Harley Davidson 04 XL 883, the last year carburetted Sportsters were produced, stage 1 done with SE pipes and jets, sound fantastic.
I bought the Sporty to get back into biking after 10 years of not riding at all. The thought process was to buy something slow as I was a bit of an idiot when I was younger.
I do sometimes think about changing her for something faster, but then I take her out on A or B roads and she is just awesome. I added the screen as I started commuting with her, great for commuting, she is very agile and narrow making filtering a breeze. She also annoys Jamie with her deep voice making her even more usefull. A kitten dies everytime I scrape the exhaust going around corners, so I try to keep that to once a month.
With a claimed 147bhp and 190kg dry it was never as extreme as an R1 or as comfy as a VFR, so the litre ‘tona was more of a cult classic than a box office smash.
This means those of us that have sampled the delights of a howling banshee of a triple engine coupled with a dialled in chassis that can accommodate those extra inches, be they up or round, can pick these lovely ladies up for a fraction of what you’d pay for one of the big Japanese litre sports bikes, the character comes free.
Click here for the specifications at Bikez.com
Suzuki GSF400 Bandit - Ann
Honda Shadow VT125
On the plus side, it does make a lot of people look twice - first they see the size of the bike then they see the L plate and you can almost hear their brain churn over the words "Thats a 125?"
Honda CBR600 F2 - Pete and Tyla
