So my wife has a 1200L that she likes but says it doesn't handle or corner as well as she'd like it to. She is interested in trading for the XR. I know she wants to stay Harley, or else she'd look into sport bikes. Anyone have a similar transition from one to the other?

 

Hope she has LONG legs.....that is a huge difference in ride height and seat height

 

She does indeed

 

I went from an Iron to an XR for the same reasons as your wife. While I liked the Iron I was dragging hard parts often. An added bonus with the XR was the ability to see around vehicles in traffic as you sit up higher. Yes, it is a further reach to the ground but I even installed custom rear shocks that are 1.5" longer than stock for even more lean angle and to further quicken the steering. Simply put, I am glad I moved to the XR.

 

yeah dude do it, how many of them you really see on the road ya know? but if she dont wanna go over to the dark side (lol) too far she could go with a buell..... i want a 1125cr so bad!

 

I got to ride one this weekend, although not for very long, I was able to gain a little insight on it. First thing I noticed is it's tall. Im about 5'10" with a 32" inseam and was pretty much on my tip toes. The riding postion was different than Im used to but I found it fairly comfortable, it rode better than I expected. Handled well and the dual brake setup up front grabs way harder than the single rotor setup on my 48. At first I really liked it as long as you're able to accept it for what it is. A heavy, sport-oriented, over priced Harley. If you're able to accept this then you'll love it. The way I look at it, if I was in the market for a sport bike any of the Jap manufactures offer better performance for thousands less. Or if I was looking to stick American/HD I'd try to find a used Buell since they seem to sell fairly priced. The XR just left me with a bit of sticker shock.

 

100% agree. That is the reason why I found a new left over orange '10 (in Nov. '10) out of state for less than $8k. To me, that was worth paying. Almost $12k for an '11 is a bit of a stretch.