The First 300+ Miles on the Sportster Custom

This week I’ve put over 370 miles on the Sporty including 160 on Saturday that included destinations in Julian and Oceanside. I continue to be amazed by the bike overall; it is very comfortable for clocking miles, handles well in the twisties, and has plenty of power. I am mostly surprised with how well the Harley-Davidson handles.

Going through very tight turns you can really lean the Sportster over and feel very confident in the control. The only thing to watch for is gearing, you want to be low enough in the gears to leverage the copious torque through the turns. I found that the Sporty and I performed best when looking as far as possible through the turns, and if I got fixated on the rider in front the ride became significantly less smooth and enjoyable.

My neighbor Doug and I did the 130 mile Julian loop in about three hours. Now that we’re into Fall the weather and scenery are perfect for riding and it stayed cool enough for jackets the entire time. The ride out to Oceanside on the 78 was less enjoyable but I made good time. The amount of turbulence at speed is significant without a windscreen and I can feel the effect in my back and shoulders.

Doug has a great pair of riding glasses from Panoptx that include the Photochromic Day/Night lenses that adjust the tint based on the ambient light. They go from clear to a fairly dark tint without the need to change lenses. This is a perfect solution for riders, especially those with open-face helmets, who don’t won’t to limit their riding by time of day and don’t want to pack multiple glasses or lenses. This week I found myself riding at night with my blue-blocker lenses, not impossible to see but they certainly limit the effectiveness of the excellent Sporster Custom headlight. Harley-Davidson also has a line of riding glasses with Day/Night lenses that I plan on checking out soon.

Taking the coastal 101 from Oceanside to Carlsbad capped the day – those of us in San Diego are really fortunate to have such great riding destinations and weather. Average mileage for the day, 46mpg which is pretty good considering the Sporty is still in the break-in period. I expect to see the mileage climb above 50 mpg as we get closer to the 500 mile mark.

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