The Sportster has her plates so I took her out for the first drive this afternoon.
I only went a few miles for the first trip just to get a feel for it. It seems to be pulling well but I need to sort a few problems out, the main one being a significant vibration at 50+. I had the front wheels balanced this morning ahead of the drive as I'd knocked all the weights off when I had my steering rack issues. The vibration is coming through the body rather than just the steering so next stop is the rears. I know that there's a very minor buckle in one of the rear wheels but shouldn't be enough to create so much vibration but it will be my first port of call. I'm just hoping it's not an issue with either the prop-shaft balance or angle between the gear box and diff.
I still have the suspension set up for the IVA test so I've got quite a bit of toe out plus the tyres are pumped right up and the suspension is all on the softest settings so addressing these things may help a bit. I've also got the new 40mm spacers on the rear so I'll see if I can run it without just to eliminate them from the equation.
My front cycle wings still bounce around quite a bit even with the extra reinforcement I fitted but I can see a fix for that already. Generally the car seems very squeaky/rattly but as I've never owned a car like this, it may just be noises I never normally hear cocooned in the cabin (I get obsessed with finding even the tiniest squeak in my cars).
I think the length of the nose is going to take some getting used to too. I was a bit paranoid about clipping the curb as you have to lean your head around to see where the wheel is. That will become second nature after a short time though.
If anyone's got some good advice on suspension settings for the road, I'd be interested. I'm going to change to a spot of toe in on the front and generally lift the ride height all round to make it a bit more speed bump friendly. It's the amount of damping front and rear I'm not too sure on from the point of view of the bias.
Another Sportster's (finally) on the road!
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