For a few years now I've been casually looking for a clean 1200-S from the 90's. It's a bike I've always thought would be cool to have. Well I found this one on Cycle Trader last Monday, it was in Bethesda, MD, 700 miles from ATL. 17,145 miles, single owner, he had all records! Super clean with some tasteful mods. The real twist to the story is I already had flights booked to DC for a work appointment last Thursday. So I packed real light for work and took my riding gear with me to DC. I met the owner on Weds. night to check out the bike and we made a deal and I left a deposit. He delivered the bike to my hotel later that night, we closed the deal and had a beer. Then I got him an Uber home.
From the 1200-S's I've seen for sale and the prices being asked, I feel I got a pretty good deal on this one. We agreed on $2,300. I'm normally seeing them for a lot more, but the seller told me he's got a new wife and her car needs to fit in the garage so he sold the Sporty to save his Road King and '69 Vette convertible (both kept immaculate). LOL! He was motivated to sell.
I left Bethesda Thursday afternoon and rode 250 miles before it got too dark. Grabbed a hotel then did 450 miles home on Friday. It was a long trip on the super-slab but I was so psyched to own this bike that the miles didn't bother me too much at all.
Today I used the bike for an advanced rider course I had booked, and it was fun to be able to use the 1200-S for the course.
The photo is from the hotel right after I bought it. At some point I'll post better pics in the Sportster section.
Sorry, no Vette pic. I was thinking of taking a photo of the Vette, but he was a bit guarded and I don't think he would have appreciated it. And I would totally understand. I wouldn't want a stranger taking pics of my garage treasure either!
06-10-2018, 08:20 PM
Finally found a sweet 1200 Sport, 1999!
