I searched forum threads for issues with 1998 1200 custom, didn't really find anything.

Can anybody give me a heads up on what to look for on a 1998 1200 custom with 20,000 miles?

Expected private party sales price?

 

Most used bikes I've bought had fairly nice looking tread but were often 10 years old, or older (20, on one front tire). Don't go by deep tread, look at the tire dates on the sidewall; those Harley Dunlops seem to get especially hard and slide prone after 5 or 6 years. Both my sportsters would break the back end loose real easy on corners till I put new tires on them - Avons on both, but there are plenty of good brands out there. If you get the best traction tires, you'll probably get less mileage out of them, there's no best at everything. I just figure stickier tires give me a better chance of longer lasting skin.

Enough folks have had the brass rivets fail in the spring plate in the clutch plate stack that I think it's an issue to consider. Google "sportster brass rivet clutch failure" and get a bunch of articles, pics, and videos. I pulled the plates on my 1200 around 30,000 miles, and they were loose but hadn't broken yet. I wouldn't go 20,000 after seeing that. A number of companies make replacement plates eliminating the riveted mess, that get good reviews; I used a Barnett set and like it. If your fiber plates look good, you can put in standard plates to fill in the gap left by leaving out the spring plate, but I figured at 30,000 miles, just replace all the fiber plates and probably never have to pull them again.

Prices vary around the country, and at that age, it's bottomed out, will sell more on condition than age. Check Craig's List for comparisons, if you haven't already. Sporties are solid Harleys; I think they're generally more dependable than big twins, and my 1200 has sure held up well.

Just in case you didn't know, rubber mounted engines didn't start on sportsters till '04. My '04 has a lot less vibration than my 2000 at highway speeds.

 

I think the clutch problem is with the 05 and up,that bike should be rock solid if it was maintained.

 

Thanks, yes, i'm aware of the rubber mounted '04's I had one briefly. I have a 2014 Road King. Love it. I'm looking for that veritable bar hopper that rattles the fillings in my teeth.

 

I have a 98 1200 custom too,it's their 95th anniversary model..I love mine ,it had 23,000 miles when I bought it last year..so far I haven't experience any problems beside replacing the light bulbs..

 

Same plate way back, but the rivets breaking seems more reported in 2000's; switched to different materials, or cheap foreign rivets? My '04 was obviously on the road to failure. Might not be common because a lot of sporties never get 10,000 miles on them, just sit and collect dust, or get sold frequently when the original owner that got them for a starter bike either tires of them or gets too intimidated by them to ride any more, and they don't get 1000 miles per owner.