You would... It's a '99 XL1200 Custom, bone stock for now, only 2300 miles. Sweet huh? I have been waiting almost 20 years to own a Harley. I got hooked up through a co-worker on this bike, the guy who had it has a softtail he rides and a shovel project. The sporty was just digging into his wallet. He sold it to me for what he owed, which is about $2K under book. Some guys have all the luck, I just stole some.
I was just Dynoing a 1200 about a 1/2 hour ago and she made 89hp and 78lbs of torque. You can pump the fuck outta them lil' bikes, just need parts that work good together. This one still had factory cams even! -Jesse
the pic as it sat ran 13's its a 1100 and ran drag pipes(sound cool-slow as hell- no low or mid) and was about 57hp. Now the bike has a riches thunderstorm pipe a 1200 and buell heads plus other super secret stuff, when I'm finish it will be a 100hp bike on the track and about 95hp on the street. I hope.
Fastsporty, I gotta replace those stock pipes. Are those drags you have baffled? I'm guessing they are since you seem to be saying that the straight pipes lose out on the low end. Feel free to let me in on any hard won secrets you have.
Fast, please post some better pics of that bike! Are you using '57 badges on a 2 tone tank? I'd love to build a reliable retro-flavored Sporty myself:
El C, Cool bike. I've got an '02 XL883 with drag pipes. A lot of people warned me that I was going to lose low-end power with the pipes, but honestly I can't tell any difference. Maybe I would have gained something with better pipes, but whatever. They sound awesome and any Harley is going to be slower than the CBR600 that my Sporty replaced. Ed PS- Replace that seat with a Corbin Hollywood Solo! It's a lot leaner and meaner than the one you've got. Corbin sells a matching p-pad if you ride passengers. The p-pad is only held on by 2 screws, so you can remove it for a better looking bike while riding solo.
Whizzerick, check out this month's Ironworks magazine. There's a '70 model XLCH in there that a guy made look like a '57. It's actually pretty cool.
It sounds like a Honda Shadow with those damn stock pipes, I'm definately popping those off. As for the seat, it's an aftermarket one and is damn comfy.
Which Buell heads are you using? A freind of mine just built up an 883, but put XB12R pistons in it versus the standard big bore pistons, They're quite abit lighter and they're forged and were cheaper than buying aftermarket forged. -Jesse
If I did, I imagine you want them? Maybe to fit inside pipes coming right off the head, dragster style?
Want to loose your baffles of the cheap? If you look in them with a flash light, you will see a round disk slightly smaller than a quarter about 7" up the pipe. Take a big(really big) punch and a hammer, and knock those disks out. They probably will do more of a bend over than fall out, but you will loose some restriction, and gain some sound. It works best if you take the mufflers off and pound in the direction of the exhaust flow. -Bugman Jeff
heres a little lesson about drag pipes. They don't work! Unless its a all out drag bike that leaves the line at 3000+ rpm and stays that way. The way drag pipes work is they create no back pressure and alow the exhaust to flow freely from the heads. That doesn't sound too bad does it? Well at low rpm not only does they do a very good job of scavenging the exhaust but they do a good job of scavenging your air -fuel mixture during vavle overlap. During low and mid rpm you need back pressure to keep the fuel in the cylinders. I run a riches(tm) thunderheader on my bike, but it kinda sounds like a honda now. A 2into1 header will do wonders for a harley. also the screaming eagle slip-ons work surprisingly well. If you want the sound an are willing to sacrifice some of the performance, long shotgun pipes produce enough back pressure to suit most non-drag people. Also a little note on the corbin hollywood seat (the one I have), theres not much to keep your ass on the bike. Ask Django who was laughing his ass off in the burnout box on my bikes debut run as I'm playing superman because my bike decide to leave with out me. I love it for riding around town but don't think theres enough there to keep your ass to the bike when you leave the line. I have a suction cup pad that I use for a two up (it doesn't scratch the paint) I love how it looks my girlfriend hates it Get your self a new ignition box dyna or compufire programable the stack 5500 rpm rev limiter sucks. Unless your going to drag race your bike get a mild cam, its nice to putt around somtimes with out haveing to keep the revs high. The heads I'm using are buell thunderstorms, polished exhaust, polished combustion chamber, valve seats relieved and the intake ports matched. You can do all that with your dremel I run S&S super G but if I were to do it over again I would go for a mikuni 42 they are good up to 90cubic inches. The stock CV carb can also work great, you just have to put a little work in them. And get a K&N filter. The badges on the tank are 57 repro, Harley came out with a limited edition red and birch color scheme when I was building my bike and I fell in love with it.You can still get the badges from harley. When I built the bike I wanted to make it my Hot Rod because at the time I did not have the funds or the space for a car. The bike is a 87 sporty I bought for $5500 after a summer of riding I tore it apart and did a frame up, put about another $3500 in it and a good 150 hrs. nothing was left untouched. Before that bike I knew jack about harleys, til I bought me a manual. Talk about baptism by doin'. But they are just a old technology engine so everything kinda translates. But your first puchase should be a manual for specs etc.and cause they were written for stupid people, namely most harley mechanics. And I also would recomend getting a parts manual, Harley parts guys are never in a hurry.So If you want to get out of the dealer in under a 1/2 hour its nice to give them a slip of paper with the part #'s on it, and they will treat you differntly also. Want to do somthing fun? Put big twin cylinders on your sporty (they bolt right up) stroke your rods and you will have a big twin sporty!
Right, I thought maybe they made drag pipes with baffles. I did some more research and found that they were 2into1.
From what I've read some guy named Reinhart (sp?) is supposed to make some really good pipes for Harleys - does his technology work on the sporters as well as the big twins??