HD XR1200 (HD lovers you may want to skip this)
 

Ok so like I said in my other Post sometimes I have Too Much free time. So yesterday morning after riding my 05 Busa over for inspection then spending between 90 minutes and 2 hours test riding the New VFR. I was leaving Keene Motorsports when it occurred to me Monadnock Harley Davidson has had their "Come in and Arrange Test Ride sign up. Some of you who know me know that one of my goals is to build a 70's era Cafe Style bike. I have been intrigued by the HD XR1200 since it came here to the states. It looks almost like an out of the box Cafe (squint a little and imagine it with a set of clip ons and a Quarter Faring ) I thought the worse they can say is NO and hell I am twice divorced and married for a third time NO is an answer I am used to!
So I stopped, first the Dealership.
I knew that it had changed hands, and what a positive change! Attentive polite staff who payed attention, knowledgeable enough to to hold l a conversation and smart enough to say "I don't know , let me find someone who does."
Sure enough they had a Used XR 1200 they would be happy to let me ride.
If HD is your thing these seem like very nice people to do business with.
The Bike
So after copying my licence, they rolled out a orange 09 with 7k on the odometer around. The bike sounded great, I got the walk around from Candy the sales person, and it was time to throw my leg over. OK , so with the bike stationary and the engine off, I got my first surprise, when I leaned it side to side and the kick stand popped up. It has a European style stand that when pressure come of the stand it snaps up. (I am glad I found this out this way not later by some ugly surprise)
Ergo's
All I can say is holy 1975! Great upright seating pegs put your feet slightly ahead of your hips but none the feet way out in front of you that pounds my back so badly Instrumentation is minimal a analog style tack and and digital speedometer. Bars a bit wider than necessary but not overly so. All the controls are easily reached and right where 35 year old muscle memories tell me they should be. I love the feel of the bike and I am excited.
The ride
So I fire her up and right away even though the engine is rubber mounted the vibrations tells you its a Harley. Rolling out of the driveway i get a hint of what is to come (don't shoot me HD guys) Disappointment . It feels slow coming out of the driveway. I think Ok you rode a Busa over and you have been playing with with a VFR give yourself a few minutes to get acclimated. Riding down route 12 the vibration becomes a bit more noticeable but not unpleasant. Running the bike up through the gears I experience the few seconds of sweet spot the engine offers then it is gone slumping back into an anemic lope that made the Honda CB 750 the bike of choice in the 70's.
The ride it self is great no wallowing or diving it corners very well and suspension eats up the bumps with out leaving you feeling numb. The brakes are good and solid (far superior to anything we had in the 70's this has the potential to be a very fun bike except they have crippled it with the motor. As I rode along I kept thinking. How hard would it have been to plop a Buell engine and tranny on to this thing? Give us a bike worth buying! I so wanted to like this bike and up until I turned the throttle I loved it. after about 40 minutes I rode it back to the dealer and apologized for having wasted their time. As I was leaving the tech was there about to pull it around to the back and I asked out of curiosity who much rear wheel horse power it has and he said "I think it is rated at like 80hp way more then any other Sportster!" I thought "geese kid you might want to keep that a secret" When he asked how I liked it I told him with a smile, I loved the ride but it needed the engine from a V Rod to make it a motorcycle. He chuckled.
I So wanted to like this bike!

Actually the engine runs quite well for a design out of the early 1900s. To say it felt bad by 1970 standards is a compliment...

Dude you need one of those new Norton Commanders

SURPRISE! :lol:

At 18k for a Commando it seems unlikely. I really wanted to like the XR but HD crippled it , so maybe I am back to building something from scratch.

Get a Buell Lightning and be done with it.

I've wanted to test ride a HD XR 1200 just because...

To put a Buell engine in it, they would have first have to not have axed Buell.

bastards.

True story.

Wow- look up bad grammar in the dictionary :lol:

The Commando at least has full Ohlins and Brembo. And looks like a two wheeled goddess :rockwoot:

Have you considered the Streetrod? it's the only Harley I'd buy.



http://i289.photobucket.com/albums/l.../05StRod-4.jpg

Lies. You'd never buy a Harley.

I've already owned 3 there youngster!:lol:

Ok, pops. Whens the purchase going down? I'll be there.

I'm a HD lover but not all HDs are created equal. I'm not a bike genius like hubby, but I'm not a total moron either. Lol. If ur looking for speed, and what I think is a hot bike, try test riding a night rod. Hubby test rode both and I think there's a link on here somewhere he could send to u if you're interested. :)

I'm just saying that I've owned Harleys previously, that's all. heck, if it would get you out of Pa, I might consider it for that reason alone. ;)

Put a Rotax engine in it.

Have you tried a Triumph Thruxton? You do give up some power (though I wonder how much is truly lost) but you get at least a similar reduction in weight over the XR1200. The Triumph parallel twin may be a bit more interesting as well. It certainly looks the cafe racer part straight from the factory.

Like I said what drew me to the XR1200 is my desire for a 70's style Cafe.The XR1200 is 2/3rd s of the way to what I want. Love the style. Speed isn't my goal I have two bikes already that will easily spank most of what is out there. Original idea was to user either a CB 750 ( I have a 77 750 Supersport that was just to good to cut up and sold it to a collector.) I would also love to to do a Triumph style machine.
The V Rod and its derivatives are are now probably the only HD I would ever consider . Again I loved the style , suspension and brakes of the XR1200, I was just shocked that in the 21st Century poor a drive train they (with all the better choices they have) put on to what could be a a great crossover bike. Its a shame too.

Tigs...I'll meet ya in VA. Name the day.

As Uma said... I test rode one and a vrod.
http://www.twowheelfix.com/showthread.php?t=14236

I'm probably one of the biggest pro HD guys here. I love HD's but I can agree with you on the XR. I was expecting more out of it. A buell motor even out of the XB would be a better way of going. I didn't like how it felt top hvy like a dirt bike.

The crazy part is that the nightster feels faster than the XR. Considerably. I'm not sure about the exact differences between the motors/heads. Further, I even rode the nightster to my demo ride... so it was easy to make this comparison.

If I could buy any HD right now, it would be a nightrod. HANDS DOWN. May not be what you're looking for, so sorry it's no help.

I feel the retro vibe now and then, but it isnt the cafe racer, its the Mad Max GS1100 / Kawi Z1 thing. 4 bell mouth carbs and a dust bin fairing like the 'goose' or 'Bubba Zenetti' rode in Mad Max.

I've ridden the V-Rod and it's ruined me for life (I want one... bad). Thing is, I'd need to have another bike to go along with it (like the SV).

Good to know not to waste time on the XR.

PM... that's my thing. We need to stop talking about it... cause I want one...

That would be sweet. Pretty sure they would need the Buell hook ups to get that deal done.

Oh, and the clutch seals suck :td:

:rockwoot:

:rockwoot: you speaking my language there bro!

I agree if I get a harley it's a nightrod or v-rod.....

You want to see a dead sexy cafe racer?
http://www.cyrilhuzeblog.com/2010/05...ir/#more-40258

I test drove a V-rod. 6 months or so later bought the VFR. :)

I'm not usually the one to wave the big red flag but THIS is what you really want (me too :drool:)
http://www.motorcyclenews.com/upload...ati_GT1000.jpg

motorcyclist had an article on hopping up the xr1200. might be worth searching for.

i almost bought a v-rod night rod when I got my bike. they are weird in the twisties though. i still wish now and then though.

Someday, I WILL own one!!!!

Me too babe...and a Viper, and an Italian male model...:lol:

:lol:

Fuckin kick start? damn...

I like...

F yeah. If you want a true old school cafe, bobber, or dirt track racer... it MUST have a kick start to be the ulitimate sexy.

:lmao:

I've seen too many old school chopper guys (thanks to my ex) sweat, get pissed off, and about break their foot to think that would ever be sexy! :lol: It's even funnier when the bikes owner gets so tired his buddies start taking turns trying to start it!

Real Talk!!!:lol:

Step one: trade it in on a modern bike.

I never said it wouldn't have an electric back up starter. :D

No but seroiusly, not big inch chopper motors. But the small old schools... oh yeah Kick it!

Yeah, good F'n luck kicking a big inch twin.

This!

Whats so hard about kicking over a big cubic inch engine Mr Swartenegger?

sure, just take the easy route right away. LOL

Ha! I'd like to see a little guy like you kick over a 450cc bike with a compression release valve....:lol: I have seen 160lb+ plus guys get thrown to the ground trying to kick over an old V-Twin!:lol:

A friend of mine had a KTM 380 2 stroke dirt bike. We would have to run in shifts to get that fucker started. A big bore v-twin? No thanks.

Give it a shot, brother. The electric starter on my meager 1203cc vtwin gets taxed very quickly.

The problem derf is that they are huge and usually have high compression. Take my chop for example. It ran 11:1 compression and was a 117 Cubic Inch motor. That's like 1950 cc's. I can't even imagine kicking that... WOW!!

kickin big motors is art in motion, and if you dont have a steel shank midsole in your boots, and a well setup carb, forget it. just go sit down.

I can't say I am familiar but i believe there is a compression release used in some of these

Ummm, no shit. I was trying to imply that you need to be a huge ass steroid'd up shwarteneger type to be able to kick it over

I don't even think a a juiced up guido from your neighborhood could do it.

That's cause they are all 5'2 :lol:

For serious.

Derf could probably suck start it!

http://i289.photobucket.com/albums/l...t/102_5478.jpg

We can all chip in to make that happen :lol:

true, most of the big engine twins have compression releases (probably to make those electric starters last longer lol)

ive bent a few kick start levers, and a output shaft, before i decided fuck kickstarting anything hi performance ever again

Oh very true. And most are electric.

Getting back to the original post, Cycle World tested the XR1200 in their July, 2009 issue. CW said it was "maybe the best overall HD ever." They also said "It's a bike that can do it all and do it well, from carving up a serpentine country road with remarkable ease to cruising comfortably on an interstate highway and just about everything in between."

As for building a 70's era cafe bike, I compared my 79 GS1000 specs against the XR1200:

Dry weight: XR: 564 lbs. GS: 507lbs.
Wheelbase: XR: 60.0 inches. GS: 59.3 inches
HP: XR: 79.2 @ 7,000 RPM. GS: 85 @ 8,000 RPM.
Torque: XR: 68.7 @ 3,600. GS: 59 @ 6,500.
1/4 mile: XR: 12.13. GS: 12.0.

The XR is like a 70's era bike. But if I had a friend who wanted to build a cafe bike I would tell him to get a 1980 or so GS1100. They were quicker than the 1200 Bandit.

Give them another century and HD might just be up to 2000s performance levels :lol:

Here is a good review from someones blog, it pretty much sums up everything that has been said here

http://dryohe.wordpress.com/2010/01/...vidson-xr1200/




http://img192.imageshack.us/img192/5164/xr1200.jpg

To be fair, Cycle World's 1/4 mile time was 12.13, a full second quicker than Bike Magazine. And their 0-60 time was 3.9 seconds, compared to Bike's 4.34 sec. The weird thing is Bike's 90.1 HP compared to Cycle World's 79.2.

In Cycle World's report, they compared the XR1200 to Ducati's Sport Classic Sport 1000. Surprisingly, both bike were comparable. The Ducati's stiff suspension made it a killer in corners, but the highway ride was too stiff. They gave the nod to the Harley.

The short-travel (3 1/2 inch) rear shock was a problem on the XR. But that can be fixed. The high, wide handlebar on the XR made it easier to handle than the narrow, clubman-style clip-ons of the Ducati. Although the XR has more HP and Torque, the 130 pound weight difference made the Harley slower in the quarter.

But here's the clincher: "The Sportster's big-time midrange torque helps it to be an amazingly easy bike to hustle along a twisty road." That would be a selling point to me.

Instead of talking shit perhaps some of you tools should ride the bike, rather than rely on misconceptions and stereotypes.

Says Shit Talker #1... :lol

Can I be shit talker number 2?

Sure can, honey.

Thanks boo boo kitty fuck

To be fair , Just because I Don't like the Power train doesn't mean that someone won't. To everyone who read my original. For god sakes go ride it if you are at all curious.
I like to ride motorcycle two that remain high on my list to try are a Ural with a Hack and a Royal Enfield

Power wise HD had always disappointed me, really its the lack of power band, just when the bike starts to pick up it just falls flat on its face. The new vrod is good, but hasnt been widely adopted, if it would show up in touring and "sporty" type