Lowered suspension, a thinner...
Lowered suspension, a thinner seat, footpegs that don't make you stretch to reach them, and handlebars set a bit closer to the rider make the Sportster 1200 Low a more axccommodating motorcycle for shorter riders.
Harley-Davidson has announced a new member of the Sportster line, the Sportster 1200L, a 1200 that is configured like the Sportster 883L Low to provide a low seat height and ergonomics tailored for shorter riders. At 26.25 inches off the road (with a 180-pound rider on board), the 1200 Low's seat is 1.8 inches lower than the Sportster 1200R Roadster's saddle and .25 inches lower than the Sportster 1200C Custom. However, unlike the Custom, the Low has mid-mount footpegs, so shorter legs won't have to stretch to reach them as they do on the Custom.
Harley has not yet released full specs on the bike, but it does say that the handlebar bend moves the grips and inch closer to the seat. It says that the suspension has been lowered. We presume that the 1200L's rear suspension travel has been reduced from the 4.1 inches available on the 1200R Roadster, but we don't know if it's less that the 2.4 inches of the 1200C Custom or if fork travel has been reduced. Our guess is that the 1200L's rear suspension travel is the same as the 1200C's, and that the additional quarter-inch of seat-height reduction comes from the two-person Badlander saddle, which Harley describes as "low-profile."
The Sportster 1200 Low gets the larger 4.5-gallon tank of the 1200C Custom and features all the updates that Harley-Davidson made to the Sportster series for 2006, including reduced clutch-lever pull effort, and a transmissions that shifts more easily and quietly.
The rubber-mounted engine gets a black-and-chrome treatment. Cast 13-spoke wheels with blowout-resistant tubeless tires are standard but wire-spoke wheels (and tube-type tires) are optional. The Sportster 1200 Low gets its own 3D-style tank emblem and is available in eight colors. Pricing starts at $9395 for black. Other single-color finishes are $9615, and the suggested price for two-tone paint is $9815.
The 1200L brings Harley-Davidson's Sportster series to seven models. There are four 883 models—the basic 883, the 883C Custom, the 883L Low, and the 883R, which features styling cues from Harley 750 dirttrack racer. The 1200L joins Custom and Roadster 1200cc models.