Genuine thought from me......... I think Sportsters are under rated. They can be made to go, handle and stop pretty well. They are a good base for some reasonably priced fun, or OK to use, straight from the box. If you start with a reasonably priced one 3-4K, as long as you don't buy a complete lemon, you shouldn't lose any money if you decide its not for you, or you want to move up to a big-twin. Would I choose one as a commuting tool? Probably not. Can they be used to commute on? Certainly. 883 or 1200? 883's are plentiful, but I'd go straight for a 1200...and if I had the choice, get a factory 1200 rather than a conversion
unless you know who has done the conversion and how extensive the conversion was. Go read up on the differences.
I'd pick a carb over injection every time, if I had a choice......now with a good basic Sporty, you can carry out all the regular maintenance. a good platform to learn the basics on. You can even change the drive belt at the side of the road with a few basic tools...cant you Bez? You can even strip down and clean out the carb at the side of the road too...can't you Bez? Would I have another one? Yeah....I probably will....
Gratuitous Sporty pictures...feel free to add your own.....
My other half's old bike
What that bike morphed into. Sorry for the quality of the pic.
A Sportster based chop, built by my mate. Sold for around 9K
My Sportster on the day it was sold...a mistake to sell it....