Bonneville America Forums Forums General Motorcycle Forums Other Bikes 1200 nightster, not bad!

There is finaly a Harley sportser that is tempting to buy. I guess the nightster(especialy the front)looks a little bonnevillish with a V-twin instead of a parallel twin. Change the pipes and put some dragg bars on, then I can actualy(can't believe I'm saying this)see myself on this bike!

It's not bad looking for a Harley.

After sitting on one at a recent show, I can say that while they are GORGEOUS -- yes, I realize this is blasphemy, and I apologize -- they are too short. They've slammed the bike so low that it's actually akin to trying to climb in/out of an old Spitfire; it's so low to the ground it's uncomfortable.

Raise the suspension a tad, put some more forward controls on 'er, tho... and she'll be a sweet little scoot.

Bravo, Harley, you hit this one right on the head.

--Jaeger

I haven't seen one live yet, but it does look cramped in the above pic. Cool bike though.

Harley is smart, they know this bike needs forward controls. And they will install them for probably 500 when you buy the bike.
Got to hand it to them.

Got to give it to HD, that took some balls to build/release that bike. Not sure how they get away with the side mount license plate. Pretty sure that is not legal in at least PA.

I don't think it's such a stretch. Old school style, rat bikes and matte finishes are all the rage in the chopper scene these days. I think it's a very calculated business decision, not a ballsy one.

I think those gaiters look like a modern day toilet plunger.
Otherwise I'm ok with I guess

Calculated yes, but still a fairly small niche market that most other builders don't have the numbers to go after, and would be quite the ballsy move.

Looks top heavy.

I can take it or leave it. Not a bad looking bike.. but no where near as lovely as my TBA.. not by a country mile

Don't get me wrong I'll never get rid of my speedy. My purpose of this post was to express my suprise on seeing a sportster I really liked. If I do get a second ride it will be a Sprint ST then I'll have a cruiser and a sport bike. That how ever is probably two years away if it happens at all.

I have been looking at them today as a matter of fact. I do beleive when the crazy have to have them crowds get out of my way I will be adding the Silver and Black model to my stall. I wouldn't dare get rid of old blue...
Vic

I really like this bike for some reason. I was going to do some mods to my speedy to add more of a blacked out look. The style of the Nightster is not exactly what I was going for but closer than my current speedy. I just may take one for a ride to see if is something I want. Just have to figure out how I can afford to pay for speedy and a nightster at the same time (Bye bye boat and truck). I really hope I don't like the test ride.

I really liked the look of this bike on their www site, so went to the local HD dealership today and was very disappointed.

They had an orange/black in-stock for just under $9600. Handlebars and controls looked very cheap. There's a very noticeable gap between the tank and seat. The matte gray engine covers just don't do it for me. Probably would look better on the black/silver paint combo, definitely not the orange/black. The drilled out chainguard and front-fender support bracket look like an afterthought. The seat height on the darn thing was just over my knee! The main wiring harness on the right side sticks out like a sore thumb.

Man, I really wanted to like this thing. Good, but expensive mini-bike for a pre-teen.

Regards,

Tom

As y'all get older, you will appreciate a very low bike. Sometimes I wish I had kept my old Panhead, it was low enough that I could just walk up on it from behind instead of throwing my leg over.

What's the MSRP?

The MSRP depends on if it's the solid black or two tone. $9990 for the two tone. I did go in and ride one yesterday. It was a silver and black one. They also had a vivid black one that was a glossy black. I felt the glossy black color did not fit the theme of the bike. The matte silver and black fit very well IMO. I am pretty sure I would not have liked the Orange and black because it was Glossy colors as well. I rode the silver and black and was very impressed with the stock amount of torque. and being only 40 lbs heavier than the speedmaster it seemed very impressive.
At highway speed i did not notice any annoying vibration like I get with the speedy at certain RPM's

A few of the things I liked about it are:
It seemed much more responsive than the speedy.
It has self canceling signals
I really like the taillight/blinker/brake light combo.
It has a thumbscrew that you can tighten for a limited cruise control.
I like the mid mount foot controls.
I like how stable it feels at 85 mph against the wind.
I like the stock sound louder than the stock triumph but not nearly as loud as my speedy with epco's.
I liked the handlebar position.
It is fuel injected
I also liked the way the front blinkers are set up as running lights

A few things I don't like or it needs:
It needs highway bars the midmount while nice in town I feel would be very uncomfortable for log open road rides.
I would need black exhausts added
The rear shocks are not impressive I felt a pretty sharp jolt on a couple bumps.
A tachometer although not necessary would be nice. I did not hit the rev limiter but would be nice to know how close I was getting to redline.
The small 3.3 gallon tank. I like the looks of it but if was 4.0 gallons that would be enough. It rates at 57 mpg highway.
This is definitely more of a one person bike. It only has the solo seat and no passenger foot pegs.(this may be a problem for many but when it comes to a bike it's all about me)


Overall I really liked this bike. It is a completely different ride. The price here with dealer prep and shipping tacked on 10,775 out the door. With lack of a large number of dealers for triumph and the distance to get to the closest one this will be a big factor when I but my next bike hmmm nightster versus 1500 speedmaster This really gives me something to think about.

I agree with all that has been said. I have yet to ride one, I did go put my lady on a custom lowrider sportdter for comparison. She is going to have to have a bike and I think I will buy the nightster for our stable and have here put most of the miles on it. I can play though! I have already looked at the Paul Yaffe ceramic black pipes. I may have gone to far yesterday by going to the dealer. I have a job I am to complete in the next three to four weeks that will pay it off cash so I am itching to go. BTW the black matte and silver I think is the color!
Vic

victorjr,
If you get the nightster, pipe dreamz has a set available called "wet dreams" in Black ceramic that I think would look great on that bike.
Pipe Dreamz Website

Here's a shot of them on a blacked out 883.
Pipes on 883

The other thing I would have to suggest is since I do like the position of the foot controls is going with the adjustable Highwaypeg support kit. Unfortunately you can not get the forward controls or the highwaypeg support kit in black but I am sure you could get either setup powder coated.

surdyke.com has them for $145.34 part number 49053-04

Looked at them pipes as I saw the ones from yaffe. There is also some similar to the yaffe pipes on there. Knid of like the looks of those better but not sold yet. Also like the basic black streetfighter 2 into one, but concerned with clearance to the right. Keep ya posted

Can you say P.O.S.?

I did end up buying the nightster. So now I own a Triumph and a Harley. I never thought I would own a Harley. I reaaly do like the nightster. late summer I entered my speedmaster into a local bike show up against all harleys. The speedy did quite well actually. The thing I was most impressed wutrh was not one Harley rider there csaid anything negative about my bike and they didn't say when are you going to get a real bike.

I have visited a few harley forums while trying to decide if I should purchase the harley. All the posts I read no one seemed to be bashing other brands. My feeling is the actual harley riders that might do the bashing maybe not the type that have a computer and go to the forums. I did read one thread on this very topic and most of the posts said they didn't even know any harley riders that were bashing other brands and that they felt most of the bashing being done was coming from the metric riders towards the harley riders.

I am certainly guilty of bashing some Harley's in the past.
Most of it was performance related and of course about the old ones that leaked... Of course i had to be reminded how bad some of the yesteryear triumphs leaked oil as well. I am still not a Harley lover as a whole. It's just that the nightster is as close to the style of bike I have found in a stock motorcycle.

Now I really thought the Harley factories would be a weekday operation but maybe I should find out if my nightser was "Painted on Saturday" I'm sure that is you meant.

I just purchased one last week! And as for a short female driver I have to say this ride is the best fit. The only other bike that fit me was the 883 and after I put these two side by side, there was no need for anymore time in comparing. The only thing left was to decide on the color scheme. After I narrowed it down to the orange/black and the silver/black.....the orange/black shine "flowed" much better for me with the chrome and gloss oil cover. Don't get me wrong I really do like the silver/black, but water spots came to mind since I live in the country with hard water and not being able to wax it was a downfall. So my sister bought that one (silver/black):p. They are both being delivered Friday, so all left we need it the weather to cooperate.

lets see who gets 50,000 mi on theirs without any engine work, the hardley davidson or the Triumph, then we will talk hahahahaha oh wait, there are already some Triumphs on here that have 50 plus k with no engine work. never mind!!!! hahahahahahaha i have a Triumph with 120,000mi that has never had engine work below the heads and when i told that to a h.d. dealer the other day when he ask me why i didnt buy h.d and i told him to show me a h.d. that he could say that about and i would buy it that night, he said to me "well you know that aint gonna happen" all i could say was, thats why i ride Triumph hahahahahahaha

Ken, I don't notice Harley guys bashing others so much as the old cold shoulder thing... Snickers, ignoring people, etc. More of a general snobbery. But I think you are right, maybe lots of those guys don't go on the forums. I also know a lot of guys who may be nice about other bikes, etc, but if you suggest they get something else the laugh like it was a stupid suggestion.

and we write that the harley riders are a bunch of bashers! Ken , I hope you enjoy the heck out of it I really like it as well and will be going thru with my plan to buy one as this work I am involved in wraps up. I will be ready to hear all the negative. seems I have seen quite a few of the guys on here with a couple different kinds of bikes-EVEN HARLEY's. keep posting about your bikes, i'll enjoy reading about both .
vic

I rode my brother's Sportster a few weeks back on a visit. I felt like my knees were in my chest. He likes it, though, and that's what really matters.

I never get any negative vibs from Harley guy when I'm out, except for the ocational hardly nerd who "thinks" he knows about bikes. I have even took my bike to southside Harley in Indy shopping for gear and looking around and have gotten quite a few compliments and looks. Well okay Sadie got the compliments and looks!

Sportsters are girls bikes.

The nightster I have after doing a little work now has 74 hp and 73 ft lbs of torque. The exhaust pipe change lowered the bikes weight 30 lbs. Now it's only 10 lbs heavier than my speedmaster and 300+ cc's bigger. I had done quite a bit of work on the speedmaster, epco pipes, rejet, uni air filter, snorkle and AI removal. I have not had the speedy on the dyno but I am guessing it would not hit 60 HP or 60 ft lbs of torque. I still really like my speedy but this nightster will blow my speedy away in a race in either a standing start or rolling start.

So if you want to say the nightster is a girls bike then that's cool because I know what it can do. So I am guessing you must ride a rocket because the 900's must be girls bikes too if a 1200 sportster is.


[image]http://www.bonnevilleamerica.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=6404&sort=1&cat=500&page=1[/image]

well ken ride it into any group of hardly rubs and THEY'LL tell ya. its a girls bike.

I suppose the rubs would but not the guys I ride with. Of course the ones that would call it that wouldn't keep up with it either.

I know an AMF shovel that would make that thing look like its going backwards. Well it started life as am AMF anyway mostly S&S and small block Chevy now. And I know he would tell ya it's a girls bike. In fact everyone I ride with would.Its a sportster thing even though drag bikes are sportster motors and the fast Hardley was the XR750 also a sportster. So don't get your panties in a bunch! LOL

I think HD is just recycling appearances here in order to keep some new bikes around 10K.

Ran into a dude on a downright beutiful snotster the other day, and when it comes to HD's I dont impress easy. This thing had every crome dodad you can think of. Nice pearl/grey custom paint, looked hand lettered Hardley Drivinsome across tank.Ovedstuffed 2-up seat.I mean this thing was (for a snorty) geeeeorgous, I even condesended to speak to the guy and complement the bike, He told me he just picked it up form the dealers,brand new $18000.

Well at least it was the 1200.