2008 Harley 1200 Sportster $11,200.
2000 Harley Heritage Softail $11,350
2009 Honda Shadow 750 Spirit Flame paint $6999. Between these three which better buy and why? I having hard decision to make here.
The Harley has 28,000 miles Belt drive with carb.
Sportster is also belt drive and has 4.5 gal tank
The Honda Shadow is shaft drive with a 4.9 gal tank
Anonymous
Favorite Answer
you have picked 3 bikes so far from each other, for your lack of what you really want go with the honda, dependable nice handling bike at a good price
Ruppster
1.) 1200 Sportster - I think this is the best bike Harley makes. With a couple of mods the engine can easily put out as much power as a Big Twin TC88 engine. And since the bike is about 150 pounds lighter and narrower then a Big Twin it will run circles around them. If you plan on keeping the bike for a long time and do the maintanence yourself the engine is a breeze to work on (also has less gaskets and seals then the TC88 engine). And lots of goodies are available for it. Also, Harley sells parts for their bikes going back many years.
Now for the bad - shorter wheelbase then the Big Twins mean less leg room if you are on the tall side (even with highway pegs). Big Twin Harley riders will snub you for riding a girly bike (they're just jealous because the Sportster handles better then their Hogs). When I rode my Sportster I was quite often refered to as the bike guy on the little bike. Needless to say it isn't a bike for posers.
2.) 2000 Softail - I love the old school style of the Heritage but I don't like the spoked rims from a maintanence stand point. Because of the spokes you need to run a tubed tire. If you get a nail in your tire on the road you can not use a plug kit to get you to a shop. Also, IIRC this was the first year for the TC88 counter balanced engine. The first 2 or 3 years of the TC88 engine had issues with the cam bearings. Harley did a semi recall on them. If you had a failure for a certain time they would fix them. Otherwise they left them alone. I would ask if the update was done on the cam bearings. Also, if it is at a dealer I would recommend an extended warranty to be safe. While the TC88 engine has more parts then a Sportster engine it is still pretty simple to work on. The tranny is seperate from the engine and can easily be upgraded to a 6 speed. Plus as I mentioned before parts will be available for quite a while. The only real thing I don't like is the location of the rear shocks. If you never take a passenger with you they are okay. But if you need to switch the shock settings back and forth between one up and two up riding it can be a royal pain to adjust the shocks. The best ways around this is to either leave the shocks in the stiffer two up mode or get an air ride setup.
3.) 2009 Honda 750 Shadow - While I love the older Shadows (I was raised on Hondas and they are still my preferred bike) I don't like what they have done with the new stuff. Honda has made too many changes to the style of the bike to make it look like a mini Harley. It's biggest plus is that it will give the the least amount of trouble as their engines are some of the best made ones out there. The down side to it is it is harder for the average Joe to do a lot of his own work and requires more specialty tools then a Harley. And Honda doesn't stock much parts for older bikes. This can be a big minus if you plan on keeping the bike for a log time and want to be able to keep it going. If you decide to go with a Honda I would recommend going with its bigger brother, the 1100. Especially if you plan on going on long rides and taking a passenger.
If I had to take my pick I would go with the Sportster. I don't ride for poser points so I could care less about some small minded people calling it a girl's bike. And Sportsters now have rubber mounted engines so they make better highway cruisers.
mcpeek
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BikerBob
If it were my choice I'd go with the 2000 Softail. It will be the most comfortable to ride of the three choices. Plus the Harley won't loose it's resale value like the Honda will. But you'll probably like it so much you'll never sell it anyway. I hope you've ridden each of these. That should be the ultimate factor in your decision. Enjoy your new bike regardless of which one you get.
mushki
Why not go with a new Shadow 1100? Seems like the logical Honda instead of the 750. I would choose the Shadow 1100 if included, by far the best bang for your buck. Without a 1100 I would take the older softtail, since it is a good bike at that price and should depreciate very slowly from here out. I would stay as far away from the 08 skirtster, sportsters actually lose their value at the same rate as jap bikes.