Howdy, just a rambling while its cold today. Im 64 road Harley snice I was about 14-15 years old. Had a 1954 Pan ( Back in the day ), a couple of shovels and 2 new sporties. They are all long gone. I just started back a couple of years ago after a 15 year "interlude". Now that im semi-retired I plan to stay & ride a Harley until I can no longer "climb on". Last fall I bought a new 1200 Iron ( white ), At 500 miles I did a Stage One, took off the ugly "fairing", installed set of DK Custom Ft foot rests,and added a Led Sled ( I think ) sissy bar. The bike is sharp and runs VERY WELL, on the interstate it runs 75-85 no strain at all. Im really liking the bike. I took it in at 900 mile for the "free" 1000 mile thingy. I do most of my own work as I run a little auto repair shop. Plus I am on a "working man" budget and have to watch my pennies.I also went ahead and bought a service manual for about 140 dollars, which I feel is a must. I gave 10000 for the bike,which I don't think is to bad, that was out the door with the 2 years service contract which I aint to worried about. I ALMOST & I mean ALMOST got the Street Bob instead, I even test road one. It didn't feel much diff than my 1200 Iron, I read ALOT and like I said I do most my own work and been turning wrenches most my life. I know the Iron aint a interstate bike, at my age I MIGHT take a long distance trip once or twice a year, thats because more of money than what the bike will do. The BIGGEST reason I didn't get the Street Bob with the M8 is …..they are WAY over my head with the new engine design, I KNOW I can keep my Sportie on the road. The way I look at things is at least Im riding something I can afford and not just a "dreamer". I live in the sticks of East Kentucky and the bike is perfect for that. As soon as it gets in the mid 70 ( soon I hope) Im gonna take a thousand dollars cash, and about 10 days off, and just see how much I like the bike! Regards "Big E"

 

Don't worry, HD is over their head with the M8 design too, just ask anyone with a sumping issue.

Keep the Sporty

 

ENJOY he Ride!

 

I've test ridden a couple of the M8 bikes, I get back on my 1200C Sportster and ride home happy with what I have. The M8's are nice, but they aren't nice enough for me to justify the payments on a new bike.

 

I've been chomping at the bit all Winter for Spring to get here so I can trade in my '05 1200C for an M8. Now that it's getting close to crunch time, I find myself leaning toward keeping the 1200 another year. I figure about $1k in mods will make the bike a bit more comfortable for my fat ***. That's an easier pill to swallow than $15-$16k OTD. Maybe next year when there are more used M8 Softails on the market.

 

I have a 2016 883 Iron that I purchased new . Almost made a deal just yesterday for a 2018 Softail Slim . But after reading hundreds and hundreds of pages on the M8 oil migration or sumping problems I passed . I know my Evolution engine is almost bullet proof .Maybe the sumping problem was fixed with the 2019's ? . I do not trust Harley to fix the problem when for many years they refused to fix their cam chain tensioner problem ! I'am going to keep the Iron and just might by a BMW motorcycle . Harley deserves what comes their way in regard to decreased sales and falling stock prices .

 

Not all that long ago that Sporty would have been considered a luxurious highway machine. It's all relative. Suffice it to say many have ridden farther on much less.

 

I don't want to bash M8s (we're all on the same side) but I didn't think the 114 Breakout I tested was anything special. Too smooth and didn't feel like it had any character. My Sportster, on the other hand, has tons of character and still makes me smile every time. 19k miles and counting.

 

Softails have not had any problems with migration or sumping.

 

Softails not having sumping issues ? The Softail is still sitting at the Dealer , maybe I will revisit the idea . My research did not list sumping issues by specific bike , only that people who had new 2017-2018 with the new m8 engine platform were having issues . I'am no sure ?