"It was a group ride with one of the [dealership employees] leading the group. I think it was about 10 bikes. A mix of various Harley and Buell models.
"I rode the 1200 Nightster. The seat was nice and low. The bars upright and the pegs in the standard position, right were they are supposed to be, in my opinion . It felt a little funny because the bike is a lot wider between my legs than what I am used to.
"Fuel injection is great. Started right up, no fuss and ran flawless. They had a loop mapped out, probably 10 miles that went down some 2 lane back roads and ended with a stretch on the interstate.
"One thing that kept going through my head. This is the rubber mounted motor?
All the magazine articles talk about how much better the Sportster is with the rubber motor mounts. My gosh, that thing about gave me double vision at the stop lights, it vibrated so much at idle. It really did remind me of a paint shaker. Once under way it wasn't bad but stopped it was really bad. It makes my thumper feel smooth.
"Here are my pluses and minuses:
Pluses
- Plenty of power and torque. Very easy to get moving and from about 50 mph up it was much quicker than I am used to. But the V-Rod would still pull away from me quickly even if I was at full throttle.
- Excellent transmission and clutch. I have to say that it was probably the smoothest shifting bike that I have ever ridden.
- The seating position was comfortable. Upright and no strange stretching for my arms or legs. The pegs are closer to the seat than on my bike. If you were much taller than me, it might be a bit cramped.
- All of the controls worked well. The turn signals were self canceling. Nice feature. The clutch was easy and smooth.
Minuses
- The seat was hard as a rock. This might not have been a problem if it weren't for the next point.
- The rear suspension felt like it had maybe an inch of travel. When that big rear tire hit a bump, the jolt goes right up the spine. I felt my fillings in my teeth rattle!
- The real deal-breaker for me was cornering clearance. There weren't any "Pumpkin Vine" type of turns on this ride and I am glad there wasn't. I am used to just dropping my bike into most turns. Never a second thought about anything touching. I think it was like the third stop sign that we came to. It was a right hand turn. I noticed that I was a bit wide as I was turning so I leaned a touch more. Scrunch!! What the...? I had just ground the right peg into the asphalt. You gotta be kidding me. I would have to slow down my riding style significantly on the twisty back roads. At the rest of the right hand turns I felt like I had to ride it like a tricycle. Keep it vertical and actually turn the bars in the direction that I wanted to go. Noooo! I want lean and counter steer.
My conclusion
"The Nightster is a well built, very cool looking bike. Great straight line speed and stability. Smooth controls and shifting. If you are the type of rider that cruises around town or rides country roads with sweeping turns at a modest pace. It would be a great bike for that (but would need a different seat).
"But if you have a bit of hooligan in you and you like to pretend to SuperMoto or MotoGP, it is not the bike for that.
This is no knock on the bike, but it brought back memories of the Vulcan 500 that I "had. It was a very nice bike to ride, but there was a "fun" factor that was missing. That was part of why I sold it and didn't ride for a year or so. I think that would happen to me again if I rode the Nightster all of the time. The "fun" would slip away.
"I am going to see if I can get a ride on the Harley Davidson XR1200. At least it can corner. :-)
"One last thing, I really believe that from 0-60 that I would be able to stay right with it on my DR. After that the HD's bigger motor would start pulling away."
More from Dennis at the DR Rider's Forum
| About the author | |
|---|---|
Dennis can be found riding dirt bike trails with his son, or haunting various dual-sport websites using the name "Ryde4Ever". He has ridden dirt bikes since emerging from the womb, and has owned everything from Ninjas to Vulcans to Chinese dual-sports. These days he rides a Suzuki DR650. This is his first article for "The ATGATT Rat". |  |
More from Dennis at the DR Rider's Forum
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