Don't worry about the weight they are quicker than you think especially after the stage 1 upgrade. Mine is carburated so I don't know what an efi would be like. lots of low end tork !

 

How is the sportster on a long haul 300 miles plus?

 

The bike will be fine on a 300 mile run but your *** might not be. Stock seat is not the best so I added an Alaska Leather sheepskin buttpad and that helped a lot. Bike will run all day at 70-80 mph and love it. Stop for gas every 120 miles or so (peanut tank) and you're good to go.

[IMG]local://upfiles/33562/F4F90D165AE44F42B5BCC9278C81D411.jpg[/IMG]

 

120 miles it time to stretch anyway [8D]

 

What do I think of the Roadster?

I love my Roadster. I am 6'2" around 190 lbs. It fits me fine. I only start feeling cramped after 4 hours of riding. But I added highway pegs so I can stretch out on if I need to. If you're tall you may want to do that. I like the mid pegs for the balance I get from them and feel when I am carving into a turn. Pegs and bars are real personal though.

I do feel I could take this thing cross country. Of course, it would not be the ideal bike to do so -- but it would not be a problem.

I have gone 2-up on it. Again it is not ideal. I would not want to do it on a road trip. For short hops from place to place it is not a big deal. IF I did a lot of 2-ups I would definitely want something different.

I like the way it balances. It is top heavy compared to other HD --but having ridden dirt bikes it seems natural to me. I find no problems balancing it on slow maneuvers.

The turning radius, nimbleness, torque etc are all good. I love the dual disks up front. Some will debate the brake issues -- but the fact is two is better than one. And since most of the stopping is on the front, two is great. For a Harley style bike, the R's brakes are excellent.

I have no complaints.

If I ever were to buy a larger bike -- like a touring model -- I have all intentions of keeping the 1200R. I'll put a solo seat on it and strip it down to make a hooligan barhopper out of it.

The only thing I do not like about the Roadster is the capacity of the tank. I'd love to have more than 3.3 gallons. But I love the lines of the peanut tank and have not been able to bring myself to slapping on a 4.5 gallon Custom tank. The functionally thinking side of me has been planning to add the larger tank for awhile. The artistic side of me thinks the peanut tank is a thing of beauty. I am conflicted on this one. One day I am afraid the functional side of me may win.

 

I have a 1200 R. It rocks. Enough said.

 

We have an extremely nice 2007 1200R in our used fleet right now.... Very low miles... I believe < 1000... I notice that you live in New York though... And I am in Idaho.... PM me if you have any questions.

 

2005 1200 R-added forward controls----concerning road trips, the wife and I went 373 miles in one day to the Loveland ColoradoLabor DayRally.If I knew how to put a picture on here you could see our saddle bags and huge sissy bag on the bike. I made a sissy bar/luggage rackthat is approx 30 inches high to support it. We had all our camping equipment (tent, sleeping bag, air mattress) clothes and coats for three days plus 2 full face shield helmets (needed them to get through Nebraska)and etc all on the bike.

 

Oh, Yes, we had about 230 pounds of wife and me on it so we were real close to the gross vehicle weight accoding to the owners manual. I ran from 70 to 80mph all day long and it ran like a champ.

 

04 1200R
Motor Rocks!....
Suspension sucks!(hence the Progressive upgrades)
Seat sucks!(hence the Mustang)
Mirrors are useless to see beyond your elbows (hence the Kury Magnums)

A great weekend warrior/back road blaster bike.
I have done some longer trips on it, but it's no touring bike and no amount of money/mods will change that.