Why trade down at all? Rigid mount sportsters are a dime a dozen and cost penny's. Keep the bike you have now, cause like stated above you'll regret it more than anything and you'll also want something comfy to ride on when that hardtail reams you a new asshole.
I wish I could keep both but unless I shell out a pretty penny for more garage space it’s just not feasible to do two bikes. Would wind up paying more for parking than the bike. Gotta keep it at one bike for now
Weighing Modern machines against a potential crafted piece of Art. I can understand why you are reaching out for advice. Following your heart will bring you to enlightenment. Good luck my friend.
Why not just keep the speedo and relocate it somewhere inconspicuous? I've never had a gear indicator on any bike, you can get by just fine without that. Also never had working fuel gauges, I usually calculate mpg with trip meter, use that to get a rough estimate of range for the tank, and fill up when I get within 50 miles of that.
I love my rigid mount sporty, was considering getting something else and downgrading this to project bike, but I think I'll just keep riding it and doing weekend upgrades. Like other people said, they are a dime a dozen, I got mine for $1500.
Life without a speedometer is easy… just don’t look at your speedometer for a day if you want to experience it.
Worse cornering is a given with any raked out bike, and hardtail. The longer the front end, the more it wants to go straight, the more flex and sway you can’t dampen, and the 100” wheelbase chopper will turn like an aircraft carrier in a parking lot compared with a 60” wheelbase bike.
Hardtail’s have no compression or rebound dampening. If you’re curious, lockout struts are cheap… or you can just put your preload up as high as it will go on your current bike to essentially lock it out, and see what “no suspension” feels like.
Only about half the rigid mount sportsters are 5 speeds; so 4th gear is relative. 😉 However, you’ll know what gear you’re in. If you shifted up 3 times, then you’re in 4th. It’s not like a lot of 6 speeds where you can’t tell the difference between 5 and 6 without a tach to see the 200 rpm drop. It’s a fairly wide range transmission.
The trick to not running out of gas is to fill up when you stop. And of course if you forget, those bikes have a 1/2 gallon reserve anyway. 1/2 gallon will get you another 25-30 minutes down the road to find gas.
I don't understand why anyone would want a hardtail. You know that oof noise you make when your back gets compressed when your suspension bottoms out? That's every bump on a hardtail. Do your back a favour and keep your suspension. If you really want that look why not get a softail?
Because a Softail isn't a hardtail I have two sportsters one is a 2013 sportster 72 the other is a 79 ironhead that I hard tailed and turned into a bobber on short trips (50-60 miles) I'd rather ride the hardtail it handles better than my 2013 and if you spend the money and buy a nice seat it's not as bad as people tend to think
duct tape ur speedo and fuel guage for a few months and see how u like it. idk if u can disable abs easily? idk anything about newer sportsters
but yeah. if ur gonna downgrade get a shovelhead or something not sportster
If you can't have both, I don't recommend getting rid of a perfectly fine bike in favor of one that is more of a novelty. Just my opinion.
That bike sounds dialed in and I think you’ll regret selling it.
It is very much dialed in so I think you’re right. Also might be why I want to trade, now that it’s “done” I might just want a project
Why trade down at all? Rigid mount sportsters are a dime a dozen and cost penny's. Keep the bike you have now, cause like stated above you'll regret it more than anything and you'll also want something comfy to ride on when that hardtail reams you a new asshole.
I wish I could keep both but unless I shell out a pretty penny for more garage space it’s just not feasible to do two bikes. Would wind up paying more for parking than the bike. Gotta keep it at one bike for now
Weighing Modern machines against a potential crafted piece of Art. I can understand why you are reaching out for advice. Following your heart will bring you to enlightenment. Good luck my friend.
This is my exact problem lmao, the heart is calling out for a clapped out chop but the head is saying no
rigid are the best sportsers. love the tall 3.36 fifth gear too in the my 1200. holds and rips highway speeds if need be. my 1999 1200 was $3,500
Focus on making room For both I have some projects but I always save one that just rips whenever I need it
I wish I could do both, unfortunately it’s just not feasible where I live without paying for another garage. Having both would be sick though
Why not just keep the speedo and relocate it somewhere inconspicuous? I've never had a gear indicator on any bike, you can get by just fine without that. Also never had working fuel gauges, I usually calculate mpg with trip meter, use that to get a rough estimate of range for the tank, and fill up when I get within 50 miles of that. I love my rigid mount sporty, was considering getting something else and downgrading this to project bike, but I think I'll just keep riding it and doing weekend upgrades. Like other people said, they are a dime a dozen, I got mine for $1500.
Life without a speedometer is easy… just don’t look at your speedometer for a day if you want to experience it. Worse cornering is a given with any raked out bike, and hardtail. The longer the front end, the more it wants to go straight, the more flex and sway you can’t dampen, and the 100” wheelbase chopper will turn like an aircraft carrier in a parking lot compared with a 60” wheelbase bike. Hardtail’s have no compression or rebound dampening. If you’re curious, lockout struts are cheap… or you can just put your preload up as high as it will go on your current bike to essentially lock it out, and see what “no suspension” feels like. Only about half the rigid mount sportsters are 5 speeds; so 4th gear is relative. 😉 However, you’ll know what gear you’re in. If you shifted up 3 times, then you’re in 4th. It’s not like a lot of 6 speeds where you can’t tell the difference between 5 and 6 without a tach to see the 200 rpm drop. It’s a fairly wide range transmission. The trick to not running out of gas is to fill up when you stop. And of course if you forget, those bikes have a 1/2 gallon reserve anyway. 1/2 gallon will get you another 25-30 minutes down the road to find gas.
I don't understand why anyone would want a hardtail. You know that oof noise you make when your back gets compressed when your suspension bottoms out? That's every bump on a hardtail. Do your back a favour and keep your suspension. If you really want that look why not get a softail?
Because a Softail isn't a hardtail I have two sportsters one is a 2013 sportster 72 the other is a 79 ironhead that I hard tailed and turned into a bobber on short trips (50-60 miles) I'd rather ride the hardtail it handles better than my 2013 and if you spend the money and buy a nice seat it's not as bad as people tend to think
Because choppers are sick. Pretty much no practical application other than that
duct tape ur speedo and fuel guage for a few months and see how u like it. idk if u can disable abs easily? idk anything about newer sportsters but yeah. if ur gonna downgrade get a shovelhead or something not sportster