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My old Sportsters

1K views 1 reply 1 participant last post by  jimz 
#1 · (Edited)
Here's some pics of my old Sportsters

I wanted a bike that I was able to take a girl on the back yet have some sporting capabilities. It did OK for both chores.

This 98 Sportster Sport 1200s was the only vehicle I have ever bought new. It was a nice bike but needed a lot of work for my tastes. I chose the "Sport" variant because it came with full cartridge suspension front and rear, and had two sparkplugs per cyl (the only HD to ever do that). It cost about $10,000 new and I sunk another $10,000 over the years. Like all Harleys, it only had 3 problems, the motor, the chassis and the electronics. I fixed all three, too many mods to mention them all but a lightened crank, head work and a high compression setup got me up and running. I went through various handlebars even clip-ons, strong aftermarket PM brakes were a must. Check out the rearsets.

I owned this bike for 14 yrs, here it is the the final form before I got rid of it





I even raced it for several years at LSR (Land Speed Racing) at Maxton NC. It's a 2 mile concrete straight that was originally built and used for Glider pilot training for the WWII invasion. One mile runup, break the lights, 1 mile slowdown.

this of a pic of me racing it the first year





I had a extra set of body work for racing eventually in this form.




I was doing pretty good and other people let me race their bikes too. All together I probably raced about 5 different bikes in 2001-2003. We had a loosely based internet team from Sportster.org and had sponsers that helped with parts and cash, it was a pretty good time.




I got my Sportster up to 149.254 mph several times but was never able to break 150 mph with it, despite setting several national records. I was spending about 8hrs each time to take it from street to track setup, then another 8hrs to get it back in street trim.

That's when I got serious. A club member ponied up the cash for a Zippers S+S 100 in motor and I pieced together a rolling chassis from begging, borrowing and actually buying what we needed for a serious Bonneville attempt. Every nut and bolt on that bike had a story. It was so strong, it made my teeth chatter.

Ended up setting a world record on it that lasted for several years with several different bikes trying to beat us.







 
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#2 · (Edited)
My Ducati ST4s

This is the best bike I've ever owned,

the 2003 Ducati ST4s, 996 motor, 851 frame, hard bags, Marchesini wheels, Brembo brakes, Sargent seat, Sachs Tin front forks, Ohlins rear (with ride height adjuster), a true Sport Touring bike with the emphasis on Sport.

It had pwr, handling and looked sexy to me, I loved her, but valve guides, crank bearings, fuel pump issues and frustrating valve adjustments ended our relationship, she went to a good home (and an engine rebuild).

I left the motor and pipes stock, cleaned up the air intake and it had torque everywhere, it felt as if on rails in the high speed sweepers.

and I loved the rattle of the dry clutch

I took many trips, even one from OH to the West Coast, I put over 24,000 miles on it.





the obligatory deals gap photo




here's my bike in a redwood forest, I had to stop and torgue my headbolts, hehe

 
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