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2004

lost in time

Sat, 06/25/2011 - 06:25 — leezer8

old man me.was b s a triumph dude,,,,in 60 s any way,,,883 is to loud,,,pipes are flared on end ,,,will baffles fit in any way,,,where can I get them ? michigan LEE

2004 Sportster - Bad starter

Fri, 04/08/2011 - 11:08 — croney1

Recently bought a used 2004 Sportster with relatively high mileage. 24K. Starter was the first to thing to go. Was expecting a repair cost of maybe a couple hundred bucks. Was pretty much floored when I heard $600. ($350 for the part, $250 for labor). Really soured me on the whole Harley ownership thing. I know that the line is quality cost money. But $600 for a starter is ridiculous. Gonna put it up for sale at a loss. It's a shame because I really liked the bike.

2004 Harley Sportster 883 custom

Wed, 09/26/2007 - 08:00 — jtstahl

I am 58 years old, have owned and rode both motor cycles and motor scooters since 1964. Purchased my very first Harley last July, it was a used 2004 Sportster 883 custom with 7400 miles on it. I've always wanted a Harley but due to its cost could never afford one until now. Anyway while at the motorcycle dealer, he started it up and I immediately thought how loud it was but he mentioned it had some upgrades done to it such as screamin eagle pipes, air cleaner, and a stage 1 upgrade to the carb. What he was telling me was all greek as I didn't understand exactly what it all meant. Anyway while riding it home it rode pretty good but backfired a lot and smelled like raw gas, I also felt like it was way too low for my riding style. Once I got it home I noticed the inside of the tailpipes were completely covered with a black soot telling me it must have been running too rich, being that it smelled like raw gas all the time while running. I went down to my local Harley dealer and ordered a Harley repair manual and started to check out the manual vs my motorcycle as it stood in front of me. I first removed the tailpipes which were, no name, straight pipes, no baffles. I didn't care much for those so I ordered a set of original OEM stock tailpipes. I also removed the carb and disassembled it noting the slow and main jets were quite a bit above what the book stock values were, so I ordered stock jets for it. The air cleaner was all black with soot and was a screamin eagle. I instead purchased the stock air cleaner because I wanted to get the bike back to stock configuration.

Follow up to Article

Sat, 07/01/2006 - 08:00 — mike

I wanted to update the below article with some good news. I wrote the CEO of HD and he passed the letter on to customer service and I received a call from them. My first thought when I spoke to them again was that I am going to just get the run around but with a different tune this time. Well, I was mistaken. They sent a new gas gauge, since this was the worst to fog and clear up, developed in the R&D and had the local dealer install it at no charge. My only cost is to call customer service every thousand or so miles and inform them of the gauges performance.

2004 Electra Glide Classic

Tue, 01/17/2006 - 08:00 — mike

I owned a 1987 FLHTC that I put 120,000 miles on and the only major problem was having to have the heads redone at 108,000 miles. I have since sold the bike to a friend who is still riding it and is thoroughly pleased.

2004 Sportster

Sun, 11/20/2005 - 08:00 — dan

I bought my Sportster April 15, 2004. I changed the seat and added hard bags and had a stage 1 kit put on her. I now have 19865 miles on it and haven't had a problem with it. Rode to Sturgis SD this year it was a 3500 mile roundtrip, bike performed beautifully. I saw the new Street Glide and it hurts me but I just ordered one, not because I don't like my Sportster but need a little more for two-up riding. I love my SPORTSTER 1200 CUSTOM. Dan

my 2004 sportster

Tue, 08/30/2005 - 08:00 — danjc

My name is Dan and I have an 04 1200 sportster custom. After riding this bike for over 12000 miles I can say that I am very pleased with this motorcycle. I did get stranded once, when the bike was brand new --luckily I was only a few miles from the dealership where I bought it and they sent a truck to pick me up.

The service manager at the time ( I don't remember his name but this was at Detroit Harley Davidson in Centerline, Michigan) immediately went to work on it and discovered the battery was defective. He popped in a new battery and I was on my way in less than 15 minutes.

2004 XL883

Tue, 02/08/2005 - 08:00 — rick

I don't know if the engineering got better, but I rolled mine out of the dealer, put about 600 miles on it in the first 2 weeks, then took it to Kansas City and back (from Chicago), straight shot each way.

Over the summer, took it to Taos New Mexico. 10,000 miles in the first year alone. The column lock went bad, but they replaced that no questions asked.

I'm very happy with mine. Sorry to hear you got a lemon.

Rick

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by Dr. Radut.