by Allison R Thompson

Harley Davidson have been building motorcycles now for more than 100 years and today you have a number of different models to choose from. Yet of all the bikes that this company has produced some of the most popular and best selling models are the Sportster ones. In fact the Harley 883 Sportster is not only popular with men of all ages but women as well.

As with all of the motorcycles that this company produces, the Harley Davidson 883 Sportster is a very versatile one and comes with a number of features that provide it with the same kinds of looks as the XLCH version produced back in 1958. However, if you want to make yours more into a touring bike then all you need to do is add a few additional features to it and below we take a look at what these are.

1. Buy yourself a set of the leather saddlebags which sit flush over the back part of the motorcycle. 2. Arrange to fit a sport windshield. This you can either do yourself or arrange for a Harley Davidson dealership to do it for you. 3. Remove the seat that the motorcycle came with an replace it with their touring version which is far more comfortable. 4. Have a set of low sissy bars as well as the passenger backrest fitted. This again you can either do yourself or get a dealer to do for you. 5. Also fit it with a sport rack and buy the tank and overnight rack bags as well.

This will make it in to a great bike for going away on at weekends without having to comprise and lose any of its ride capability. Moreover, by putting on the new seat and including the passenger backrest it makes the Harley Sportster 883 even a more comfortable and enjoyable ride when two are on it.

As previously mentioned the latest versions of all the Harley Davidson Sportster’s look very similar to the XLCH Sportster produced back in 1958. The only difference being is that the parts have changed since then and only good quality modern parts are fitted to these machines.

All the latest Harley Davidson 883 Sportster’s are fitted with an Evolution V-Twin engine which has a total of 883cc. But should a person wish to they can have the engine bored out further by their Harley Davidson dealership for around $900 and this will increase the engines capacity up to 1200cc.

However what one should remember is that the 883 Sportster has been purely designed for cruising the highways and byways at reasonable not fast speeds. So if you are a pure speed freak then it may be wiser to sink your money into some thing Japanese made. But when the sun is high and there is very little wind around a bike like this will make motorcycle riding extremely pleasurable.

What you will soon discover after owning your Harley 883 Sportster for even the shortest time that they are ideally suited to be ridden both in the city or out in the country. Also now that all the Harley Davidson motorcycles are fitted with a belt drive rather than a chain drive they sound much quieter and also much easier to maintain as well. So if you are looking for a bike which can hold its value but has all the qualities that you would look for in a custom made motorcycle you may want to consider one of these as your next purchase.

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