Buy what appeals to you. I have a 1200L and my son has a nightster. Neither of us would trade. He rides mostly local; I prefer to travel, 2 up most of the time.

My son's bike was new. My bike was 2 years old with only 570 miles. at half the cost of his.

I put mimi apes on mine and wish I'd gone just a little higher. Steering is not a problem at all.

 

i bought a new nightster 2 weeks ago , it is pretty cool to look at , but the seat is very hard , i get a numb *** after about 20 miles , but there are alot of after market seats and rear shocks to spend yet more money on , im in england and paid £7490 so its not as cheap as in the states , it does seem over here that the nightsters cost less new than the customs but have better second hand values , they handle pretty well and seem to do about 90 miles untill the reserve light comes on , and you will be glad to stop if you get that far in one hit , if your not sure about the custom ( i really do not like them , ) look at the 1200 r , its nicer looking , less money and has room for 2 people , the best thing to do is pop to your nearest HD main dealer and sit there for a couple of hours on a saturday , you,ll get loads of different bikes poppin in and you can chat with the owners , see what mods they have done and find out what they cost , ive seen some really nice sportsters , but apart from the nightster i like a black 1200r , if they still made that i might have bought one instead .... good luck

 

It sure was easier back in the days,when there were fewer models to choose from,hope you manage to make up your mind.H.

 

steeler thats a cool looking bike , (who needs a custom) , ive just clocked up the first 500 miles today , so i was able to open it up a bit ,so here a little add on to my last post , seems fast enough for this kind of bike ,handles very well at speed because of the wide bars and seating position , not sure if the custom would feel as nimble on the bendy bits.more cumfy at speed aswell , less vibs than at low revs and i get home faster so numb *** after 30 miles , which is also o.k , i think its a pretty good bike all round , i do get a clunk from the front fork yolk area though when i hit small bumps at low speed , like walking pace ? any ideas ,or is this just the cack front end bottoming out ? cheers all , be safe or be lucky

 

In the beginning i also wanted a nightster. Had a chance to sit in one. Also sat on a custom w/c looked larger than the nightster.

 

The nightster looked good in the beginning, but after awhile it just didnt look good to me as it used to. The custom looks good.

 

the custom looks good at first, looks better the longer you look at it. All that chrome looks awesome. That what harley is about. Chrome & sound

 

Will a 2009 Nightster wheels fit on a 2002 883R??Since the 2002 has dual disk set up???What will need to be changed???Bearings???Just love the look.Thanks Ken