General Comfort ... what comfort!!

[spindrifter]

Well, the honeymoon is over!! The Sporty sidecar outfit took us down to Brittany from Normandy, where we live at the mo, to the wonderful Blessing of the Bikes gathering at Porcaro not far from Rennes. A great B&B run by bike fans Ken and Lesley (Mototarinis) was our base for 5 days. These guys are great ... look them up ... Mototarinis.

The 1200 Sporty was as ready as it will ever be and ran flawlessly all week. But, I must admit that this bike is only any good for 100 mile trips. To say that I was uncomfortable is an understatement, these babes aren't cruisers!!! My arms, legs, bum, shoulders, and ears were all suffering after about 80 miles. Totally spoilt the experience of travelling through beautiful rural France. The motorways and big A roads were sheer murder, the bike is too slow, too thirsty and gets too hot. My legs were getting singed all the way. Curvy B roads are much better but lengthen the ride and make your wrists ache.

I know it's a sidecar outfit but much of the ergonomics is basic solo. We've got wider bars, a custom seat, better shox, and a good screen. These all help.

The Blessing of the Bikes (Madone de Motards) event is awesome. Up to 20,000 bikes assemble in the small village by the Bikers Chapel and the ride around local villages in the biggest ride-out on the planet. The spectators line the route and love bikes. It can take the whole parade 2.5 hours to pass through each village. All the roads are closed, there's NO messing about, everyone behaves themselves, NO DRINK anywhere. Lovely. It's all about biking, any biking, all sorts of bikes trikes and sidecars. A great brotherhood and a fabulous day out.

WE got back to the B&B with a knackered sidecar wheel bearing. Could have been bad news but a local trip to a French trailer dealer had it fixed with two new bearings fitted, and just 25 euros for the job. I fitted the hub myself, an easy job. Should have checked it before we left.

The trip home was just over 150 miles of sheer misery. Uncomfortable, hot, and going deaf with the damn Rush slash cut mufflers was the end for us. It was a "never again" moment. We will either use the outfit only in the UK for local rides or flog it and get a proper cruiser. Oddly, Beryl was happy with the comfort in the sidecar, but strained her back with getting in and out.

We've enjoyed the experience, we both wanted a Harley, but maybe never again. Need to tour and get 300 miles in one day with a bike that can do 200 miles on a tank. In comfort and quiet!!!!

It's my fault, the Sporty is great for short rides but you cannot go more than 100 miles without a rest ... IMHO.

An Electraglide Trike sounds good ....

[banquo]

Leaving aside the sidecar issues (and an Earles fork would probably resolve the aching arms?), there really is no reason for most of the others. Quiet pipes (or earplugs) resolve the noise, and as for the comfort, standard Harley seats are notoriously rubbish for comfort.

I know several people who have spent thousands trading their Softails for Glides. I spent not a lot on a second hand Saddlemen seat, and we can travel for hundreds of miles without any problems, two-up. OK, I was lucky getting the as new seat from a club member, but even full price it would have been worth it.

I have forwards as standard, but would have added them if they weren't already there.

Yes, you can buy something else, but you may (possibly) end up trading one set of problems for another?

Good luck either way.

[semmyroundel]

Hi Spindrifter, I'm sure your avatar isn't indicative of your age, but even so, approaching 50, I know that my years of doing long trips on my Nightster are very rapidly running out if not done so already.
I was planning a spanish trip with my son on the back of the sportster last year and 3 days before going, an accident on my Yammie forced me off the road for the following four months.
This however, was a blessing in disguise, because I made some subtle changes to my sportster that have made a big difference to long distance riding:
1. The rather ugly IMHO HD deep bucket touring seat is not that comfortable, in fact every sharp bump could be felt through the coxxyx, until, that is when I removed staples underneath and inserted a Dan Zenica wide gel pad, it looks even worse now, but boy, did that gel pad transform the ride!
2. I had an after-market mini (sports) screen that deflected the wind alright-straight onto my helmet, giving it that "egg in a stream of water" effect, whereby my head moved according to the turbulence. VERY fatiguing!
So I removed it and bought a National cycle deflector screen that has tilt and up/down adjustment, this enabled me to raise the screen so 1. I can get air underneath it to cool me down, and 2. to deflect the upper portion of air over the the top of my helmet.
Things that I had already had done: progressively wound springs and new lighter oil in front, Progressive 440's (I think) on back, mini apes and forwards as far as comfort goes.
This, I think is as far as I dared go money-wise, until it would have have been better to have bought a dyna range bike, but there was a step change in cost.
Having recently done a longish trip down to the coast with the latest amendments to the bike, I could honestly say that our trip is doable in short hops (no more than 1 hour riding without a stop, and somewhere between 100 and 300 miles a day depending on how we feel).
I think the best idea is not to plan too much and to keep expectations to a minimum.
The fact is that I live in a city, and am not that keen on big bikes, so a sportster was the logical choice, that I've tried to turn it into a mini-tourer I may live to regret-who knows?
I could always rent a bike for that long trip and leave the Nightster where most will tell me it belongs-at home in the city.
It's just one's attitude and age determine what to do.

[Tony Cross]

Sundowner seat makes 300 > 400 miles in a day quite reasonable. A decent screen is a bonus. Ride quality is enhanced by progressives. Standard silencers opened a little allow it to breathe without undue noise. RK is better on long journeys but not significantly so.

[semmyroundel]

RK Tony?

[banquo]

Road King (abbreviation for pipe and slippers)...

[spindrifter]

Our Sporty IS nice bike. Loadsa power, acceptable vibes and nice finish. Overall a good street bike with a good engine.. We have Rush slip ons (too loud) a Hypercharger air "filter" (Just bling!) and raked out forks. Hagon shox sort the back end. The big problem on motorways is that with a sidecar it needs quite a lot of power to maintain 70mph. This means that the bike is pulling to the left and needs a fair push on the left hand bar to keep it straight. At those speeds we get about 43mpg. Not much with a 3 gallon tank.

It's the dreadful seat to footpeg layout that's the killer. I can feel the strain in my thighs just sitting on the bike. It just gets worse until you simply have to stop for a break, usually after 3/4 of an hour. Dangling the legs helps to prolong the stops a bit. I've tried 3 seats and the current one from a 2004 Sporty with a deeper set is the best. A bike should feel right when you sit on it, if it feels awkward then it will surely give you grief after a few miles. For example I can ride 200+ miles on my Yamaha Thundercat without any difficulty. A Piaggio 500 scooter that I owned could be ridden all day, it had a forward feet facility.

The sidecar attachment framework means that I can't fit forward controls or even highway pegs. But even then I would have to change the air filter as it would hit my knees. It seems like the standard 2003 1200 Sportster Sport is much taller than the others and suffers fron the high seat and weird footeg location. As I said, ok for say 50 miles but a real pain after that. Badlander and other type saddles might work for the derriere but would still not fix the twisted legs.

It's not fit for the purpose for my purpose. I've spent years messing about with the thing and now I must give up. I love the look of a Road King but the lack of ground clearance on Harley Cruisers puts me off a bit.

Hmmm .... never had all this trouble with my Vespa in the 60's ... Lol.

Thanks for the replies, your comments much appreciated.

Keith and Beryl

[Adam 105th sportster]

I recently rode to south Devon for a dinner & back in a day. %00 mile on a sundowner seat with no bum ache.

[druncle]

Sorry to read about your woes Keith.
As a fellow 1200s rider of two years however, and having done two fortnight camping trips abroad (France/Spain and South of France), I seemed to have got more enjoyment out of them than you managed...
A massive irritation to me was fuel capacity; I tend to get 50 -60 if I ride steady; at 45mpg I would be getting really pissed off..
Comfort I never find too bad really, mrs druncle actually likes the swingarm mounted footrests, cos the slight constant movement eases the arthritis in her knee!
She doesnt like the small dimensions of the bike which limit her luggage options though!
Previous mile-cruncher was an elderly CBR1000f. This bike was comfortable, carried loads of gear, fast(too fast), handled brilliantly, but I still choose to tour on the sportster.... even loaded up, I find it great fun on the twisties, pokey, and flickable . I could imagine that being tied to a chair might negate to me what this bike is about.
That probably wont be any help at all Keith, but I would also find it disappointing if I had to struggle with the steering, and fill it up every 80 miles or so....
Is the sidecar set up properly?? it shouldn't be fighting you in a straight line (or at other times for that matter)
Ride safe, Druncs.

[spindrifter]

Thanks for your reply Druncs!! Mine is a 2003 1200 Sportster sport with various stage 1 add-ons. The skewing on motorways or main roads is purely a function of using a fair bit of throttle to keep the ship up to speed. The outfit steers dead neutral a low throttle openings but pour it on a bit to get the thing up to 70 and it is trying to steer a bit left which needs a fair old constant push on the LH bar. It's a sidecar thing, they steer left under throttle and float right on the over-run.
"A" roads are ok because the twists can be taken with throttle control .. but it shreds the back tyre!!!

It's me old legs that are a problem. The current standard riding position is not very good. I need forward pegs, but not too far forward, as I have short legs. I'm sure that would help with the aching thighs. Getting some pull back bars to give my torso a more upright stance will help too. I guess that a Sportie Custom with forward pegs might work.

A typical ride goes like this. Ok for about 1/2 an hour and then the left legs starts to get unconfortable, have to take it off the peg and resting it straight out on the sidecar frame for about a minute gives me another 15 mins of comfort. The right leg is ok for twice as long but needs a straight down dangle for about a minute every now and then. Quite frankly, it ruins the enjoyment of the ride. We have spent loads on the bike already so are a bit disillusioned. Damn silly peg locations.

One thing that must change for sure is the Rush slip on mufflers. The harsh noise drives us both mental after about an hour. Back to standard mufflers unless I can get some quieter inserts??? Dunno if they exist. Need better deeper bangs. Not the blat blat of Rushes.

Our 4 hour ride was a misery. It's either fix it or sell it!! Bit of a shame but it may be the end of the Harley "dream" for us. Basically it's the wrong bike. But it looks bloody great ... dammit!!

Any help or advice welcome while I drown my sorrows with a bottle of Mount Gay Rum. Lol