+1 for mustang seats. And as far as break downs go, I agree with everyone else. Do the maintenance or buy into a pre-paid maintenance plan like my dealer offered and all ya got to worry about is gas and fun.

 

I go camping on mine all of the time, no problems.

 

i have one. i've put 23,000 miles on it. i've put 658 miles on it in a single day. its an extremely uncomfortable bike.