| Author | Message | ||
     Stryker_buell |
So I am out riding with the fellas yesterday during our 3 hour rain break when my friend decides to "hit it."  He has the jump on me but as in most cases when I run against a Harley I soon speed by him. He is running a stock XL 1200C Sportster with pipes and I am running my XB9R stock with a Drummer. We have the weight advantage but shouldn't he have the motor? | ||
| Cityxslicker |
gearing, tuning and torque, the XB9 has more HP than the 1200 Harley. It is a different tool for a totally different job. I know I wouldnt take to dragging around corners with forward controls. And of course 550 lbs vs 396. Fuel Injection vs Carb It would have to be a hot rod sporty to keep up. They are out there, but the stock 1200C with a Stage 1 isnt it (before you think I am sporty hatin, I own one, the Buell gets all the miles though) | ||
| Raymondt |
If you are a Sporty owner, you knew before you hit the throttle what would happen. One of my good friends has a Sportster Sport slightly modified that I was so impressed with that after putting a couple hundred miles on it. I decided to look at that model and then found the Buells. I am unsure of how many shared components they truly have but it is my guess that it would cost you several thousand dollars just to match the engine performance and you would give up reliability. If winning drag races is your thing, neither the Buell or the Sportster are the right path but it sure is fun to see what they will do.  | ||
| Vanvideo |
Speaking of Sportster 1200s, has anyone checked out the new Nightsters? I really like the bobber-esqe styling they've done to it. Still no match for a Buell, of course. Next to the Nightrod Specials, they're the only harleys I'd consider owning - as if I could afford a Nightrod (the Nightster, maybe). | ||
| Percyco |
We have the weight advantage but shouldn't he have the motor? Nope.....that's not even a fair race and not much to brag about. Although XL's do hold there own against other cruisers of similar style, they don't hold a candle to a XB. Go smoke a Jap rice rocket, then get back to us .   | ||
| Raymondt |
I post WWII Japanese Kill flags on the side for each rice rocket I laid to waste in the canyons. I stopped at 5 when I ran out of flags.  My only chance is in out handling, late braking, and get the jump on them when they need to downshift a couple gears. Kids on 600's are often easy targets, but they are just as likely to take things too far with unsafe and race track 9/10's maneuvers where I worry about being responsible about leading them to their death. There is no contest in power, we really don't have a chance, and that's ok. We all could have bought an R1 instead. We all chose to be comfortable and different. I love My XB12S it always makes me smile and fee like an extension of me. What else could you ask for? Yes I have the Nightster as my screen saver. It is cool looking, It needs about $3000.00 of engine work, another front disc and some good shocks and a gold valve emulator to be ridable. | ||
| Bugman |
Nightster is best looking stock XL in years, but it compromises too much to achieve "the look". I owned/drag raced a heavily modified 883 punched out to 1200 in the nineties, but I had to spend way too much to get there. It was blacked out too. Selling it to buy the XB12S was the smartest thing I ever did with the Sporty. | ||
| Motomeow |
I took the Nightster for a test run right before I took ownership of my Trixie/(2007)XB12Scg and.... this was my third attempt at trying a Harley out (v-rod, nightster & delux). I thought the Nighster had an unstable feel plus a few other things just didn't click with me. Which all could be due to the fact that I've always ridden sport bikes or cafe racers.  | ||
| Mesafirebolt |
My friend has a 600 ninja, he CANT keep up with me (not even close)in the canyons and doesn't run away on the straights. He out weighs me by 30 pounds or so...the torque of my 12 will be the end to any untrained 600 rider. | ||
| Swordsman |
My father-in-law has a 1200 Sportster, and when he took my 12Ss for a spin, he couldn't believe how much more powerful it was. He said the Buell has 3X the motor, despite the same platform.  ~SM | ||
| Raymondt |
I believe it is always best to buy rather than plan extensive modifications to get performance. A little here and there makes sense, but I always wonder about the guy who does nitrous and big bore kits ect. It is a deep hole to throw money into for sure. It is cool, I just know there just isn't anything like a R1 or GSXR1000 to make you a believer in horsepower. As someone said earlier the right tool for the job. My V-MAX was the right thing for a drag race. |
