I saved a life and rode a Harley

[MikeAstringer]

This is not brand bashing. I've never rode a Harley before (even though most of the people I ride with ride Harleys). I thought it might be interesting to compare the Harley I rode with my VT1100.

The Friday afternoon before Memorial Day (I know it was a week ago but I haven't had a chance to get here) I was on my way to my boat for the weekend and happened to glance to the left where a guy was on the ground in a bar parking lot with his bike on top of him. I pull into the parking lot to help. By that time 3 other men and 2 women were there. We get the bike off the guy and get him stood up - when we realized he was toasted. Hammered. Intoxicated. Barely standing. Barely breathing for that matter. The guy is not hurt and his bike is not hurt. We put the bike on the side stand and the idiot leans on the wrong side of the bike, almost knocking it down again.

Before we knew it the guy turns on his key and is ready to ride his bike out of there. HOLD ON BIG GUY! We tried to convince him to leave the bike there and call his wife for a ride but he kept saying "This is a Harley Davidson. Someone will steal it". The bar manager (who also rides) said that he'd keep an eye on it while the guy went home and slept it off. He refused to leave the bike. We asked him where he lives and his response as he points down the street was "right over there". I tell him "Look brother I ride. That is my Cadillac Escalade right there. I don't want your bike and I won't steal it. Call your wife for a ride, hold the keys to my Cadillac so you know I'm not taking off with your bike, call your wife for a ride, I'll ride your bike home and your wife can give me a ride back here". He agrees to that but we can't get his wife on the phone. One of the other guys who stopped offered to give him a ride in his truck if I rode his bike home (remember - he told us that he lives "right over there"). He agrees. I was in shorts and flip flops. All I had in my truck for the weekend was a pair of slip on boat shoes. I NEVER ride in shorts but since he lived "right over there" I changed shoes got on his bike and off we went.

I guess intoxication changes your perception of "right over there". We were in Lower Bucks County (for your locals) and the guy lived far up Frankford Ave in Philadelphia. Past Frankford Hospital, past all the ghettos in the area, etc. It was over an hour ride in traffic to get this guy's bike home. Not planning on riding last weekend I was wearing my diamond faced Rolex watch. At one point I realized that I was sitting in a dangerously bad neighborhood at a traffic light, with a lot of people on the street, on this guy's Harley with my watch shining in the sun. I pulled up next to the truck who was driving the guy who's bike I was on and asked them to hold the damn watch!

When we finally got the guy home his wife's reaction blew us away "Where did you find him?". It sounded to us like this had happened before! He was so far from home his wife had never even heard of the town where we "found him". On the way back the guy who drove and I kept talking about how we saved this guy's life. Not only did he not make it out of the parking lot on his first attempt but there is no way he would have made the trip home in city traffic. He would have killed himself or someone else. If someone had hit this guy they would have lived with the guilt of killing him for the rest of their lives.

Now to the bike. The bike was a 2012 1200 Sportster with 107 miles on it. I know the Sportster is a small bike but as I had never ridden one I was actually excited to be riding it "right over there". As my friends who ride Harleys are always telling me I should get rid of my Honda and get one I wanted to compare my 1100 Honda to this 1200 Harley.

PROS:

New bike, it was very tight. It shifted really well, the breaks were great and the clutch was great. The only negative about the gear box is that it was very hard to find "N". A couple of times I wanted to light a cigarette at traffic lights but I couldn't get the bike out of gear. Otherwise mechanically the bike felt really good.

I just realized I lied. I rode an 883 Sportster for a block once. I was teaching a friend of my wife's husband to ride and he kept stalling the bike. He claimed that something was wrong with the clutch. I jumped on for a minute to show him that wasn't the case. I like to sit "in" a bike rather than "on" a bike. On the 883 you feel like you are on and over the bike. The 1200 I felt like I was in the bike (I hope that makes sense).

People really do look at you when you are on a Harley. Beside being a white guy riding a Harley through the ghetto I did notice that people were looking. I can't explain it except to say that I was aware of people looking at the bike. Had I not been a married man I probably would have found a passenger on that trip

CONS:

The stock Harley seat is really uncomfortable. After a very short period of time I was getting a back ache. In fairness I have a Mustang seat on my bike but that stock Harley seat really hurt.

The position of the handle bars is much different than on my bike. On my bike I can sit back in the seat, be comfortable and easly reach the handle bars. On this Sportster I had to lean forward (causing my back to hurt more). If that was my bike the first thing I'd replace is those short stock handle bars.

Compared to my Honda that bike felt really small. I've parked next to Sportsters before and know it's a smaller bike than mine but it feels small riding it. The positive is that I felt like I had total control of a smaller bike. The negative is that I could never imagine a ride with my wife on the back of that bike.

The Sportster doesn't have nearly as much power as my Honda. My Honda has 40k miles on it. This Sportster had just over 100. My bike has a lot more power.

The rumble. I always give my friends who ride Harleys a hard time because they don't use their bikes as much as I do. Now I see why. The rumble on that little bike was nothing short of annoying. There is no reason to sit at a red light with the equvelent of a vibrator between your legs! My friends ride larger bikes so I can only imagine that it's much worse.

The heat. It wasn't a really hot day last Friday - and thank God. The heat that comes off that Harley motor is insane. It was like having a vibrating oven between your legs!

All in all I'm not bashing Harleys because like I said most of my friends own them but I decided last Friday that a Harley is not for me. I like a smooth comfortable bike that I can take for a long ride. A little over an hour on that bike was more than enough for me!

[kacealraid]

Nice review, and nice save.

[Lpdwntnd]

About the heat, a buddy of mine rides a Harley rocker-c(awesome bike). We were sitting at a light one day and he held his hand above his tank and said he could feel the heat from the engine from there.


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[MikeAstringer]

I can believe it. I stood at lights with my legs as far from the bike as I could.

[GPSchmidt]

Ya done a good deed. My concern is that this guy will do it again. Hope he gets it together.

I'd say a fair assessmet of a Sportster. The pre '03s don't have the rubber isolated motor mounts and shake even more.

The rumble. I always give my friends who ride Harleys a hard time because they don't use their bikes as much as I do. Now I see why. The rumble on that little bike was nothing short of annoying. There is no reason to sit at a red light with the equvelent of a vibrator between your legs! My friends ride larger bikes so I can only imagine that it's much worse.

In truth, the rumble and the shake are what I love about the Sportster. I realize it's not everyone's cup of tea. In '57 when the Sporster came out, it was geared as a track racing bike. So, it's mostly engine, wheels and a seat.

[hunnus2000]

Nice job!

To be fair - you're 1100 has larger frame than the Sporty so it's no surprise that it felt small. Also, there's no difference in the frame from an 883 and a 1200. As far as the heat, Sportys aren't known for heat problems. I know my wife's Sporty doesn't permeate heat like some of the bigger Harley's.

[Lukeduck]

You done good. HD makes a good bike these days(no. I don't own one). Any air cooled bike will heat you up sitting still. Comfort, totally subjective, depends on all kind of stuff, arm length, leg length, general condition of body. Again you done good. Keep on having fun.

[rieckena]

I wonder if the heat and lack of power was due to the engine not being broken in yet. Also I'm willing to bet the 100 miles that guy put on it are not the kind of miles you're supposed to be putting on during a break-in.

[KCSO]

You done good. As to the Harley's I rode my brothers Super Glide memorial day and was not impressed. A little more low end torque than my Aero but the vibration! The windshield flapped every time the bike was on idle. I sure wouldn't trade. My daughter has an 883 Sportster and compared to my Virago it just wasn't as good a bike, not as comfortable to ride and no better preformance than the 750 Virago.

[sjef]

I don't even know how you rode that far on a Sportster. My wife just bought a Sportster and when we went to look at it I rode it first and thought lets get out of here. It's so small compared to my Shadow and I guess I'm spoiled with the forward controls on the Shadow and Road King. But I thought she's going to drive it and she loved it so we bought it. But while my Road King is bigger and more comfortable than
my Shadow, either one has it all over the Sportster.