So I grew up with my dad riding a Harley my entire life. I'm just now starting to look in to getting one and I'm pretty set on a 2015 Sportster 1200. My dad said he started out with one, so I'm taking his advice and following in his footsteps. What were some of y'alls first bikes? Did anyone get something too big and bad for their own good?

 

go with a hog bro ....try em b4 u buy em

 

My wife bought a Sportster for her first HD and in about a month she wished she would have bought something bigger.

 

Try a few bikes out and see what works for YOU!!! I actually came over to HD after 20 plus years of sport bike riding.. Ended up with a 2015 48... Which I love.. Mostly because it's a great bike to ease me into cruiser mode.. I'll never be a road king or huge touring kind of guy but I'll probably end up on a fat boy in a few years.. Happy hunting!

 

My first bike was a 1980 or 1981 Honda CB650 Custom my dad bought for me for really cheap in 1987 or 1988..

This is a stock photo. The mufflers were Totten on mine when I got it and ended up improving some slip ons that turned it into a 4 into 2 exhaust system that worked pretty well.

 

If you don't have any riding experience yet, I suggest getting something smaller to learn on for a little while. If you're set on a Harley, a Street 500 or 750 would be a pretty forgiving learner bike.

That said, my first bike was 2006 Sportster 1200 Custom. I dropped it twice in the first week, but if I could go back in time and learn again, I'd probably get the same bike. It was a hell of a lot of fun. I don't doubt I would've learned faster on, say, a Honda Rebel, but once I got used to the Sporty, I was set. I will say, though, that Sportsters are probably the least forgiving Harley to learn on, due to their higher center of gravity and shorter wheelbase.