| Author | Message | ||
     Slowride |
My father has a 1997 Sportster 1200s. This is the model with the fully adjustable suspension front and rear (kind of) like our Buell's. I am specifically interested in the Gas Tank color's and emblems. What I would like to find out is: What Graphics and colors of the graphics were used in the 1997 - 1999 1200s model years. The reason for the request.... My father dented his original or at least the original tank that came on it when he purchased the bike by having a strap break during transport. Well, my father is very much a fanatic about this piece of artwork called a motorcycle. He rode it like this for about 2 years and he was constantly bitching about the dent. Well I decided to look for the perfect present and I picked up a tank this past Christmas. It was a 99' 1200s model tank off eBay to replace the dented one for him. A factory replacement is well north of $500 so this seemed a good idea. When we got the tank in we noticed 3 things. The pen striping was different, the logos were different colors and the checkerboard was also different. This was nothing worth fretting over due to how well it looked. Flash forward to 6/20, Father's Day. My dad and I were completing a 14 day, 4600 mile round trip from Dallas to Napa Valley and back. We were in Roswell, NM and had just eaten breakfast at Denny's. We were heading down town for pictures of the Aliens and he managed to lock the front wheel at speed during a panic stop and flip over the bike like a stunt pro. The bike got pancaked pretty good on the right side and yep you guessed it, the tank was trashed. So, I just found another tank on eBay off of a 1998 1200S and purchased it for him. When it came in, it had a different color schema than the last two. Any way to track down the information on how many different graphics were used on the 1200s sporty's from 97-99? See pics for reference... Original Tank (Notice the Red n Gold Striping as well as the gold flying V and the white n black checker board, lastly the colors used for the lettering are black w/red outline over gold shadow)  1998 Newly Purchased Tank (Notice no striping, a silver flying V and the silver n black checkerboard, lastly the colors used for the lettering are black w/red outline over white shadow.)  | ||
| Skntpig |
I sold HDs and Buells during that era. I remember that there were, like you state, a few small changed from year to year regarding graphics. There weren't any years that were the same, but all similar. So my guess is 3 years, 3 bold new graphics on the tank. Sorry I don't have any specific info on what each year looked like. | ||
| Unibear12r |
As best as I can remember the graphics on my 96 looked just like your 97. |
