nudemetalz
8th December 2007, 22:13
Well, here I was at Wellington Motorcycles awaiting on the Guzzi to come out from it's WOF.
I had not long come back from riding the immensely powerful B-King when Crasher Pete said to me "while you're waiting, do you want to take out the H-D Nightster for a ride?"
Well I recall reading Jim2's excellent write-up and I do confess to liking the look of it plus I've never ridden a Harley before, only Buells, so I said "why not !!".
I yelled over to Col, who had just come back from B-King'ing and said to him this should be your next test.
Pete came out, showed me the H-D controls and said "go have fun".
Initially impressions?
Took a bit to get used to the L and R indicators. It was unnerving pushing a button on the the right switchblock that would normally be the place of the engine start while riding along !!!
The riding position also took some getting used to , what with being used to the semi-sports stance of the Guzzi V11. When I pulled up the lights I'd go to put my feet down and it would be right where the pegs are so I had to splay my legs out. Once again, just familiarity.
The engine?
Not at all what I expected. The fuel-injection was supposed to have sorted the delivery and smoothness apparently, but not having ridden a carburetted model before I can't comment there.
Pulls nicely from off idle to a broad fat mid-range, signing off quite early up top. However, the trick is to not rev it hard, but use the higher gears.
Compares a lot with my Guzzi V11 but without the Guzzi's top-end surge.
The gearbox was quite smooth and direct as was the clutch.
I did notice that my right leg was getting rather cooked by the heat from the RHS of the engine.
Not too vibey either unless you rev it hard (which of course I wouldn't do to a demo bike)
Handling?
Hmmm.....I was worried about pushing the Nightster through the corners as the front-end was quite vague while doing this, severe footpeg scraping notwithstanding !!!
The rear suspension was also quite harsh and jolted over the road bumps.
Maybe I'm missing the point but on a $16K + machine, it should have better suspension.
I guess cornering hard is not what the Nightster is about, so I shouldn't complain about this.
The brakes were fine but the front-fork twisting under braking should not also be an issue. A forkbrace would fix this.
Well, I really enjoyed the ride on the H-D today. I got a lot more stares on this than the wicked B-King. It is a great looking machine.
If I was given a choice of either the B-King or a Nightster based on my rides today, it would be the Nightster for sure.
Reasons?
- Well, I like the rumbly understressed V-twin.
- I'd lose my licence on the B-King in less time than it takes me time to type this !!!
- I must be getting old !!
Huge thanks to Pete at Wellington Motorcycles to allow me to test ride the Harley-Davidson XL1200N Nightster.
I had not long come back from riding the immensely powerful B-King when Crasher Pete said to me "while you're waiting, do you want to take out the H-D Nightster for a ride?"
Well I recall reading Jim2's excellent write-up and I do confess to liking the look of it plus I've never ridden a Harley before, only Buells, so I said "why not !!".
I yelled over to Col, who had just come back from B-King'ing and said to him this should be your next test.
Pete came out, showed me the H-D controls and said "go have fun".
Initially impressions?
Took a bit to get used to the L and R indicators. It was unnerving pushing a button on the the right switchblock that would normally be the place of the engine start while riding along !!!
The riding position also took some getting used to , what with being used to the semi-sports stance of the Guzzi V11. When I pulled up the lights I'd go to put my feet down and it would be right where the pegs are so I had to splay my legs out. Once again, just familiarity.
The engine?
Not at all what I expected. The fuel-injection was supposed to have sorted the delivery and smoothness apparently, but not having ridden a carburetted model before I can't comment there.
Pulls nicely from off idle to a broad fat mid-range, signing off quite early up top. However, the trick is to not rev it hard, but use the higher gears.
Compares a lot with my Guzzi V11 but without the Guzzi's top-end surge.
The gearbox was quite smooth and direct as was the clutch.
I did notice that my right leg was getting rather cooked by the heat from the RHS of the engine.
Not too vibey either unless you rev it hard (which of course I wouldn't do to a demo bike)
Handling?
Hmmm.....I was worried about pushing the Nightster through the corners as the front-end was quite vague while doing this, severe footpeg scraping notwithstanding !!!
The rear suspension was also quite harsh and jolted over the road bumps.
Maybe I'm missing the point but on a $16K + machine, it should have better suspension.
I guess cornering hard is not what the Nightster is about, so I shouldn't complain about this.
The brakes were fine but the front-fork twisting under braking should not also be an issue. A forkbrace would fix this.
Well, I really enjoyed the ride on the H-D today. I got a lot more stares on this than the wicked B-King. It is a great looking machine.
If I was given a choice of either the B-King or a Nightster based on my rides today, it would be the Nightster for sure.
Reasons?
- Well, I like the rumbly understressed V-twin.
- I'd lose my licence on the B-King in less time than it takes me time to type this !!!
- I must be getting old !!
Huge thanks to Pete at Wellington Motorcycles to allow me to test ride the Harley-Davidson XL1200N Nightster.