New Muffler

A few months ago, I replaced my exhaust system (keeping the header pipes). But before I go too far into describing my new exhaust system, let me describe what I was replacing and why.

My old exhaust system was comprised of the header pipes that came with my bike, with the rear one being trimmed back a bit, a couple slip-on mufflers from a 2006 Sportster that I picked up on Craigslist for $20, a custom mount that I welded together using some scrap metal behind my shop, and a custom exhaust piece with an h-pipe crossover that I built myself from some cheap exhaust pipe from a local auto parts place. Additionally, I performed the "Gronk Mod" (more or less) on the mufflers. With the mufflers and crossover, the motor seems to run much more smoothly, and according to my "butt-dyno", my bike accelerated more quickly. I mainly wanted a decent sound that didn't beat the shit out of my ears, which I got, but the performance bump was nice!

However, there was a serious problem - the damn mufflers dragged the pavement in any hard right turn. This happened whenever I took my favorite turn on my way to work. The mufflers also scrapped really badly if leaving a parking lot downhill. I got to where I was kinda scared to take right turns without slowing down to a very not-fun speed.

The mufflers were right next together, with one right under the other. I liked this configuration, but I didn't have much room to move them up without interfering with my right saddle bag. I had the option of doing a more traditional Sportster muffler setup, but ended up deciding to just put the mufflers as close together as possible, move them back a bit, and tilt them up behind the saddle bag. I spent a whole weekend putting together a new mounting plate, and bought some square tubing to make a new mount. And then this happened:

I got gas on my way home from work, and turned right out of the parking lot. This parking lot exit has a fairly steep incline, and I could hear a horrible screech as the bottom muffler dragged. As I accelerated, I thought to myself "Damn, the bike sounds a whole lot louder!" I turned around to go the other way, and saw my damn mufflers laying on the road! They were too hot to touch, so I kicked them into the center lane. I was very close to home, so I could come back for them later.

So I went home and scarfed down some dinner. After about 15 min. or so, I figured the mufflers were plenty cool. I threw my backpack on the sissy bar, and went back for my mufflers - AND THEY WERE GONE!!! I hope whatever asshole took them burned the hell out of his fingers. With just the crossover, I still had some performance boost - wasn't expecting that - but my ears were still being assaulted with every ride. I'd like to actually still be able to hear in a couple of decades. And later, the crossover ended up off, since the mounted mufflers were mostly what held them in place.

So I had to decide what kind of exhaust system I wanted next. I knew damn well I wasn't going to spend several hundred dollars on a set of pipes. No judgement against those who do - I'm sure Vance and Hines makes very nice sounding pipes, but my budget is too tight. Besides, I didn't want to miss out on the fun of building my own exhaust system.

I decided to buy a 2" Thrush Glass Pack muffler. Why? Because they're damn cheap, and do the job well enough for my purposes. Sound is somewhat important, but for me, sound takes a huge back seat to function and cost effectiveness. I could have done without the extra length and bright red paint, but for $25, it's hard to complain.

To mount the muffler to the frame, I welded together a mount using some square tubing, a bit of flat stock, some mount rings made from old motorcycle drive chain. The rings fit perfectly around the muffler. Welding the chain was easy - I just used my torch to melt where the edges of the inner links overlapped the edges of the outer links. I then popped some rivets to use pins to mount the rings to the square tubing part of the mount. The mount holds the muffler farther back than the old pair of mufflers it replaced. It's also angled back. No part of the muffler is lower than the bottom exhaust header. Hopefully the pictures will explain better than my words.


The first piece of custom piping I made to join the muffler to the headers was a 2-into-1 fitting. I cut a single 1 3/4" pipe at an angle. I intended to simply then rotate one pipe around to where it formed a point, and tack it together. But I ended up damaging the edge of one side of the cut. I simply cut another piece to do the same thing. Next, I fit the pointed end of the joint into a 2" pipe that would fit into the opening of the muffler. I traced a circle around where the edge of the 2" pipe fit round the pointed fitting. I then cut the point off with my angle grinder. Of course, this didn't leave a perfectly circular cut, so I had to heat the edges of the cut with my torch and hammer it a bit to where it fit nicely with the 2" pipe. Then, I just welded it together.

So to complete the exhaust, I mounted the work I had so far to see what gaps needed to be filled. I would cut some pipe at whatever angle I thought I needed, see how it filled the gap, cut another pipe wedge to weld to it, and repeated. For the top header, once I got close to closing the gap, I used a 1 3/4" fitting to join the pie-cut exhaust section to the header - I want this to be easy to remove when needed. For the bottom header, I simply added enough pipe to the 2-into-1 fitting to attach to flex pipe, and simply filled the rest of the gap to the bottom header with flex pipe.


Sure, this isn't the prettiest exhaust you'll ever see. While it doesn't sound bad at all, it's definitely not the most bad-ass sounding exhaust you'll ever hear. But it does the fucking job without having cost very much. It clears the saddle bags, boosts performance over straight pipes, is sufficiently quiet, is easy to remove, doesn't scrape on turns, and seems to be sturdy as fuck. That's good enough for me.

Conquering My Transmission Woes!

Several weeks ago, I had my first major transmission failure. (I'm not counting knocking the shifter shaft loose almost 2 years ago.) While on my way to work, I accelerated from a traffic light. When I attempted to shift into 4th gear, I heard a noise that was much worse than the typical missed shift. I made another attempt and it was clear that I wasn't going to be able to get into 4th. The transmission was making bad noises in any gear, so I quickly pulled off onto the side of the road. I was pretty sure at least one gear must have broken.

I was feeling pretty good about my decision to get towing assistance through my AMA membership. I called the number, gave them my membership info, and they worked diligently to get me a tow. I was told it would be about an hour, but almost as soon as I got back from buying some Gatorade from a convenient store (it was HOT outside), the tow truck showed up. I asked what the tow would have cost me if I didn't have the towing assistance, and it was 3 times what my AMA membership cost me.

I ended up taking my wife's van to work, and as soon as I got home that evening, I pulled off the primary cover. Everything in the clutch assembly seemed to be good to go. No magnets had fallen from the inside of the clutch basket. No metal bits were on the bottom of the case. But when I rotated the input shaft, I could occasionally hear gear teeth bumping together like maybe a tooth was missing.


The next night I removed the gear set, and I found broken gear pieces in the bottom of the case. I slowly removed each part from the gear set, taking a photo with each step to use as a reference later to help know how to reassemble the gear set. I inspected each piece as I removed it, looking for not just broken teeth on gears, but also for wear on the forks, spacers, etc. The countershaft gear had a tooth missing, and the mainshaft gear for 2nd gear was missing a dog tooth.

I have a theory about what happened. The 2nd main shaft gear is splined onto the mainshaft, while the third mainshaft gear is unsplined and spins independently of the mainshaft. When shifting into third, the 2nd mainshaft gear slides right, and the dogs on the right side engage with the third gear causing the mainshaft to turn at the same speed as the 3rd mainshaft gear. When I shifted into third, I believe the dog tooth broke off and fell down to the bottom of the case, where the countershaft gear eventually made contact. There's not enough space between the bottom of the case and the countershaft gear for the broken piece to pass, and I think this is what caused a tooth to break off the countershaft gear. Perhaps one of the pieces of the broken gears got between the 2nd mainshaft gear and the clutch gear, preventing me from shifting into fourth.

So at this point I'm pretty happy about having a old Sportster. Granted, the gears in this Sportster didn't hold up, although Sportsters are known for having solid transmissions. I also have no idea how hard the previous owner was on this bike. Because it's an old Sportster, brand new gears are still being made for this bike. I might be wrong, but I don't think I could get brand new gears for a Japanese bike from the 80's. These new Sportster gears are made by Andrews, and are probably higher quality gears than what Harley produced.

There's also plenty of used gears available on Ebay. This gave me an interesting option to consider. The last of the Ironheads had essentially the same transmission as the 4 speed Evo Sportsters, but they had different gear ratios. If in addition to the 2nd mainshaft gear and countershaft gear I replaced the clutch gear using the older gear ratios for the clutch and countershaft gears, I'd have the same gear ratios as the later Ironheads and the '86 Evo Sportsters. The advantage to this is that I could then gear up the final drive with different sprockets while still having a respectfully low 1st gear. That way, I would have an engine speed of about 3400 RPM at 70 mph without having trouble taking off in 1st.

There was a forum post that discussed this option. I knew I'd have to get older gears or maybe newer non-Andrews gears. From what I hear, there are some quite respectable gears made in Taiwan. I went as far as discussing this with a seller who had the clutch gear I'd need. But then I ran across another post on the same forum that discussed how this option did not work out so well for one guy. You can read the discussion here: http://xlforum.net/vbportal/forums/archive/index.php/t-1539783.html

So I ended up buying two Andrews gears from JPCycles. It cost me about $140, which seems pretty fair. The 2nd mainshaft gear was shipped much more quickly. This makes sense, since that gear spec has been used since about 1957. No doubt quite a few of these were in stock. I had to wait a little bit for the countershaft gear, but considering these are for Sportsters from '87 through '90, it's quite understandable that these weren't immediately in stock.

Waiting on the gears to come in gave me plenty of time to clean the remnants of the old primary gasket from the primary cover and case. I got a shard of plastic with one straight edge, and ground it to an almost sharp edge for a scraper. I really didn't want to resort to using razor blades - no sense in cutting into the case. I soaked the gasket bits in some solvent - can't remember which - and diligently scraped away.

Putting everything back together went smoothly for the most part. I did notice some major wear on one of the forks that looked like it must have been from rubbing up against a piece of broken gear. I was initially horrified and disappointed that I didn't catch it before I ordered parts. But after cleaning it up with a file and seeing how it fit with the gear, I decided it was almost certainly not an issue. I had my photos to look at as well as the Harley repair manual. I had studied the transmission diagram quite a bit while waiting on the parts to come in.

Inserting the gear set into the case was fairly straight forward. I did have to try a bit to get it to slide all the way in, but it wasn't too big of a deal. Putting the primary, crankshaft sprocket, clutch assembly, etc. went smoothly. Nothing else worth mentioning happened for the rest of the assembly. After adding some Mobile 1 75w90, I took it for a spin. I didn't even need to tweak the clutch adjustment.

In addition to taking plenty of pics, there were other things I did to make things go smoothly. As I disassembled the bike, I put all the small pieces in zip lock bags. I had several of these bags with the parts and fasteners grouped in a fairly straight forward manner. I had no problems finding these parts when it was time to reassemble. I also did quite well without using special tools. When removing the gear set, I simply tapped the sprocket end of the mainshaft that sticks out the right side of the case with a nylon hammer. When I was putting the gears set back in, I used the same nylon hammer to tap it back close enough into place to use the trap door screws to finish the job. When it was time to tighten the nut on the crankshaft, I simply put a wedge-shaped piece of oak where the chain met the sprocket. When I tightened the sprocket nut, the teeth of the sprocket dug into the wood a bit and held it in place.

Using a wooden wedge to hold the crankshaft sprocket still

There are obvious things I probably should have done differently. I definitely should have ordered another shifter fork. They may be cheap enough where I might should have just replaced both. I should have ordered spacers, and I should have checked the clearances between the gears. I did manually turn the input shaft and shift from 1st to 4th and back to make sure nothing interfered, but checking proper spacing would have been better. For each gear I replace, I should have replaced the complementary gear, but with my tight budget, I don't feel too bad about that. I might should have replaced the bearings that are easy to replace. Without a shop press, I don't feel bad about not replacing the clutch gear, mainshaft, or countershaft bearings.

Since the repair, the bike shifts very smoothly, but it sometimes has trouble between 2nd and third gear. It never takes more than two attempts to get it into 3rd, though, and the trouble doesn't happen often. I wonder if that has anything to do with the fork shifter I should have replaced. Also, I can hear a noticeable clicking noise that reminds me of when you coast on a 10 speed bicycle. Could that be a bearing showing signs that it needs to be replaced?  I hope not. But if I have to pull the transmission out again any time soon, I'm confident I can fix whatever the problem is, so long as the parts do not cost too much.

Potting

As I mentioned in a previous post, I've replaced the voltage regulator (and by this, I mean the regulator/rectifier combo) on my Sportster. I would like to have simply tested each device within the regulator and replaced only the individual device (transistor, diode, etc.) rather than have to replace the entire regulator. What prevented me from doing that was the block of black epoxy the circuit was embedded in. This stuff is called potting, and it's commonly used in electronic circuits. On motorcycles, potted circuits can and often do include regulators, ignition systems, and engine control units. Understanding why potting is used and why potting can be a hindrance when doing repairs may help you decide whether to pot your own custom motorcycle circuits.

You might be wondering why circuits are potted to begin with. Perhaps manufacturers simply don't want you servicing your own circuits rather than buying parts from your local dealership. But there are actually good reasons to pot, especially for a circuit that is a part of a motorcycle. Motorcycles often vibrate a lot. And even with relatively smooth-running motorcycles, there's bumps and potholes on the road that can jar a circuit. Circuits have to deal with thermal stresses due to engine heat and weather. These mechanical and thermal stresses can damage solder joints, circuit board traces, component leads, and wiring. Surrounding a circuit in epoxy or other hard substance helps hold everything together.

That's not to say that manufacturers mind that potting gets in the way of customers doing their own circuit repair. And that's not just a matter of greed. Most people are not qualified to do their own circuit repair, and even those who know a bit about electronics can accidentally damage something. Suppose a customer has engine problems and they monkey around with an unpotted ECU damaging it in the process. They bring it in for repair and it's under warranty. How does the dealership know that the defective ECU was damaged by the customer. If the circuit is potted, it's not even a consideration.

So as someone who may want to do component level trouble shooting or repair of an ECU or regulator, this means doing so is going to be a huge pain in the ass. It's not impossible, though. You can do a google search to find several pages describing the removal process. This, of course, can cause further damage to the circuit.

As someone who may want to build your own regulator, ECU, or other circuit for your motorcycle, you need to consider whether the benefits of potting are worth the future hindrance to repair. While potting can get in the way of repair, it might mean that you don't have to repair as often if ever. Then again, being that you don't have the R&D resources of a large motorcycle manufacturer, it's likely you'll need to diagnose design flaws with your circuit. That's kinda hard to do with potting in the way. Perhaps potting might even be causing problems by trapping heat leading to overheating components in your circuit.

Perhaps you can simply pot with something that's not so easy to remove. Guitarists sometimes use beeswax to pot their guitar pickups. Parrafin wax might work quite well. Using silly putty might be worth a try. Granted silly putty isn't as rigid, but it may still provide as much mechanical support as you need.

So while potting might prevent you from repairing circuits from a manufacturer, it has a purpose and can still be useful for your own custom circuits. Choosing an easy to remove potting material can make repair easier. And if you choose not to pot, you might find that you simply didn't need it to begin with. In a worse case scenario, you might simply have to resolder a joint or repair a circuit board trace.

DIY Motorcycle Electronics

Testing my Arduino-based Turn Signal Controller

For quite a while now, I've been thinking about ways I can apply my knowledge about electronics and software to motorcycles.  I'm a bit of a diy sort of guy, and I'd rather make something than buy it if I can. Making rather than buying is a great way to be creative, and in some cases can also allow you to save money. Because I know a bit about electronics and enough about writing software to make a living at it, creating my own electronics is an excellent way for me to be creative and have fun. And because I love motorcycles, I'd like for some of my hobby electronics projects to be about motorcycles.

I actually have done one such application - an arduino-based LED turn signal controller. When I bought my motorcycle, it was missing the turn signals. I knew I wanted LED turn signals for the simple fact that they are more efficient and more durable than incandescent turn signals. But turn signals do not draw enough current for the flashers that make turn signals flash.

It seems that the typical solution to this problem is to use components called load equalizers. These put some resistance in parallel to the LED signals to shunt enough current for the flashers to function. This, of course, is silly. It completely takes away one of the advantages of LED signals and compromises the other. With the load equalizers, the same amount of demand is placed on the charging system and battery, and keeping the flashers means having a necessary component that is prone to wearing out.

The Turn Signal Controller

By using an Arduino to control the LED signals, I keep the low-current-draw advantage of LED lights, though there is some cost to running the Arduino. By using transistors and a few other components, the controller can provide more current to the LED signals than the Arduino digital outputs can provide on their own. I can programatically control the flash rate, flash pattern, etc. If I press both turn signal buttons simultaneously, I can flash the signals on both sides for hazard lights.

That project has worked out for me well so far, and I've been looking for other opportunities for more motorcycle electronic projects. A few have come to mind.

So one day I realized that I needed to replace my voltage regulator on my Sportster, or at least I thought I did. In retrospect, dirty ground connections may have been causing issues. In any case, I couldn't take the regulator apart to do any testing. When the whole damn regulator housing is filled with epoxy potting, that's not really an option.

The Electronics Inside the Housing

I didn't have time to engineer and build my own regulator. I needed to get my bike going quickly, since I use it to commute. I went ahead and paid the $50 for a new regulator. I did see that there were simple regulator designs posted, and it seems like something I could engineer on my own. By the time I need my next regulator, I would like to have a replacement already built, perhaps using the same housing as my old one.

Another project idea I've had is already partially built. I've got the electronics and software for an arduino-based speedometer already prototyped. It uses a hall effect sensor to signal the arduino controller when magnets pass by. The arduino then calculates the speed, and moves a servo that a speedometer needle will eventually be attached to. I'll post the details on that in a later post.

One really cool possibility to explore is throttle body injection for older carbureted motorcycles. Those who listen to the Cleveland Moto podcast may have heard them discussing this subject. There's definitely some DIY fuel injection projects already available, though most of them seem to focus on cars. The computing power necessary for a fuel injection system is getting to be damn cheap. For most motorcycles, a simple Arduino should be fine, but if not, there's many more powerful alternatives that are actually about as cheap.

One thing to consider for those thinking about rolling their own motorcycle electronics is that no hobbyist will ever have the time and money to do the research and development that any of the major motorcycle companies can do. But for the many applications, you won't need to. Just be mindful that your homemade electronics might not be as reliable as factory electronics, and be mindful of any safety concerns that may cause. Test thoroughly, and when possible, learn from the mistakes and successes of others. Plan to be able to revise your designs. Solve as many problems as possible before taking your custom electronics out on the road.

Don't be afraid to give it a try. So maybe you're no electronics guy and you don't know jack about writing software. Learn what you can and see what diy projects are already available. The worst you can do is fail. In fact, you will have failures. You'll learn from those. (Well, unless they're fatal failures. Just skip those if you can. 😜 ) Just keep at it, and have fun.

Open House at Standard Motorcycle Co.

Last weekend, I went to the monthly open house at Standard Motorcycle Co. I'd been looking forward to checking the place out for quite a while, and decided tonight was the night. They have an open house every first Friday of each month, or at least that seems to be their current plan. I think there's only been one before. I only noticed it on their event schedule last December, but I might have missed where they had previous ones scheduled. The description of the open house said there would be barbecue. I didn't see any, but that's ok - I wasn't there for the barbecue anyway. Being that I'm a vegetarian, I didn't look to hard.

Being a somewhat introverted nerd, I was worried about fitting in. Social intimidation is part of why I hadn't gone to the previous Open House and why I missed out on a Bike Night they had several months ago. But when I got there, everyone was friendly. Kit Kat, one of the Standard Motorcycle Co. staff members, was the first to introduce himself. Shortly thereafter someone offered me a beer. A co-op member (I won't mention real names in this post out of privacy concerns), gave me a tour of the place.

Their garage was quite impressive, with a huge selection of motorcycle lifts, tools, metal working equipment, etc. The lounge area seemed like a cool place to hang out. And, Jesus, who ever decorated that place fuckin ROCKS! The place looks quite hipsterific, and while I'm not a hipster myself, I like the vibe.

After the tour, I learned that a couple of the guys there were fellow Marines. The older of the two served a few enlistments before my time in the corps, while the other guy served long after I got out. We discussed MRE's, MRE bombs, and various other Marine Corps related topics.

Afterwards, I talked to a group of fellow visitors, a few of whom rode in from Sanford. One of the guys in this group told me about using zip ties to change a tire. I wish I'd known about this about a year ago when I changed my rear tire. After breaking the bead, you run zip ties around the old tire about 6 inches apart, and the tire comes off easily. Zip tie the new tire with the same spacing, soap up the rim of your wheel, and slide the new one on. Remove the zip ties, and inflate. I'll definitely be trying this out in the future.

There was one visitor that I really didn't like. In fact, he was pretty much a douche bag. I won't mention what he was riding, but I get the impression that a lot of douchebags (not the Harley kind) ride bikes like this. He tried too hard to impress folks with his bike, his cavalier attitude towards women, how he has better judgement than one of the other guys there, etc. I think he was trying to convince himself how cool he was as much as trying to convince anyone else. Maybe I met my first squid (in the motorcycle terminology sense. I've met several sailors).

Later on, I wandered over to a couple and another guy having a conversation next to a very nice looking Indian Scout. The couple brought home brewed beer, and the wife seemed to be an expert in home brewing. I wish I'd given their beer a try, but I already had one beer. I drink very little when I know I'm going to be riding anytime soon. They were very down to Earth, and were a pleasure to talk to.

The other guy they were talking to seemed a bit pretentious at first, but turned out to be a pretty cool guy. He's educated, talked like he knew a thing or two about good wine, food, etc, but was friendly and definitely not snobbish. He's a computer science guy, and we discussed the software industry, actually discussed the company I work for (nothing confidential was discussed), and even discussed how software/electronic projects could be used for motorcycles.

I wish I could have stayed longer, but ended up leaving after hanging out for a couple of hours. A 5 year old monster lives at my house, and my wife needed some relief. I definitely did not feel out of place. I love that there was a wide variety of people there who are passionate about motorcycles.

I hope to join up one day. While I currently do not have the budget for it, their membership plans are very reasonable considering all they offer. Hopefully one day, I'll find myself turning a wrench there on a project bike. Until then, I hope to show up to more of their community events.

 By the way, their website is  http://www.standardmotorcycleco.com/

Disclaimer: Neither I nor my blog are in any way affiliated with Standard Motorcycle Company (though I might get a membership one day). They don't even know this blog exists and probably don't care. This is post is simply my impression of the place during their open house.

Why a Sportster?

About a couple years ago, I decided it was time for another motorcycle. I decided that I wanted a cruiser-type bike, but I wasn't looking for any particular make or model. I just knew it was time to ride again. I knew my next bike had to be used and fairly cheap. My budget is pretty tight already, and I really didn't want to have yet another bill to pay each month. I needed a bike that was fairly reliable, but also really easy to fix when something did go wrong. I considered several different bikes, but I decided an old Harley Sportster fit my needs better than anything else. In June of 2015, I bought a 1988 Harley Sportster 883.

So one might wonder why anyone would think a Harley could be an economical choice for a motorcycle. Harleys are high priced bikes when they're new, and tend to retain their value more than many bikes. I'd argue that they're overpriced. For the price of a new Sportster 1200, you could by an Indian Scout or a Victory Octane, both of which are much more powerful and handle better. There's also plenty of better built, more affordable "metric" cruisers. If you didn't want to stick with cruiser-style bikes, you could get a V Strom 650, Versys 650, KLR650, or many other better built and better engineered bikes for thousands less. If I had the budget for a new bike, I simply wouldn't spend good money on a new Harley. (I still think they're good bikes, just too pricey.)

But used Sportsters can be had for not too much money, especially Sportsters with an 883 cc motor. Regarded by many Harley enthusiasts as a "girl's bike", many think Sportsters are just not cool enough. However, very many Sportsters have been sold over the years. Good luck finding an old FXR for less than $4000 unless there's something wrong with it, but many old Sportsters can be found for less than $3000, even with 1200 cc motors. Many 883's are priced around $2000, including the one I eventually bought.

By the way, the idea that Sportsters aren't as cool as other Harleys is pretty silly. Until the V-Rod came around, Sportster 1200's were the best performing stock Harleys. As far as I know, they're generally better handling, too, except perhaps at highway speeds. Of course, many argue that the FXR's and Dyna's take turns as well as Sportsters. I'm not going to claim to know for sure. After riding my Sportster for about a year and a half, and knowing the horsepower of FXR's and older Dyna's, I don't know that I'd prefer either over my Sportster even if they were as cheap.

Parts cost and availability is another economic consideration which makes an old Sportster an economical choice. Essentially every part of a 1986-to-present Sportster can be had for a reasonable price. One could build a complete Sportster with aftermarket parts, though the result wouldn't perfectly resemble a stock Sportster. Of course, building a Sportster in such a manner would in fact be extremely costly, but the fact that you can says a lot about parts availability. Try buying brand new engine or frame for an old Suzuki Intruder 1400. The availability of new parts keeps the price of used parts low, and there's no shortage of used parts either. If some teeth break off of some gears in my transmission, I can order brand new ones online instead of scouring the internet for some hard-to-find used ones or resorting to having custom gears fabricated. (By the way, this ended up happening!)

Harleys, especially older ones, have a reputation from being unreliable, but that reputation is largely unfair. Much of this reputation comes from Harleys made during the AMF era. When that era ended in the 80's with Harley's management bying the company from AMF, they put a lot of effort into rebuilding Harley's reputation. The Evolution motors were introduced and were actually quite reliable. Evolution-era Sportsters ('86 to present) are known to last beyond 100k miles. My Sportster was built during a stage in Harley's existence when it was building good bikes and not in a position to take it's customers for granted.

While many knock the Harleys for being technological dinosaurs, this fact means that Sportsters are quite easy to work on. You don't need to be an experienced mechanic to repair and maintain them. Their use of push-rods with hydraulic lifters means there's no need for valve or cam chain tension adjustments. Because they are air cooled, there's no need to worry with maintaining coolant. They're also built to be fairly rugged.

A few months after I first bought my Sportster, I had a spill when I was pulling off on the side of the road and hit a patch of gravel. The shifter lever dug into the ground and bent back way too far. The shifter lever had a lot of free play afterwards, and the transmission was stuck in 1st gear. Luckily, I was close enough to home to hobble the bike back. I was scared my bike was trashed.

But as I researched the problem, I gained hope. After reading a few posts, I found out that the problem might simply be that the shifter shaft had popped loose from the shifter pawl. It was possible that nothing was broke at all, and that all I needed to do was put it back in place. While this still meant pulling the transmission out of the bike, at least I knew that it wouldn't cost me a fortune to fix. In the event that the shifter shaft or part of the shifter mechanism was broken, I knew from a little online searching that both new and used parts could be found for a reasonable price.

Despite having no experience with transmission work, I was able to do the repair myself. I consulted online forums and carefully read the repair manual for my bike. After pulling the transmission, I confirmed that no parts actually broke. For the cost of new gaskets, oil for the transmission and primary, and several hours of time and effort, I was able to put everything back together just fine. And since my Sportster had a cassette-type transmission, I didn't have to split the case! (Unfortunately, Sportsters made after 2003 do require splitting the case for transmission work.) Doing this kind of repair on most other motorcycles would be a huge pain in the ass and would likely cost more money for parts.

It's been more than a year and a half since I bought my Sportster, and I'm still very happy with it. Considering it's age, it requires little attention beyond simple maintenance. I've had miscellaneous rear brake issues that might be related to a previous owner mixing brake fluid or possibly just defective brake lines. Occasionally, a bolt or screw will come loose, and I'll have to screw it back in with some blue Loctite. I've had issues with replacement turn signals (previous owners removed the originals). Their are some very minor gasket leaks, but the oil level never noticeably drops. I've had some electrical gremlins, but that's to be expected from a bike that's nearly 30 years old. I still think I made the right choice.