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Harley's new Sportster S

mtberbob said:
Riding in the hills typically refers to being off highway, I assume you are talking about being on the road though so you lost me a bit there. I didn’t have an issue with the fat tire but the goofy forward controls gotta go
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I mean tight twisty corners on bitumen, 80-100kph speed limit with corners rated at 30-40kph.

Like this:

(click the 3D flyover)
 
mtberbob said:
After googling bitumen and converting to mph sounds like you mean a twisty paved road with average speed limits. Not quite what I imagined as riding in the hills lol
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fair enough. we're probably thinking very different things by the sounds of it.
 
mtberbob said:
After googling bitumen and converting to mph sounds like you mean a twisty paved road with average speed limits. Not quite what I imagined as riding in the hills lol
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actually - here's a vid of him on the HD going through the hills for you.
Should explain it better.

 
edgelett said:
This is a good review and sums up everything I thought about the Sportster S when I saw it - it's not actually a Sportster at all, it's a cruiser with a Sportster badge and is a Scout competitor, not a rival to the FTR. The FTR will absolutely FLY through corners. This thing kind of lumbers around.
Sure, in a straight line I'm sure it's fun. But not if you want to go anywhere actually interesting haha.
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So, I now own both bikes. I have owned the Sportster S for about 1 month and have put 500 miles on it, got it as soon as it was on the floor. I also got an FTR Carbon this week, after test driving it multiple times. Also new on the floor. Before this I have owned sport bikes (yamaha), multiple Road Kings, and Harley Dyna bikes.

They are direct competitors: Both are more "naked" than other bikes in their brands, both have a slight sporty feel, both have similar HP, with the Sportster S having slightly more torque, both have "regular" and "Sport modes". Both crush the other bikes of their respective brands. Both have uncomfortable seats compared to others in their brands.

Differences
-The seating position. You have a modified cruiser stance w/ the Sportster w/ Forward controls, of course the FTR has rear controls w/ a more sports bike stance. The stance also causes the Sportster to have less of a maximum lean angle than the FTR.
-The tires: The Sportster tires are very wide, "cruiser" style. It takes more energy/force to make it go into the corner, whereas the FTR requires much less force.
-Power band: The Sportster S rips, it almost pulls you off when you start, and you can gun it moving out of turns. You have a good amount of Torque up until redline. The FTR seems to have more power down low and tapers off in higher RPM, with the FTR I can't get the same launch although turning off that Cylinder deactivation helps.

That being said, if I didn't have to drive any long distances, and could have only two bikes, these would be the two I'd choose.

The scout doesn't come close to these two bikes. Completely different negatives and positives and is closer to the Cruiser line Harley has.
 
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