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.