You need to check your white balance. THe pink frame looks red in those shots :p

Its painted to match my ass-less chaps!:D

I've ridden a Sportster before, and my buddy's Road King. I was not overly impressed by the performance of either, but fully understand the intangible Harley feeling that keeps people loyal to the brand. Something about the vibration, the heft and the sound that all comes together for a unique feel that's very cool in an old fashioned sort of way. Like driving a 56 Oldsmobile.

In any case I made the mistake (or not) of riding the Nightster back to back with the BMW today. The contrast really is stark. Short point, I just couldn't buy the Nightster over the BMW. Not possible. Despite wanting to.

Having both would be perfect, but I don't want two bikes.

So I'm going to ride a few more bikes in the coming week and see where that goes.

If you can, ride one of these and report back. The best Sportster ever made, from all reports, the XR1200:


http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1243910232.jpg

Yes. That's what I've heard as well. Saw it in the shop, but can't stand the look of it.

It tries to be a Monster at twice the weight. Have read a couple of tests where this bike is put up against the Monster and fails miserably.

So it's the best Sportster out there, a Euro-bike wannabe, but can't come close to Monster. That's also why it's not selling, and about to be deleted from the HD line-up.

If you're going to go that route you'd be mad not to buy a Duc or an Aprilia instead.

Interesting; I've not followed how the XR1200 has been doing. I know it was only brought here after the hue and cry from the Harley faithfull demanded it - it was supposed to be "Euro only". I did hear it was selling well over there. I have also seen some good reviews of it, along with the one you mention where it is paired with the Monster. I'm not sure it "failed misserably" in that comparison, but it certainly did not have the overall performance of the Monster. If one desires that level of performance from an H-D product, one should be looking at Buells anyway. As somewhat of an aside, the air-cooled Buells tend to beat up on the air-cooled Monsters these days.

Harley has a long, proud history of almost getting it. Of building bikes that appeal neither to their faithfull, nor the hoped-for new audience. The last effort prior to the XR1200 (if it does indeed prove to be such) was the Street Rod, a V Rod variant. Standard foot position, normal handlebars, drastically reduced rake. Cycle World (or maybe it was Motorcyclist) touted it as the "Harley for the rest of us". It could have been a very viable sport tourer, had Harley outfitted it as such. Kind of in the FJR mold. But, they didn't, and it died on the vine.

As far as the XR1200, I think a more valid comparison would be with the Triumph Bonneville or Thruxton. I don't think it is aimed at the market segment that is shopping Monsters. Like I said, Buell is more the competitor in that market.

Seems like you have decided against buying any kind of Harley, correct?

FWIW I think the 1200 (pictured above) looks fantastic.

Actually I've decided to rent a Harley for a day next week, and take it for a serious drive before making up my mind about anything. Not sure which one. Likely to be either a Fat Boy or a Road Glide—judging from the list of bikes they have available for rental.

But I'm kind of leaning towards picking up the basic black R 1200 R pictured above, and then maybe customizing it a bit to make it look more like what I believe a motorcycle should look like. (There are some aftermarket shops in Germany that have wonderful bits you can put on the new BMW's to tone down the current "Mad Max meets The Jetsons" look they all currently seem to have.)

Excellent idea.

My first Beemer was the R1150R, pretty much the same as the R1200R. It was a great bike. But I needed the factory tall seat for it. I'm 6'1". If I were to get an R1200R, I'd immediately make the headlight an HID, put some plastic over the headlight, do something about that hideous windscreen, maybe add some crashbars, convert the turn signals to LED and throw on some Ohlins shocks. Those bikes depreciate like rocks, so you can find a barely used one for a huge discount off the new price.

The R1200 is a brilliant motor. I'm not crazy about the R1200R aesthetics, but you can tweak them. And the motor, ABS, and other factors make it compelling imho.

I still like the K1200R better...

On the subject of tweaking the R 1200 R aesthetics....


http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1243986950.jpg


http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1243986966.jpg

No thanks. Not for me. Goofy looking.
Sure makes the Harley look nice.

oh boy those are disgusting

road glide is a pretty cool bike. a friend of mine bought one 2 years ago and loved it. due to business reasons he had to sell it and it sold quickly. My sportster took 2 years of advertising to sell ! anyway, looks like a neat bike to tour on. i sorta like the road king's styling better..seems better proportioned to me and very classy looking in black.

Jeff, Have you ridden a Road Glide? Most people say they are better handling bike because of the frame mounted fairing. I've seen a few of those that I thought looked pretty good. Although I don't think that dual headlight fairing is very popular.

Thats the one I like. THe magazines really like that bike. I love the looks of it and it seems it might perform pretty well.

Me too. The R1200R and that R1200ST are not some of BMWs best designs.

The R1200S is a beaut, and I'm partial to the R1200GS while admitting it has a very Teutonic aesthetic. I also think the R1200RT is a very nice bike - the front of the fairing has great lines.

I love the R12S, was real close to buying one. I would still like one, but I have to buy my Alaska bike first. The R12RT, well I look at and ride one of those everyday, Just had my 24K service. It's a very good bike, but could use the power of the R12S. I put about 110K on a R1150 and the R12S is A HUGE improvement over the R1150RT. That being said, I still wouldn't buy one.

You ready to ride yet. I've ridden ACH through Wrightwood several times since it reopened, in fact I rode the R12RT home that way this afternoon. It really is a fantastic road. If you can, we should ride up sometime midweek. Most of the Rossi wannabees are up there on the weekends and unless you go early it's pretty crowded.