Can anyone who has owned both solid(particularly 1991-2003) and rubber mount (2004 onwards) sportsters please chime in and tell us how the two bikes compare? How does the older lighter model feel vs the newer one? Vibration, handing, bumps, durability, etc. Tell me about how they feel, not the kinda statistics and numbers I can easily find all over the internets.

I'm on a fatboy but love the looks of sporties and am considering picking one up. I'll test one before purchase, obviously.

any help greatly appreciated.

 

gonna get alot of smack........too many varibles.......you need to ride both, some like classic and shaky, some like efi and smooth, and some like classic and smooth, handling, bumps, ease of maintaining, the sporty look is up to you and what you wanna feel from it, and how much you wanna do to it

I like mine, vibration and all, butt goes numb at some rpms...........i shift

and i like carbed

 

that's the kind of input I'd like to hear in how they differ from 03 and earlier vs 04 onwards.

I would never expect a sporty to be as smooth and comfy as my fatboy, I'm expecting it to feel more "tippy", nimble, probably a harsher ride, but with those things comes other benefits, likely handles better, quicker through a turn, possibly more fun to ride in general(so long as its not an hours long highway ride).

 

many ride hours long hrs on sporties.....and do the twisties, power, rider, how you like to ride, whats comfy to you, weight of bike, the rider................like i said, too many varibles, the benefits are what you like and how comfy you are

 

I have owned and rode all three versions, solid, rubber mount with carb, and rubber mount efi. I like them all.
But my favorite would have to be rubber mount with carb.
Solid mount is fine, and I do love the vibes, but for a short time only. The efi is real nice, but I really like being able to repair my bikes myself without needing special equipment.

 

I have both, solid mount carb and rubber mount efi. I prefer the solid mount carb sportsters. I don't think I can put into words why.
Maybe it's the solid connection of the motor and the frame, I always give my buddy a hard time at stop lights when it looks like his motor is trying to jump off his bike.
Maybe it's the ease of tuning, changing some jets vs the expensive gadgetry that is suppose to make it easier, but really doesn't.
Maybe it's the feel of the motor, to me it seems like the carbed motors can pull harder down lower in the rpm range than the efi's.
Maybe it's just because I started out on carbed, solid mount models. I can't really say.
All I know is my efi bike doesn't see the action my '03 Sportster does.

 

I've owned Harleys since the 70s, including new shovel, Evo and twincam. Like you I fancied a Sporty for the same reasons and rode new models from ironhead through solid-mount Evos to the current rubber-mounts. Bear in mind my shovel was a solid mount I just couldn't get on with a solid-mount Sporty, nor could I bring myself to buy one. The current rubber-mounts are night and day different. IMHO forget the weight thing and try both. Th current bikes are a joy to ride by comparison, so almost 40 years after buying my first Harley I also have a Sporty - at last!

 

I've got a frame mounted carb Sportster, and I've ridden my late brothers FI rubber mounted Sportster. I found his Sportster much more comfortable to ride LD at highway speeds. I also liked that starting it was like starting a modern car. No working the throttle and pulling out a fuel enrichment ****. IDK about long term reliability or working on it at the side of the road. I know he never had any trouble with his but he didn't ride it very long before he ended buying a Road King. I thought his Sporty was much more comfortable than mine but he was still uncomfortable with the ride. He was however older and heavier and had back issues, so even any small differences in ride quality were important, particularly since his previous mc before the Harleys was a Gold Wing. So I guess comfort sometimes is relative and based on your individual perspective.

 

I've had all three and currently have an 01. the 01 is by far my favorite. there is a noticeable weight difference. the efi is nice for start and go but idles a little high and seems to have a slight surge off idle. easy fix with tuner, but all that electronic stuff is expensive compared to a couple of jets. carbs are easy enough. its not a touring bike and will never ride like one. doesn't mean one can't tour on it. there are improvements that can be done with the suspension and seats for comfort. honestly I don't really fell "extra" vibration in my solid mount that is all that noticeable. I'm 5'08" and 185 and am comfortable riding any of them. efi's that I have owned were bullet proof. never had issues with them outside normal wear items. my 06 had the float get stuck. cleaned the carb. other than that, no issues with that bike. personally I'd be happy with any of them. certain differences in the bikes may be subjective to the rider

 

Thanks for the input guys! This is the kind of info i was hoping to get! (more still welcome of course) Because hearing each of you tell your experience helps so much more then reading "rubber mount feels smoother". You raise points that I never even considered as well. This is very helpful.