My impressions of the XL883R:

I've read reports over the years which say Harleys have poor brakes, clunky agricultural gearboxes, and vibrate a lot. I therefore had a test ride on a standard Sportster XLH883 before deciding to buy one. The one I tested had covered about 2,800 miles and was completely standard. It started to vibrate more noticably at around 65mph, and by 70mph it was vibrating so much that I couldn't see where the mirrors were, let alone what was being reflected in them! Nevertheless I decided to buy an XL883R, which I prefered due to the twin front disk brakes and I quite liked the look of the orange and black colour scheme.

After running the bike in I was pleasantly surprised at how much smoother it was than the XLH883 I road tested. When it reached 70mph it smoothed out, with the mirrors remaining still and showing a clear image, and it only started to vibrate noticably above 78mph. However, it never vibrated as badly as the XLH883 I test rode. The maximum I speed was about 95mph. Perhaps I was lucky enough to have a good one, or maybe the wider dirt-tracker style handlebars resonate at a different speed? Whatever the reason I was quite pleased about it!

One thing that I was less pleased about is that it's the first new bike I've ever bought that has had an oil leak! It leaked oil out of the bottom of the clutch inspection cover. The dealers replaced the rubber sealing ring, but it then leaked even more quickly! They ordered a replacement primary transmission casing and clutch cover which fixed the leak, but it then had an oil weep from the primary chain inspection cover, so I wasn't very impressed about that! Otherwise the quality of manufacture and finish seemed quite good. The only other problem was that the front tyre lost air quite quickly (10 - 12psi per week).

The gearbox is was better than I was expecting. It's didn't have a light change action, and it clunked loudly engaging first gear, and it would also clunk (or clang!) when changing gear if you rushed it (e.g. changing gear as quickly as I would on other bikes and cars), but if you changed gear slowly it was possible to have very smooth gear changes with no clunking noises at all. Again it seemed better than the bike I road tested, especially down shifting.

The handling seemed perfectly safe and worry free (unlike the XLH883 I tested which weaved and wallowed when I went round one tight bumpy bend at less than 40mph! - perhaps the tyre pressures were too low or something, as it also tramlined a bit on a couple of other occasions), although I never pushed it too hard as I mainly rode the bike during the winter months.

Initially the twin front disk brakes seemed pathetic, with the sort of braking I'm more used to from rear drum brakes, i.e. very little braking ability! However, after they've bedded in, and I became used to having to pull the lever in much further than harder than on my other bikes, they seemed much better. The lever came half way back to the handlebar before the pads start biting, unlike the SV1000 where it seems like the lever doesn't move much, you just need to apply some pressure to it!

The fuel consumption was not quite as good as the SV1000, presumably mainly due to the Harley's extra weight, and having to use lower gears at town speeds (whereas the SV1000 can stay in top gear most of the time). It has varied between 50mpg and 54mpg. With a 12.5 litre fuel tank that meant I needed to fill up at around 120 miles, although I never ran onto the reserve (which is only 1.9 litres).

The bike had the Screaming Eagle stage 1 kit (free flow air filter, carburetter rejetting, and straight through silencer), which sounded quite nice. It was louder at cruising speeds than the Scorpion silencer I had on my SV650. At tickover and low revs it was quieter than my brother's 1200 Sportster (which has twin Screaming Eagle silencers).

The clutch lever needed a hefty pull, so it could be tiring, or even make my fingers a little sore, if I had to ride too much in town traffic. The only other slight annoyance is that the inside surface of the drive belt is covered with a film of polyethylene when new, and that results in small flakes being thrown off while it's wearing in. It's only a problem because when these flakes land on the exhaust they're burnt on forming black blobs that are really difficult to remove without scratching the chrome. Overall though I was quite pleased with it, and I enjoyed riding it.

I only covered about 1,870 miles though before I upgraded to the 1200R, which is definitely a better bike.