Hey guys,

I am new to the forums - just joined today. Me and my buddy are in the prelims for planning a trip from Ohio to Colorado next summer. About ~1500 mile trip one way. I can afford a sportster and I am still a 'new' rider. Riding on and off for a couple of years.

Clearly, we need bags, sissy bar, sissy bar bag and the essentials for a two week trip from Columbus, OH to Avon, CO. We plan on taking 3-4 days to get there. I do understand I'll be making tons of stops for gas, roughly every hour and a half.

What's your input?

Thanks.

 

If you like the 72, get it. You will just have to do more planning to make sure there are enough gas stations along the route. As far as bags go, I would just get a sissy bar and strap some bags on it.

 

Agreed ^^^

 

i do like the 72s. its everything i would do to a sporty to begin with. there are add ons i'd like to do including exhaust and various other accessories.

my buddy has a 48, so its not like ill be inconveniencing him by stopping so often, and my other dude has a sportster 1200xl. all three of us on 70W for 1500 miles.

what should i expect on the road? do's and don'ts? cool places to stop?

thanks for the input.

 

Better get a more comfy seat. I bet a sundowner seat would look funny on a 72. Good luck and keep us posted about the trip. By the way, welcome to the madness of HDForums.

 

First off, welcome to the forum from San Diego, CA.

I really like the looks of the 72 too. It reminds me of the old days of the Sportsters. The only thing I didn't like about the old Sportster was the small tank and the 72 is one of the smallest at about 2.1 gallons if it still has it's stock tank. That's even smaller than the 3.3 which was too small too. If you don't mind filling up about every 100 miles go for it. Otherwise I would choose one that has the bigger 4.5 gal tank. I wouldn't get a 72 and then change out the tank since it is the tanks that gives the 72 it's classic look. I have done larger trips than what you are planning with a small tank and a large tank, and I will never go back to a small tank again. Unless, that is, I buy a bike strictly for show and don't plan on leaving the city limits even for a run in the local mountains. If you are buying a bike with plans to take several long runs during the life of the bike, I would go with a different Sportster like the Custom if you like forward controls or a low or similar if you like the mid controls that has a larger tank, then get a more comfortable seat because none of the Sportster come stock with a seat that is designed for long trips.

 

If you stay on the interstate the whole way I dont think the small tank will be an issue. That long of an interstate ride will be mindnumbingly boring though.

 

Recommend picking up a butt sized gel pad for the seat and maybe a sheep's wool cover, for me anyway on multiple day rides mixing up what you sit on helps one accommodate all the seat time. One other thing I would do is rig up a temporary accessory plug to keep my droid charged so I could use it to find gas stations.....

 

Seat pad: If you like the look of the stock seat, then buy a cheap seat pad at Wally World or Target. I bought one for about $25 and used it on a 700 mile trip and my *** was sore, but felt a lot better than it did when I made the trip without it.

 

+1 - It would be a shame to turn an adventure into a mind numbing trek on the slab.

On the other hand, gas stations on rural roads in the middle of the country can sometimes be few and far between. There's been a few times that I rolled into a small 1 gas station town looking for gas, only to find the station was closed or had gone out of business. When I'm traveling on rural roads in unfamiliar territory, I've found the trip more enjoyable and less worrisome, if I plan on fueling with a 40-50 mile reserve, but with a 2 gal tank, that would be ridiculously frequent.

My recommendation would be to pick up a used 3.3 gal tank (e-Bay) for the trip. You just have to swap the fuel pump over to the new tank (easy) and bolt on the bigger tank. When you get back, it's an easy swap to put the 2 gal tank back on.

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