friendship 1 on a sportster

It will depend upon the year of the Sporty. The rubbermounts have frame changes that make mounting point access tougher for the rear lower mount. A bit of fabricating may be needed.
The solid mount Sportys can also use a lower rear bracket to extend the mounts for better triangulation.

Lonnie

Hack'n - 9/18/2011 12:52 AM

It will depend upon the year of the Sporty. The rubbermounts have frame changes that make mounting point access tougher for the rear lower mount. A bit of fabricating may be needed.
The solid mount Sportys can also use a lower rear bracket to extend the mounts for better triangulation.

Lonnie

Lonnie, what year did they start using the rubber mount on the sporty and if I did get the solid mount where could I get the mounts needed to allow my friendship to fit correctly on it ? My buddy has an 05 sportster and that one is already using the rubber mount.

I believe rubber mount Sportsters start in 2005 for the 1200s and 2006 for the rest.

A Sportster isn't much of an upgrade (at least power-vibration-fuel capacity wise) from a good running KZ650. The torque should be better. 'Course a KZ650 is 25+ years old so it might be time to replace in any case.

Have you ridden a rubbermount 1200 Sporty?

L.

True - I haven't. I've ridden a couple of tube framed Buells and, except at idle, they were extremely smooth - better than the four cylinder bikes I've owned. I should amend my statement above to say that solid mount Sportsters aren't much of an upgrade from a vibration standpoint. I do see that older, solid mount Sporties can be pretty cheap on CL - many around $3500, sometimes less and sometimes with pretty low miles and lots of accessories.

Actually the kz is running much better now but it is really short wheel base, I've heard the sportster with the triple tree worked on is really nice to steer. The vibration of a sporty doesn't bother me much, the evo sportsters are way smoother than the old shovelhead I owned when I was 18.

newenglandjim - 9/18/2011 8:19 PM

... I've heard the sportster with the triple tree worked on is really nice to steer. The vibration of a sporty doesn't bother me much, the evo sportsters are way smoother than the old shovelhead I owned when I was 18.

We just made it back from a 560 mile weekend, me on my rigid mount Sportster rig. I have the vibration under control (primarily by roll of pennies in silicone caulking in the bars & driving at "prferred" rpms). Max sustained touring speed is 64 mph by GPS at +/-3400 rpms (geared down 4%) -- too much vibration over that -- but it's better a little slower. My problem now is wind management as my helmet rattles around on my head wwwaaayyy too much. We will try to post story & pics later this week.

And yes, I've ridden a 1200 FI rubber mount. Very, very nice, for sure. Should make a great tug.

swampfox, do you think you could increase your max speed if you went with a 1200 upgrade on your top end ?

newenglandjim - 9/18/2011 10:38 PM

swampfox, do you think you could increase your max speed if you went with a 1200 upgrade on your top end ?

I'm sure it would, jim: I understand a low compression 1200 kit is good for 15+/- ft.lbs torque at 3,000 rpms.

Hi Jim,
You won't have any trouble with the 1200 pulling the outfit, I have a 2005 1200 sportster, I have droped the front pully by 2 teeth that really is helpful. I also opted for a LL front end with a 16" front wheel. Expensive but I think worth it, I had the 21" front wheel with teles and it was hard work. I have the benefit of left side mounting so don't have to worry about exhaust pipes and have 4 point mounting without any problems or frame modifications. Plenty of miles under the wheels now and no complaints. It can go faster than I'm game to ride it on the highway and the back roads and hills are a treat so 1200 is plenty.
Sean.

Hi Sean
I figured the 1200 would do fine, in fact my little kz650 pulls it pretty good but my arms are killing me after a few hours of riding. A sportster with a leading link would be nice, kind of like having power steering and a ton of low end torque.
BTW, how much does a leading link front end cost ?

About $2,600 plus.
Raked triple trees are much less and give the same ease of steering.

L.

Hack'n - 9/19/2011 12:20 PM
About $2,600 plus.
Raked triple trees are much less and give the same ease of steering.

The 5-degree "raked" trees on my XL883R work very well.

The rake is sounding better now that I see how much the leading link cost.