Harley Davidson Sportster Iron 883 Review at RevZilla.com
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00:00Howdy! This is Lenny with RevZilla. Man, I got a wicked case of the winter blues back
00:27there in Philly, so I headed out to Sin City. After the casinos got done with me, I realized
00:32I just wanted to be on a motorcycle. So I put myself on a 2016 Harley-Davidson Sportster
00:37Iron 883, and I got north of the city out here into beautiful Red Rocks, where I'm running
00:41this baby through its paces. Now those of you who are familiar with the Sportster know
00:45that this is the modifier's dream. If you want to get into the world of backyard building,
00:49the Sporty is arguably the best platform upon which to do so. So we're going to give you
00:53the standard RevZilla review. I'm going to tell you about how this gets up and goes and
00:56how it hauls down to a stop, and of course we're going to talk about how it makes its
00:59way through a turn. But there's a kicker to this review. This bike's actually coming back
01:03home with me. We're starting a new Sportster Modification Series, where we're going to
01:07bolt all manner of aftermarket parts to this Sportster, and we're going to talk about what
01:11parts do best in what scenario. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's get out there right
01:15now and test this baby in stock trim.
01:45The Harley Sportster was born in 1957, when Harley graced its K model with a new overhead
01:56valve engine. The recipe was pretty simple. They took a nimble, short, light-handling
02:01frame and put a peppy, unitized motor inside of it. The result was probably pretty predictable.
02:07Instant success. It's such a good recipe, in fact, that nearly 60 years later, so many
02:12riders call the Sportster the perfect bike for them. Sure, the bike's been modernized
02:16over the years. For instance, this sporty iron you can see here has a keyless ignition
02:20fob and optional ABS. But really, this bike's stayed pretty true to its roots. Perhaps it's
02:25for that reason that so many generations of riders have thought that the Sportster was
02:29the perfect bike for them. New riders, returning riders, and even some seasoned vets. Now if
02:35you're considering a Sportster for yourself, you should probably know the Sportster Iron
02:39in particular is a great bike for those who have a short inseam. Just because you don't
02:44have long legs doesn't mean you don't want a cruiser that packs a little bit of punch
02:47to it. And you also probably don't want a bike that's particularly tall or unwieldy.
02:52Now if you're looking at the Sportster Iron, you're probably checking out some other bikes
02:55too. For instance, Honda offers the Shadow Phantom, which is almost uncomfortably close
03:00in appearance to the sporty iron. If you're into air-cooled motorcycles too, you might
03:04be checking out a Yamaha Star Bolt. Air-cooled motorcycles offer a simplicity of service
03:09and aesthetic appeal that can be hard to match from a liquid-cooled motorcycle. Finally,
03:14and perhaps most notably, the other competitor for the sporty iron is the new Indian Scout
03:1960. The Scout 60 is the only other bike that I'm aware of that competes with this bike
03:23that's made by an American manufacturer. So if having a domestically produced bike is
03:27important to you, you're probably going to give a good, long look at that bike. Now having
03:31said all that, we could probably begin the review right now, but I feel like I would
03:34be shortchanging sporty owners and potential sporty owners if I didn't mention the Mr.
03:39Potato Head-like nature of the Sportster. Due to the fact that the Sportster has remained
03:44unchanged for so long, it means there's a vibrant aftermarket available for this motorcycle.
03:49So when I'm reviewing this bike, I know that I have to remember that if there's something
03:52I don't love about the motorcycle, there's probably some way to change it very easily
03:56due to the aftermarket. I also know too lots of folks run out and buy a Harley Sportster
04:00specifically because they want to make this bike their very own. They want to change out
04:05all sorts of parts on it to make it the perfect bike for them. So I'm going to keep that in
04:08the back of my head as I'm on top of this bike. Right now I'm going to grab a helmet,
04:12suit up, and head out for a ride. Come on, let's roll.
04:30Now that I'm on the Sportster, we can talk about what's in the Sportster. The 883cc V-Twin
04:59has plenty of punch. It's enough to keep new riders entertained and also smold salty
05:03dogs, too. There's a lot of power here in the area where folks use it on the street.
05:08Low in the rev range, lots and lots of torque. But it's not all peaches and cream on a Sportster.
05:13Look down here by my toe. You can see that my exhaust pipe and my front motor mount are
05:17covered in motor oil. Harleys aren't known for being the most oil-tight bikes around,
05:21and unfortunately that's sort of the case with this Iron II. Just one of those things
05:25you have to live with if you love Harleys.
05:27One of the other things that makes riding a Harley kind of a visceral experience is
05:31how loud the motors are. This Iron is a very loud bike, and I'm not talking just about
05:36the exhaust. I'm talking about the engine itself. Look here. You can see the pushrod
05:40tube covers. That's right. This is a pushrod V-Twin. This thing is making plenty of mechanical
05:45noise in the valve train. One of the other things that keeps the engine a little bit
05:49on the loud side is piston slap. You'll hear that from time to time. Look down here. See
05:53all those fins on the engine? It's air-cooled as well, which means that they build these
05:57a little bit on the loose side, and you will hear some piston slap. Now, some of you may
06:02think that the build quality is suspect because of that, and in fact, it's actually quite
06:05the opposite. It's those loose tolerances that allow Evos to live happy and long lives.
06:11It's part of the reputation that the Evo has earned for itself as a very, very bulletproof
06:16motor. Now, all that power comes through a five-speed transmission. Here, check this
06:21out while I shift. Hear that clunk? There's a big clang that comes along with a Harley
06:26Shift. I like to say that Harley-Davidson transmissions are a lot like black licorice.
06:30You either love them or you hate them. If you're used to that precision click that you'll
06:35get with a metric bike, it's a totally different story on a Harley-Davidson. These things clang
06:39into place. It's kind of like shifting an old Alice Chalmers. Now, when it comes to
06:43stopping beauty, the Sportster is kind of a mixed bag. You can see up front here, we've
06:48got an 11 1⁄2-inch rotor squeezed by a twin pot caliper. Same setup out back except
06:52we have a 10 1⁄2-inch caliper. Now, these aren't the greatest brakes in the world, but
06:57they're totally commensurate with the going power of this bike. Stopping power is right
07:00in line. Nobody's going to confuse these with Brembo monoblocks, but hey, there's pretty
07:05good feel at very least because of these braided lines that Harley thought to put onto the
07:10motorcycle from the factory. One less thing you're going to have to upgrade. From there,
07:16handling is really the next thing on everybody's mind. Now, Sportsters are not all created
07:20equal. I happen to think that the Iron 883 is the best handling Sportster you can currently
07:24buy from Harley because of this front tire. Look at that baby. It's 19 inches, but it's
07:29nice and skinny. Tips into a turn easily. This goes wherever you point the motorcycle.
07:34You can see here too, this is a 39-millimeter narrow glide front end. Harley's been using
07:39it for a long time. It's not the greatest front end of the world, but there's plenty
07:42of aftermarket support to make sure that this front end does exactly whatever you want
07:46it to. Now, out back, of course, we have new for 2016 preload adjustable shocks. These
07:51are going to really be a big improvement over the previous iterations of suspension we saw
07:56on the Iron. However, if you're doing lots of two-up work, I'm going to say they're still
08:00going to be inadequate. You're going to have to bump them up. The reason is just the travel.
08:04There's not much travel with these. You're well under two inches of travel, and that's
08:08not really appropriate, especially if you're going to be moving two up on your motorcycle.
08:13The Michelin Scorcher tires are fantastic, and with the exception of some poor ground
08:16clearance and these hero blobs down here, this is a great handling bike. All in all,
08:21this is a really customizable package. I'm pretty happy with this motorcycle, and it
08:25seems like a great basis for a starting point. Let's move on down the road, and we'll talk
08:29about some of the things you can do to make this sportster your very own.
08:38Now, as we just demonstrated, the Sportster is a pretty competent motorcycle, but that's
08:57not to say that improvements can't be made. I would modify some things in the Sportster
09:01were this my bike, and I'm sure the things that I would change are probably not too different
09:05than things that lots of other Sportster owners have changed over the course of the
09:09years. Here's what I'd start out with on the iron. First things first, I think I'd try
09:13and give the motor a little bit of attention. That 883cc mill is plenty punchy, but I'm
09:18a little bit spoiled. I've also ridden bikes with this same mill that was uncorked, and
09:23man, they really did rip. But for those of you who aren't looking to go out there and
09:27rip apart your brand new bike, you can probably pick up a few easy ponies just by throwing
09:32some simple bolt-ons on there. Let's talk about an air cleaner, a full-system exhaust,
09:35and I'd also probably put a fuel controller onto this bike to really pep it up a little
09:39bit and help unstrangle it some. From there, I would turn my attention to the saddle. The
09:44saddle looks great on this bike, but man, it was killing me after about 175 miles. I
09:49would replace this with something a little bit more comfortable and something that had
09:53a spot for my honey. I like to ride two up from time to time. If you're considering putting
09:57an iron in your garage, though, you should know that it's not just a two-up seat you
10:00have to buy. There are no provisions on here for a set of P-pegs, so not only do you have
10:04to mentally account for a set of passenger pegs, but you're also going to wind up purchasing
10:08passenger peg mounts. They don't come with the iron. You're going to have to come out
10:11of your pocket to put a set on there. The final things I would modify on the Sports
10:15are what I'm going to call the little things. Stuff like where I touch the bike. Parts of
10:20me that interact with the motorcycle kind of need to be modified so that it's personal
10:24and it makes me feel good when I'm on the bike. Now we're going to address all these
10:27items and probably some more in our Sporty Modification Series. Be sure to subscribe
10:32to us on YouTube so that you can catch all of the changes we make on our iron and find
10:36out how these parts work out and what might work well for your Sportster. As for me, I'm
10:41going to head back inside and grab myself a Sarsaparilla. Then I'm going to cruise around
10:45a little bit more on some of the roads here in Nevada. I'm Lemmy. I'm out of here.