Birdwatcher used to ride at such a high rate of speed that no Harley rated his purchase.
So I'm sure he knows what he's talking about.
Exactly so, turns out two slow-revving seriously undersquare air-cooled pistons rising and falling nearly simultaneously while attached to an actual separate and heavy transmission intrinsically ain’t THE best setup for lightweight speed and agility. Even on a Sportster ridden on the straights (which don’t count) even the 1,000cc Virago I was on at the time would walk away. He topped out at about 115, I still had about another 5mph left, we demonstrated this many Sunday mornings. He later became split pelvis guy, came off and hit the steering head on the way off,still rides tho.
But more’n anything, if you left your Harley regularly parked ANYWHERE back then, the local Outlaw club would stop by, lift it into the back of a van, and be on their way.. IIRC all they had to do was switch out the cases and Shazzam! It was a whole ‘nother Harley.
You might be too young to remember those bad old days.
Those were bad old days. But... What's your Virago worth now? And, have you checked the value of that same year Sportster now?
Viragos were actually pretty nice bikes. Always had the feeling they were made to a price point, and they were. Worked well though. Had an XV920RJ, just to be wierd. Enclosed chain, instead of a shaft. Looked sporting enough, but ridden in a spirited fashion, the front cylinder exhaust pipe would touch first, lifting up the front wheel. I know this for a fact. Funny, what you find out at the end of a decreasing radius right hander....
