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“I've had my 2008 Harley Davidson Sportster 883 XL for...”

written by Baddog19 on 02/11/2008

Good Points
Sound, (Once it's fitted with after market mufflers).
Riding Position
Torquey Motor
Fuel Injection
Price.

Bad Points
Prehistoric Engine Design
Pathetic Suspension
Crap Brakes
Poor Ground Clearance
Lacks Horse Power
Low rev limit 5200 RPM
Power to Weight Ratio - 50HP and 255kg
No Tacho.

General Comments
I've had my 2008 Harley Davidson Sportster 883 XL for six months and done about 3000kms.
In stock form the bikes are really inadequate in all areas a motorcycle needs to be good in.
I have done everything possible to improve my bike since I bought it.
Here's a quick list of what you need to do to bring these bikes up to an acceptable level of performance:
The brakes are rubbish for such a heavy bike, spongy and weak. Change those shitty rubber hoses to stainless braided lines front and rear. They will feel like they work after that. Fit sintered brake pads because the stock ones are made to last, not stop.
Suspension is way too soft, especially the front. I'm 95kg and had 2" of rider sag with only 4" of travel. Fit some after market heavy springs and change the fork oil accordingly. It improves the feel up front dramatically. Rear shocks aren't as bad but you'll discover you'll bottom out a lot on hard bumps, scrap the jiffy stand on the L/H side and the Mufflers on the right. Fit some 1/2" taller, quality, after market shocks to improve the bottoming out and ground clearance. You'll probably still rubbish things but it's better.
Engine, these bikes are really under powered for their weight. Plus the 100 year old engine design is pretty poor. If a new company tried to sell a bike with this sort of pushrod, dry sump configuration, they wouldn't even be able to enter the market. First change your mufflers so it sounds like a Harley and gets the gases flowing out better. Open up the air intake with an after market unit so it can suck more air. You'll then need to remap the ECU with a decent fuel management system to cope with these changes. Bare in mind these old motors love to spit oil out the air intake, it's how it's designed. I think this is why the Air filter cover is so big to hide all the oil that gets into it.
Do all this like I did to your bike, plus I went the next step and converted mine to a 1200. The bike is a lot faster but it will always be a Harley.
You can do all this and it will improve your ride, or you could just by something else.
PS. The good points are it has a very comfortable seating position once your not bottoming out all the time. The EFI makes the bike a joy to start. Very torquey motor for riding around town.