Sportster Sickness went to the South West coast of England, Cornwall!
Friday night stopped in Truro.
Saturday met up with approximately 150 others at Chiverton Cross. Rode the coast road to Land's End - a small number of us -
From Land's End followed the coast road to Penzance and on to Marazion for a coffee break. Followed the coast road down to the most southerly tip of the Lizard for another stop and Cornish ice cream. Completed the ride back to Truro for dinner. Covered around 130 miles of great Cornish coastal roads; no potholes, no snakes just excellent roads all the way.
Drove home Sunday morning. Round trip 784 miles. The bike averaged 51 miles to US gallon, 13.4 miles per litre.
Last edited by Andy from Sandy; 08-03-2020 at 02:47 AM.
A while back, I decided to ditch the stock bars on my 08 883 and go for what I thought I remembered sporties felt like back in the late 70s. I ended up getting some buckhorns. I planned out the whole swap, lengthened the wringing, got new front brake hose, new throttle cables, and new clutch cable. I also relocated my turn signals to the forks. Lots less clutter getting them off the bars.. It was a fun, successful project, but I was disappointed with the buckhorns. They pushed me too far back, so that I could only pull on the bars. Hard to explain. It tired me out, like I was hanging from the bars. Also, the angle on the grips was just too severe to be comfortable. So, I ordered a set of 10” mini apes, hoping to pull my body back forward and get a more normal angle on the grips.
Last pic of the buckhorns. Hard to get a good angle on handlebars.
So, today was the day. Because all the wiring and cables were already the correct length, it was just a one hour job. I think I’ll like the new bars much better.
Success. Much better riding position. Less stress.
A while back, I decided to ditch the stock bars on my 08 883 and go for what I thought I remembered sporties felt like back in the late 70s. I ended up getting some buckhorns. I planned out the whole swap, lengthened the wringing, got new front brake hose, new throttle cables, and new clutch cable. It was a fun, successful project, but I was disappointed with the buckhorns. So, I ordered a set of 10” mini apes, hoping to pull my body back forward and get a more normal angle on the grips.
So, today was the day. Because all the wiring and cables were the correct length, it was just a one hour job. I think I’ll like the new bars much better.
Last pic of the buckhorns. Hard to get a good angle on handlebars.
I had a Honda Magna with buckhorn bars that really looked cool with and without the rider. However, they caused extreme pain in my right wrist when I worked the throttle. With my arms in a hugging positing, my palms faced each other instead of in a resting position resting position with my palms facing downward, my right wrist started aching like a toothache after 30 minutes of riding. I switched the buckhorn bars to fatboy style like my previous Suzuki GS650 GL. Problem solved. The stock, low handlebars on my current 2005 XL883 Standard are perfect. No pain at all.
I've been curious to try other handlebars than my OEM buckhorns on my 2003 883. I think they look goofy. I also thought initially that they were partly responsible for some hand pain that I had after riding. After making other changes, though, my death-gripping has subsided and that's no longer an issue. My hands ARE a bit low, though, so I don't know.
What I like about the buckhorns, however, is that they don't exacerbate the discomfort in my shoulder from a 14-year-old shoulder injury. I've been going to a chiropractor for almost 2 years now to try to resolve this (the car accident in September of last year when I got rear-ended definitely set me back quite a bit). When I try sitting on other bikes at local shops, most of them make my shoulder tense up. No such issue with the buckhorns. So... dunno. It'd also be nice to have handlebars level enough that I could more easily change my own front brake fluid, but that's a whole other story... :/
I'm still curious to try riding a Sporty with mini-apes to see if it would be more comfortable. Maybe some day.
I have noticed that all HD buckhorns are not the same......my 03' with buckhorns is comfortable for me. I sat on another 03' a while back and the buckhorns were much more "pulled in" which I didn't find comfortable, my elbows were almost digging into my rib cage.
08-03-2020, 02:44 AM
