1957 Sportster. Long before there were choppers, cruisers, baggers & pirate costumes they made plain old motorcycles. I wish Harley would bring back this style. They could call it the Pinhead or Nerdster, whatever. I think it's cool. I'd bet they'd sell a few.

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Blue '07 DL650

And here's a couple of ruthless misfits out looking for trouble on one:

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Blue '07 DL650

It's unfortunate that Harley only sells the Low-Rider model of the Sportster now. Chimp on a tricycle.

Big tank, wire wheels, seat where it's supposed to be; drop in the current rubber mounted lump with an SS carb and I'd buy one.

Man, that bike has "break out the leathers, let's go for a ride!" written all over it. Pretty sweet.

.
Certainly the most stylish Harley I've ever seen.
Good chance that tractor seat is quite comfy, too.

Not so sure about the gear lever ~ the action looks a bit long & awkward.
But maybe it has a rotary pattern.
.

Could be wrong on this... but I *think* that's the brake lever, and the shifting was on the right.

Here's some harley facts for 1975:

1975:

Left hand side gear shifting, right hand side rear brake (Fed mandated)
New 35mm Showa forks.
Production Information:
XLH (13,515)
XLCH (5,895)


the prior years info doesn't say which side is which, but if they list the info for 75, pretty sure they were switched for prior years.

Here's some more indications of that:

1977:

New cases to accommodate the left side shifting.

would be weird to ride a bike set up like that...

Original Sportster had right shift & left rear brake like Triumph & BSA that they were competeing with.

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stroms are like blind dates, they usually have great personalities

Yup, nice bike.

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1985 Honda CB450SC (AUG04 - SEP09)
2004 Honda CN250 Helix (NOV09 - )
2006 Suzuki DL650 (MAR07 - )

Lordsmoke, still refusing to obey the voices!

Yes, that is very very nice. Imagine that would be fun to ride around on.

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2009 DL650 'Prime Mover'

"It is better to live alone in the desert than with a nagging wife" - Proverbs 21:19

Looking out the door I see the rain fall upon the funeral mourners.
Parading in a wake of sad relations as their shoes fill up with water. - Jeff Buckley, 1994

http://photobucket.com/mid-life-crisis-tour

Just get an old, restored Sportser.

You can get one for about as much as a new one, plus it will have even less power, trampoline suspension and suicidal brakes.

or.........

You can get a new Sportster and have it customized to look even more like an old one. You will retain the mediocre performance characteristics, plus entertain your nostalgia.

or..............

Just get one of these, so that when you get eventually over your nostalgia crisis and back into motorcycling, you'll not have spent 2/3rd of your retirement nest egg.



It's performance will be on par with the others, it's retro - however, it's also surprisingly affordable, you can always lie about how much you spent on it. Unfortunately, any Brando posing on this bike would be even more outlandish than on the other two. Just remember, that if Brando-posing is your objective, in "The Wild One" he rode a Triumph.

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Sent from my Hewlett-Packard 75C, using the Flying Merkel motorcycle app.

Stromin'Nroman NC28729, USA

DL650A K7 (Greywolf Moto Lab's R&D test mule) June 1, 2012 - present
DL650A K7 April 23, 2007 - January 6, 2012, RIP

"Look here brother, who you jivin' with that cosmik debris?" Frank Zappa, 1975