I'm deciding between a 2001 Harley Davidson sportster 1200 custom or a 2000 Honda Shadow sabre don't know which one to get
The Harley Davidson sportster custom 1200 has 17,000 miles it's green and he wants 3,300 for it. Or a Honda Shadow sabre has 7000 miles on it and it's blue they want 2,999 for it 3221 including taxes.
The Harley hasn't been parked nearly as much, but either should be looked over by a competent bike mechanic before you decide.
The Sportster will have a carb and enrichener, otherwise they haven't changed much since then. No reason it shouldn't last tens of thousands of more miles with proper upkeep.
The Shadow will probably be the more comfortable ride, and make sure you know about any mods made to it. You know, the kind where people by Hondas and then spend a small fortune to make it sound like and look like a Harley. The Saber is a copy of the Softail after all.
Buy what flips your switch… But make sure you have it checked over first unless you are a bike mechanic yourself. Don't trust the seller to tell you everything they know to be an issue, or just flat broken. Most don't know, and some just won't tell you. Used bikes from a private seller are legally "as is, where is", so if you ride off and it dies the next day, it's your problem.
The Honda is the one to get. Better bike in just about every single way than the HD
Honda.
You are looking at two different motorcycle -- a standard and a cruiser. The cruiser is bigger, longer, heavier, feet forward. The standard is smaller, shorter, lighter, feet more under you.
Why do you want a motorcycle? Do you want daily rider, or do you want to go on trips on the highway?
When you ask people what kind of motorcycle you want, they answer with what THEY would want. I would prefer the Honda, but that's me, not you.
On YouTube you'll find a number of 'competitive reviews' or 'comparative reviews' of bikes in that 'sector'--Honda Shadow 750, Suzuki Boulevard 800, Kawasaki Vulcan 800/900, etc. And if you do some googling you'll find similar print reviews from magazines. I find almost all of these put the Sportster on the bottom--least comfortable, loudest, worst handling, most expensive, etc.
OTOH Sportsters are very popular! I see a lot of them around. Lots of people learn to ride on them (even though Harley introduced two smaller 'trainers' a couple years ago). I see a lot of mildly-used Sportsters on Craigslist surprisingly cheap, and I wonder if it's because people hate them so much they want to get rid of them, or because they love them so much they can't wait to get a bigger Harley.
The Harley will hold value better but at $3000 that really isn't an issue anymore.
You're asking about 17-year-old motorcycles here. NOBODY can tell you which will be more reliable or the better value, but if it were MY choice to make, I'd go for the Honda…
- Why are those Harley Davidson motorcycles very popular among old people? Usually, I see young people riding Honda or Kawasaki kind of motorcycles. But there are many old men who ride Harley Davidson stuff. Why do those young people prefer those fast bikes and old people like those Harley Davidson stuff?
- Types of motorcycles like Suzuki Marauder / Honda Shadow / Sportster? I'm pretty much only familiar with sport bikes. I like the Marauder and Shadow and Sportster styles of bikes. Any other suggestions similar to them?
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- Sport bike comparable in speed to a Sportster 1200? I rode a Honda Rebel 250 for a year and a half, it was my starter bike. Grew out of it and sold it to afford a bigger bike. Rode my moms sportster 1200. I personally want a sport bike, but my mom feels like they are to fast (but she would let me have a sportster 1200.) So my question is what sport bikes out there are similar in speed to a sportster 1200 so she would allow it? Ps: Been looking at the Kawasaki Ninja 650R she approves of it. How does it compare to a sportster 1200 speed wise?