I am a former road racer and have only owned sporting motorcycles, English in the 70s and Japanese in the 70s 80s and 90s. These include a Bonneville, a few Nortons, Kawasaki Mach3, Suzuki GSXSR 750, Kawa ZX9R etc., you get the picture.

I now still own a Commando and a Guzzi Breva 1200S and I raced Yamaha 250 and 350 2-strokes TDs, TRs and TZs. That’s my background

I never liked Harleys, but after seeing the difference in price between what they went for in Europe and the US, I figured that if I wanted to sell the bike in Europe I would lose less money with a Harley bought in the US and air freighted to Europe.

So, I rode this Harley a bit before shipping it. At first it was really strange. Even what they call mid mount pegs felt way too forward. Then, you have to get used to braking with a single front disk with a very heavy bike. You have to think far ahead.

That said, the Harley handles quite well, but you have to be careful not to lean too far as everything touches if you are any near a sporting rider.

The torque is very strong but you have very few revs available. It does handle ok in the twisties and on long sweepers, very stable.

I will be on the Autobahn or Autostrada for long periods so I bought “highway pegs” which I tried out and for us normal riders would seem strange. But when you get tired, they are really great for stretching out your legs.

I also bought a windshield which seemed to work well.

Anyway, I would have preferred to take my Guzzi or buy a BMW to take to Europe, but the Harley will be ok and will financially be a far better deal. Even a stripped BMW from 2009 will cost 10-12K with 10-15K miles and I only paid $6K for a 2009 Sportster 1200 with 700 miles on it. Plus the BMW would sell for nearly the same in Europe used as the Harley.

Neither motorcycle impressed me. I really dig the riding position, mid mounts are the way to go, to heck with the pontoon, floating your feet out, forward pegs. They are not all that and they aren’t as comfy for those of us short people (5’8″). On the topic of pegs, I dragged pegs on both the 1200 and 883 without trying. Come on HD make a bike with cornering clearance, Low and slow is not going to cut it anymore.

The performance of the 1200 was disappointing in a big way, I just expected, for its weight, and engine size to shoot me forward and be just a blast. Yeah not really. It was just boring, and didn’t even stretch my arms back. The performance of the 883 was impressive however. I did not expect it to be as peppy as it was. in flat out acceleration I felt it would best my Suzuki 800 Marauder. and it was also more comfortable cruising at 70 than my Suzuk was.

So this was the nice section of the review. Onto the crap. The bike felt like a cheap toy underneath you, I don’t care if its made out of metal or not. It was the difference between korean and japanese. there wasn’t much vibs considering the rubber mounted engine, but I still got vibes through the bars on the 883 and they were small but obnoxious in the worst way. The seat was crap, I mean my butt hurt after 20 minutes. Even honda seats will last longer than that and they are known for being crap.

So that’s it. Engine power is awful (at least in stock trim), seats are bad, no cornering clearance, weird vibes in the bars, frames feel special-ed, just like something isn’t right.

I love Harley’s I really do, but these two bikes that I rode set a really bad example. If I had bought one to start out with, it would have turned me off from buying a big twin as an upgrade and I’d be looking elsewhere.

(A side note to the original reviewer, the sportster does not have a 6 speed transmission. Only a 5 speed)