I am 51 years old and looking at buying a 2005 H-D 1200 Custom?

Question

The bike has 12,000 mile on it, Saddle seat, sissy bar and luggage rack. tax, title out the door $8,350. Is this a good price? The bike looks to be in excellant shape, buying from Harely shop. This is actually my first bike, though I have ridden a lot back when I was a kid ( in my 20's)... Just never owned one. Oh yea, it has "Screamin Eagle" pipes on it? Is that the loud pipes?

Thanks for the answers.. all have been a great help... I am by the way 6', 190-195 lbs.

Answer 1

u know u have the very loud pipes if they're the screamin eagle II's. they usually are stamped 'for off-road use only'. those are also discontinued by the moco. the typical screaming eagle slip-on's isnt obnoxiously loud.

12,000 miles on a sporty is low. hasnt been riden much. sissy bar, and rack isnt cheap to buy singly either. the custom has a bit more chrome on it, and usually has the forward controls also. is a good bike, i have a roadster 1200.
make sure the saddle is a sundowner. is THE best seat for a sporty. this scoot will also have good pickup with the stage1 already on it.

maybe u could talk em into addin saddle bags if they could work that into the price...and for an '05, flash some green, i betcha they'd do it, specially when almost everyone is lookin to snag an '07.

*edit* oops, i mislabeled the pipes.....the screamin eagle PRO's were discontinued. mah bad.

Answer 2

Dude, don't do it! Unless you have the money to go the TC-88 about a year later. (Don't get a new one. All the non-tech sheets I see are people complaing about overheating from the EPA crap!) In your 20's. OK, When was that? My 20's was 30 years ago. You will quickly get tired of "friends" leaving you to dodge cages if you get a 1200.

Anyway, a little story. I got a small bike. It was a Jap bike. I was warned about learing on an H-D of ANY size, even the old 883's. I did learn, I got good, and got my hog. I broke my leg. My fault, but not enough practice. But I wanted that big bike really bad! It cost me a new bike repair bill (Didn't need any insurance.) and getting my leg fixed. Leg wasn't covered either!

Now I have the little FXDWG you can see in the avatar picture (Maybe. Since Yahoo Don't work all that well.) H-D got better, I got better. A 1200 has has quite a bit of juice when you whack the throttle. Not more than Jap sport bikes, but your seating position needs to be taken into account. Never mind the damn pipes, can you sit the bike at a stop! Can you do a one leg stop on a 1200 when you are off balance?

I ask because I about the same age, and learned the bike thing the hard way. Yeah, I rode in the '70s. A decent, but falling apart '79 Yamaha 650 XS. Now I'm on an XFDWG. But that Jap crap was 20 years ago and I got back on a bike quick. Now my boots cost me over $125 for the ankle support buggers, I won't ride without a seven pound leather jacket in over 90 degree weather down here in Florida. (I'm afraid I'll fall over, and I ain't quite your age.)

If you got the balls (And the money!) go like hell Dude, go like hell! I like my litle FXDWG with the TC-88, but it took me longer than a 1200 to get here.

Answer 3

Not quite enough info to go on my friend.

What are your intents? Bar hopping? Commuting? Touring?

How big are you? I'm 6'3" @ 250 lbs., and clearly a sporterster is too small for my average physique.

Sportsters are fine bikes, and since the brought out the rubber mount versions I'd say they are even better.

Screaming Eagle may or may not be street legal. Probably not. Legal or not, they will be louder than stock MOCO mufflers.

I know nothing about the pricing question. Sounds high, but whatdo I know?

I was in EXACTLY the same boat 7 years ago. First bike, rode when I was young & stupid, etc..... Now I got 2 EVO's.

Whatever you decide on, good luck to ya. Ride safe.

Answer 4

It doesn't seem like a real bad price, but you will not be happy on a sportster very long.
If you want to buy it to ride a while and get used to riding again, and you can afford to loose some cash due to quick resale, then give it a go.
A more suitable bike for you would be a full sized HD, like a dyna, better yet a softtail, or best of all a touring model(road king classic ultra) these cost twice as much, but believe me once you get a Harley you'll wanna keep it anyway. (except maybe the sporty)

Answer 5

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