Thursday, March 1, 2012

Harley® Sportster 72™- In person review (non test ride)

Well i went to the dealership last night to get a battery and had a chance to see the new Harley Sportster 72 in person, overall its great! they really went with a minimalist non dipped in Harley everything look with it, however my chopping eye quickly dissected its low points

-my damn camera phone kept auto correcting the lighting and washing out the AWESOME paint on it!!! i did find out its a $700 paint job but if your getting a new bike this compared to the flat black version sitting beside it is a no brainer in my book

-i get it they wanted to clean up the fender but sticking this plate way the hell out the side, further than any other part of the bike doesnt seem like a smart choice

simple plain jane round aircleaner void of any brandishing Harley logos.........but its HUGE!!

-only option is forward controls............ :(

-nice simple little pinstriping throwback, i wish they would have kept the sides of the tank as clean as this

-a cleaned, up stripped down version of the standard #5 ignition cover with some turning detail

-besides factory pipes (cause i like the noise!) and the forward controls this is the other thing id want, the 72's wheel on the irons frontend! i love the 21" but the frontend being longer doesnt give it that big front wheel look that i had hoped for

-cool little solo seat! some horizontal stitching woulda really set it off. they had a 72 in flat black too but it also had a solo seat, id be interested to see what the bike looks like with a factory passenger pad/seat on and even more curious to know if they charge you more for it???

-i do love the speed holes in the rear tank mount- shows a nice attention to detail. and i like that they didnt cover it up with a piece of rubber (which even though painted, they do with the front tank mount tabs)

-What is this???? its not that they painted this radius (which may have been more bizzare) but the actual fender doesnt go down to the strut this is a seperate plate on the backside of the fender.........call it strange, or dumb, better yet how about ugly!

front shot with some very nice fairly narrow mini apes

-if i had new bike money id be torn between the 72 and the IRON, hell and the 48, im pretty impressed Harley has shown so much love to the Sportster in the past few years

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love my Harley just put new Gas Tank Decalson, she looks great

Anonymous said...

i dont understand your complaints about the 72. yea there's plenty of things they could done to make it better and bring more of the bobber spirit out. but i think they have done a hell alot better on making the sportsters how they werent ment to be. i own a 2013 72 in green and its a great bike but like i said just alittle work here n there it would be more of a bobber but modern but be able to see the roots and flavor but not stripped down to nothing like true old skool bobbers. drop it 2 inch in front and 2 1/2 in back. take off front fender get a brace. wrap the pipes, 12-14 inch apes,raise the tank 2 inchs. just to name a few things. ive seen ppl who done what i want with 48, nighter,etc .witch they look great.