New guy, trying to see if I did good or not
 

Hey all, just snagged up my first Harley. Not exactly the one I wanted, but pretty damn close. I really wanted to get a brand new 2018 Street Bob with the sweet black and denim 2 tone. It just screamed me. However, the numbers just didn't make sense at the time so I walked, and I went back to a deal one of my neighbors offered up. He'd trade me straight up for his 2008 Sportster XL1200N Nightster with 21k miles for my 2005 Chevy Trailblazer with 93k miles on it. Which was ok with me, because I didn't even want the trailblazer to begin with, I was trying to sell it for $4,500. Now the trailblazer was in tip top mechanical shape, only 1 small scratch on the back bumper, the interior was immaculate and still smelled new, had about $1,000 of brand new michelin tires all around (including the spare). You'd think the thing was only 2 years old, except for the fact it had 93k miles on it and the trailblazer hasn't been made in several years. It's the nicest 13 year old SUV I've ever seen.

Anyways, the bike, had a bunch of mods to it and came with most of the stock parts. Exhaust, intake, stage 1, dyno tuned (have dyno sheets to prove it 75tq/82hp), lowered in the back, fancy led upgrade to all lights, coil and ignition relocation, tank raise, forward controls, upgraded seat. Bunch of other stuff I'm probably forgetting too. Lots of Joker and Kinetic parts though.

I spent a little bit of time last night putting the front fender back on, relocating the speedometer back to it's original position and getting the stock handlebars back on. It had some goofy straight bars that were really short, my mountain bike has bigger bars on it.

The bike had a clean tittle, I'm only the 3rd owner of it now, never been dropped, nothing more than a few chips on the tank from rocks getting kicked up on it. Runs FANTASTIC.

So which one of us got a better deal? Him or me? At the end of the day we both won I think. He got a new daily driver, and I snagged up my first motorcycle without snagging up a payment.

If you are happy with the deal...Roll with it. Sounds like you both won, a great position to be in for both of you! Enjoy the bike and be safe.

Welcome from Colorful Colorado :)

One thing I learned a very long time ago, once the deal is done, never go back to see if you got a deal. If you were happy with the deal when you did it, then go with that feeling. Too late to go back and redo now ;)

I know it's done. I'm happy as can be about it. The trailblazer was given to me, I didn't want or need it. I already had 3 other vehicles. I only put about $200 into that trailblazer, of which most of that was in gas just getting the damn thing back home from where I picked it up at.

My only regret about the deal is when I gave him the trailblazer it had a full tank of gas, close to $60, the bike? Yeah, it was empty.

Congrats on your first Harley. Let's see some pics now.

Ride it and enjoy it...Only takes about $9 or $10 bucks to fill it up.....

I'm looking at Cycle Trader dot com and narrowed the search to the bike for which you traded. You were asking $4500 for your vehicle and, I got the impression it wasn't selling.

The bike you bought, sans improvements/upgrades, are listing for just above $4500 on the above mentioned site.

I think you did fine. Enjoy the bike. I wish I had it. It sounds like fun.

You got he best deal 'cause you got the HARLEY!

Yeah What Dicky just said. You never see a Chevy decal on a Harley do you?

I saw a vid a while back where some dumbass put a Ford emblem on the fairing of his bagger.....

Well, maybe a small sticker on the back corner of the window.. :)

YOU won. When I read your first post I was wondering how deep you were into the Trailblazer but you answered that a few posts later. You're in the wind & he isn't.................Priceless. Post a pic of the new scoot!

Learn to ride it and work on it. The more miles you put on it the bigger the grin you'll get thinking about this deal.

Your neighbor will be happier in the winter.

Don't worry about the 60 bucks,next time he fills up it'll cost him 60 bucks.

Umm... yeah. I'm talking about a full sized diecast emblem off a vehicle, not a decal. Quite a bit of difference in rationale there.....

I'll tell y'all a secret. I broke one of the plastic electrical clips on the wiring harness for the fuel injectors on my '07 Sporty. I ordered a replacement from the dealer, and when I was installing it I had to get up real close to make sure I was inserting the wire pins correctly. And then I saw it...real tiny, but unmistakable...the oval circle with "Ford" in the center. I laughed out loud for sure.

Congrats on the Nightster!

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.hdf...403b600c6a.jpg
How I got it.
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.hdf...6293059993.jpg
Back of it.
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.hdf...19f9d3214b.jpg
What it looks like now.
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.hdf...10e958b2ff.jpg
Current.
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.hdf...ad9165df30.jpg
New gauge.


Yeah, never got around to uploading pictures. I broke my hand back in October and was sidelined for 2 months. Since then, been busy riding. Haven't done much to the bike besides swap over the handlebars back to stock, relocate the speedometer back to the original position, put the front fender back on it. Also changed the oil, spark plugs, flushed the brake fluid, which led to replacing the rear stop light switch, and replaced the gauge with the accessory Harley digital one to get a tach. Putting the new sending unit in the tank was kinda interesting, damn fuel pump is the same size as one in a car, but you have a much smaller opening to get it out.

Looks to me like ya done good on a sharp looking bike. I would love to have a Sportster.

That's a long time it took ya to get pictures posted LOL

Glad to hear you are okay and healed.

"Healed" being a relative term. I broke it on Friday October 26th, broke my thumb in 3 spots, and the hand bone for my pinky finger in 1 spot. Didn't get back to work until mid January. Thankfully I broke it at work so I was able to get paid sitting on the couch watching Netflix. But, MAN, does it still hurt sometimes. Really irked me, because that Saturday was supposed to be close to 80 degrees and clear, I was planning on doing at least 100 miles that day. But nope, instead was getting fitted into a cast up to my elbow.

I'm looking to replace the rear brake pedal with something that isn't quite so slippery next. Granted, I don't use the rear brakes much, heck, I don't use the front that much either, I find myself downshifting most of the time and letting the engine do the work for me. Probably need to replace the pads on it on both front and rear as well, but, still have about 2 or 3mm of thickness left, so I can PROBABLY get thru this season before I really need to do it.

Sweet looking bike. Looks like you got a great deal.

Phil

I thought the raised white lettering on the tires looked bada$$. Thought about doing it on my or my son’s bike, but don’t want paint to flake or wear off and leave a mess.

I wasn't a huge fan of them, they looked like autozone rice aisle add-ons. Plus, they were more yellow than white in person, at least to my eyes. Plus, if they said Dunlop or Goodyear, or whatever.....it would make more sense since it's on a tire. The tire isn't the model / size of the engine...ha.

Now, back in the day...I had a set of Goodyear Eagle F1's on my Mustang, yeah, I painted those yellow, gave it a very NASCARish / race look. That didn't last very long, the brake dust off the brembos killed it pretty quickly, but it looked cool for a few days. I was almost forshadowing NASCAR starting to run the Mustang, which happened, albeit close to 10 years later.

Yeah, you done good! Good call putting the original parts where they belong too.

.....you'll drive yourself nutz overthinking this. enjoy your new [to you] bike!

ride safe!!

Cool looking scoot. Sounds like you are happy with the deal, so it was definitely a good one. Enjoy, and ride safe!

Run the wheels off of that Sporty for 2 or 3 years and you can still turn around and sell it for 3 or 4 thousand, sounds like a win to me.

.......... next time get the road glide :icon_biggrin:

You did right by ditching those goofy looking bars. Now get to work getting rid of that tank lift... :icon_wink:

So you had $200 in the trailblazer and got a sportster 1200 I say you got a good deal

A good deal is a state of mind, a great deal is when both parties walk away feeling like they got taken advantage of...

If it were me, I'd be happy with that deal, for sure.

Don't mess around with brakes. Pads are super cheap, the pedal isn't much more. When you NEED the brakes, you'll be glad for every foot of advantage you have.

Absolutely!!

Well think of it this way instead then: Someone gave you a free Sportster.

I actually don't MIND that so much. Plus, I don't have the plastic bits the wiring harness clips too. I tried taking it off, only to figure out "Oh...this ain't gonna work."