Motorcycle Forums banner

Middleweight Standards Comparo

223443 Views 227 Replies 86 Participants Last post by  fazerdude
Nice article. As the owner of my fourth Sportster-a 1200R, I must agree that overall it is a radical improvement from its '03 and earlier versions. It can still be easily smoked by most of the other "small" bikes in the test, but the grin factor when riding this bike thru curves is astounding.

The saddle continues to be an ergonomic pain-in-the-arse, the headlight equals a weak batteried flashlight and the stock Showa suspension combines nicely with the dummlopp "rim protecturrzz" to compromise handling. That said vast improvements are only(!!) hundreds of dollars away: Race Tech up front, good shocks in rear, Bridgestone BT45Vs, an aftermarket saddle...watch out curves! IMO, of the 65 or so bikes I've had the 1200R ranks up there with the best for being lotsa fun to ride. My BMW R1150GS will easily show her saddlebags to the 1200R, but the 1200R is the usual choice for riding. DFO
1 - 1 of 228 Posts
Great story guys!

Ok, I wasn’t going to say a thing, but, given all the moaning and *****ing going on I just had to pipe in.

Great job guys, once again you guys tell it like it is out in the real world on the street. I especially love the part "the fastest guys (Sean, Martin) were always in the front" no matter what they were on.

I have seen this myself where a friend who is a great rider on his Suzuki 1400 Intruder keeps some newbie squids at bay on the latest and greatest sport bikes down extremely twisty roads. It's so true that the rider is what makes a bike fast on the street and if we spent more time and money on training and learning then the latest gewiz sport bike and accessories we would all be faster.

Also before all you guys get so blown out of proportion about the Harley I have to mention a couple of things:

1. One freebie with a Harley that has not been mentioned at all is a whole family of friends ready to ride, stop, talk, assist, tour and just plain have fun with that you will never ever have with most of the other bikes. Ok, sure some of that goes on, but until you are in the family you just don’t realize how much there is to it.

2. The Harley may have 1200cc of displacement but, it really is a Middleweight in size and power, which suits a lot of people just fine.

Great job Sean, Buzz, EBas, Martin, and staff.
See less See more
1 - 1 of 228 Posts
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top