hey guys, i'm looking into buying a late 90s/early 2000's sportster, I'm looking to hear from people who have some experience with these bikes, anything I should be aware of. these bikes have the Evo engine, which from what I understand is a pretty reliable engine in it's stock form, is that a fair assessment? I know the sportster line has always had crappy suspension, any other issues I should be aware of with these bikes? I'm not overly concerned with appearances since my plan is for this to be kind of a rat bike.

2004 and up got the rubber motor mounts. For me that is where I would start

What exactly do you want to know?  I own a hot rodded 93 formerly 883 now a 1250. As such I am intimatey familiar with this era of sportsters.


























































 

They also porked up when they changed the frame by 75lbs+ and decreased the lean angles significantly. The rubber mount bikes feel lazier to be, and in all honesty they don't vibrate that much less than a rigid bike. Maybe I'm not as sensitive to it as some, but I only notice vibrations when my fork oil is low, my shocks aren't working right, or my handlebar bushings are shot.

 

I'd like an EFI bike mainly because I hate the coaxing the bike to start aspect of getting a carbed bike to start when it's cold. how are the carbed evo's with starting in the cold.

With a clean and properly jetted carb i can fire up almost immediately.  It cranks a slight bit longer than normal. 30-45 sec I put the choke in halfway and start riding gently, a min and a half later the choke is all the way in. Within a few minutes the bike is warmed up. If your carb is gunked up you will have a tougher time starting. Luckily these carbs are simple as easy to clean...even for a knuckle dragger like myself.

 

Also consider a Buell XB bikes as well.  It is more of a naked street fighter as it comes, rather than a bobber.  But it does have Sportster roots.  There is also the earlier tube framed Buells as well, but they are carbed rather than EFI.  You can do some pretty nice Café or Tracker style builds on both the XB or earlier tube Buells, if that is something you were thinking of doing with a Sportsters.  The XB Lightning model (vs. the XB Firebolt with the fairing) is a littler easier to convert to a Tracker/Café as the wiring loom is set up for a headlight with much of the wiring tucking into the frame/tail.  With the Firebolt, some of the wiring is tucking into the front fairing and needs to be shortened when doing a Tracker/Café.  They can be had as cheap as Sportsters and have all the engine performance mods/suspension that you would upgrade on a Sportster.  So you don't have to put a lot of money/work into upgrades as far as the engine/suspension goes, although you can always do a big bore kit.  So it could end up cheaper if you were doing a high performance Sportster.

I bought my 2004 Buell XB12S Lightning for $2700 with 33K miles on it a year ago.  It came with the factory race exhaust (great sound without being obnoxious) and factory ECM.  It is a great road bike and really is a modernized version of the Sportster.  It really does have the heart of a Sportster (the basic engine design) with a modern frame & suspension.

1990 had 4 speed

1991 switched over to 5 speed

I had a 1990 sportster. If your over 5'8" youll hate it..they are cramped. I did a lot of mods to mine and I enjoyed it, but the 4 speed sucked and I geared it up some to help from over - reving the motor on the highway.

I used FLH shocks to lower mine and lower springs up front. some arlene ness one piece bars and a gun fighter seat. Re-did the carb and run straight pipes.

I have a '99, with 1200 kit,head and ignition work.

I will NOT own a '04 or later, because they eliminated the trap door to the tranny, behind the clutch hub.
Now, you bend a shift fork,etc., you get to split the cases to access the trans.
Welcome to the '52 K model Sportster.Pull the motor out, remove top end,split cases,etc.
They did it to save money in manufacture, and to add 1K $ to the shop bill. BOTH!
This is my 6th. Sporty,all the rest were Iron heads.The motors are stout, i have had some with lots miles on them.

I had a 02 883 Hugger. I loved that bike and would still have it. The wife didn't care for the ride on the back, so we bought a different bike. I won't say a bigger bike is an upgrade.

I'd be surprised if mine takes 2 full revolutions of the engine to start even when cold.  I blip the starter switch and the bike starts, every time.  It's carbureted.

I've ridden my 03 and an 04.  The 04 feels like a Briggs and Stratton powered POS, my 03 feels like a real bike.  Solid mount all the way.

a pre owned Triumph America is a bike you might want to look at before you buy.

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