My father-in-law and I bought an 83 Sportster XLX a few months ago and we think it's a pretty cool bike. I have an acquantance that said he would sell me his 77 XLT with original hard bags and extra exhaust. It has around 29K miles and he wants $2,200.00. He said it leaks a little oil but only until it warms up. I am arguing with myself, do I buy or not???? It's a nice looking bike and only needs new tires.

What do you all think?

 

There was a thread on here about the XLT being rare. I would do some reaserch...

 

i owned a brand new 77 xl 1000. tranny blew up on warranty! i'm not afraid of this bike, but it will test your mechanical skills. if you like the 83 the 77 not that much different. if you can get a good price, you can afford to fix the problems that you will discover! go for it! cheers

 

sounds like a awesome deal to me. older harley's tend to leak some oil. i'd do it if i had that opportunity! holy smokes.

 

I'd buy it if I were you. But if you don't, can I?

 

Buy it

 

I owned a 78 XL 1000 back in the early eighties. Valve guides wore out quickly, so I rebuilt the top end, made her into a hard tail bobber with drag bars. She was quick and a blast to ride. Man I sure miss that bike! Missed her so much that I just picked up another Sporty ( 25 years later!). Haven't gone for a ride yet, too much snow on the ground. Anyway, it's a Harley and it's a sporty, even if it needs some wrenching, your buying and owning a part of history.
Those old shovel heads were pretty simple to work on. If you need a clear filler plug to adjust the timing PM me and I could send you the one I got for mine, ( allows you to use a timing light to set the timing).
Anyway if you don't buy her, someone else will and be grinning ear to ear!
Cheers mate

 

I think I'm going to buy it. There is an extra set of exhaust pipes and hard bags if anyone needs them. Let me know.

 

Hope you're a good mechanic with lots of tools......and a bike trailer.

 

Smokiebear, show us some pics if you do get her.
As to comments about having to have a mechanic and a trailer...

How else are you going to learn anything if you don't pull a wrench every once in a while. Your keeping a part of history alive bro.
If nobody wanted to own and work on older bikes you wouldn't see any panheads, knuckle heads, indians, triumphs ,etc still running today.

Enjoy it man.