I hate to defend Harley but I have owned over 20 motorcycles in the past 20 years and 3 of them have been harleys, and 1 of them was an 883 sportster. Now dont get me wrong the suzuki inline 4cyl is a better motorcycle, but the 883 sportster I owned was a very Good Motorcycle I rode it 20,000 miles in just a little over 2 years and did not have a minutes trouble out of it. And besides changing the oil and filter and the plugs once I done very little Maintenance. And the 3.3 gallon tank allways got me over 100miles before a fillup, I routinley got 45 to 50 miles per gallon. My 883 was around 50 HP and the only mods I had was a jet kit, air filter and pipes. And I hate to say this and most of you want belive me but 2 of my Riding buddies one rode a honda 996 and the other a suzuki Katana I had No problem running off and leaving them in the twisties, Now true they would catch up and pass me in the straight aways, and I dont consider myself a expert knee drager by any means, just an average rider. And you can get a New 883 for $7,500 and a good used one for $5,000. I done several 500 to 600 mile days one my 883 holding it around 70 miles per hour and it never leaked any oil. And mine is not the exception I have several friends that have sportsters with No problems. The sportster is definitely the most dependable Harley, they have been making it for nearly 50 years and the 1986 and up models are really good and in 2004 they rubber mounted the sportster which really made it an even better deal. I woould recommend it for a begginers bike or a commuter or a second bike, and you can allways sell them and allmost get your money back out of them. Any Way thats my 2 cents plus some. Some Body had to stand up for the Sportster, and most Harley Biker Dudes dont even consider the sportster a real Harley I guess if your not paying $15,000 to $20,000plus its not real!