On my way in to work this morning on my 1998 HD sportster 883 my engine started sputtering like it was running out of gas and my headlight kept dimming and my speedometer and revometer were all over the place. I'm new to motorcycles in general and am hoping for clues as to what to start checking.

 

Check that the battery terminals are tight and have the battery load tested. In most instances it's something simple and general maintenance related.

 

Check your charging system. It sounds like yours could be going bad

 

This. Same thing has happened to me, sputtering turned out (most of the time) to be loose battery connection.