? about HD Sportster

[formula154]

I don't know how old you are but back in those days (67,68) Honda was the only Japanese bike with a 4 cycle engine. The rest of em were 2 cycle and you had to add oil to the gas tank when you put gas in it. They used to smoke real bad to. That is why all my friends rode Hondas, we didn't like the 2 cycle sound. 450 was the biggest bike honda had.Those 2 cycle bikes were fast though. Back in those days we all wanted to have Harley's when we grew up.That was before they invented sport bikes.

NICE....I have a 65 I am in the midst of restoring. :rockon:

 

[necrotimus]

My suggestion would be to sit on a sportster. It is a very popular bike for shorter people because of the lower seat heights. My wife really wanted a HD (I despise them and will never own one) but at 5'10" she felt the sportster was too small and the riding posture too cramped. She didn't like anything else until the softail line ($16k). We looked at used HDs and I will tell you that resell is not a problem because they hold their value.

We ended up buying a 650 VSTAR Classic for her for about $5.5k (guy had bought it for his first bike put $2k in extras on the bike and rode it for 1,200 miles and decided he wanted to trade up to a 1300). For about the same price point or less I think the 650 Vstars look nicer than the sportster. Yes I think HD's outclass the other cruisers in looks when you start moving up in price but I think they need a better price than $7k on their 'entry level bike'. HDs may or may not be nice bikes but the fact is you are paying extra for the emblem.

The cruiser is fun to drive but the difference between it and the FZ is night and day. I got on my bike and I thought 'turn left' and the bike went left. I get on her vstar and it is 'TURN LEFT YOU BEAST! TURN!'. On the FZ you feel dialed in to the bike and ready to pounce. On her bike its more laid back and relaxed (I've never seen someone smoking on a sports bike before).