Talk Morgan Forums Community Vehicle Talk (non-Morgan) Yet another new addition.....

I'm sans Harley.....the Battistini dream and the riding reality clashed big style, hence there's a space in the garage again. I understand now why the mileage was amazingly low and why it spent most of its life as a static display........Sue wasn't up for it being in the house...so we parted company, as no point in just leaving it in the garage.............shame but another long held itch has been scratched, need to move on.

It`s a great life if we can still scratch the occasional itch..... and then move on...? (-:

Shame, bit like those OCC choppers that were all the rage a few years back - all show and not much go. The end up as trailer queens and bounce from owner to owner.

Much to be said for building your own bike so it does exactly what you want it to.

I've always liked the Sportsters, but I'm just too big for them.........yours is looking mean and lean, you must be pleased with the end result.

THe Battistinin was basically a tarted up paint job Harley with expensive shinny bits. But the rear suspension unit was a quasi hard tail conversion and no matter how I tried to adjust it, it just didn't ride well on other than perfectly smooth roads, and with the metal hand grips just put too much vibration thru your hands, making even the short journey just too tiring and I didn't want to start changing things from its original spec., so let it go..

They're strange bikes - 1000cc and 250kg, but size and performance is more akin to a 250. I'm no lightweight myself (6ft 17st) but everything seems to work well.The plan was for a stripped down bar hopper, leaving the Glide for longer or two up rides. As she's so small I can also squeeze her in between the back of the Morgan and the house. A big win win situation!

I met a fellow HD rider at breakfast yesterday - he was a very big old 'bro' bloke (had at least 4 inches and 10 stone on me) and he was waxing lyrical about his old ironhead and how he regretted letting it go.

Intersting, I was always riding 2 up, so the Sportster was and felt cramped two up, having said that a friend on his 883 did nearly 4k miles on one 2 up across the States with the peanut tank and a spare petrol jerry can tied to his rear carrier back in 93.. 90th anniversary celebrations. Other than he had trouble with the top of the heads working loose, it ran faultlessy over the 3 weeks or so... I have to go sit on one with an eye to one up riding.

Yeah, two up would be a bit cosy - but I have the Glide for that.

As a solo, there's room to scutch back in the saddle a bit and spread out. It's more akin to a powered bicycle