March 2021 Bike of the Month- Presley P.'s 2011 Sportster 883 Low!
I love motorcycles. That's probably pretty obvious to anyone who happens to stumble across this blog. It's not just the machines that I love, though. It's the people who ride them and the stories that they have to tell that really fascinates me. Motorcyclists are as unique as the machines they ride and they come from all walks of life. Each has their own direction in life and each takes their own different path to reach their goals. Many of us started our two-wheeled journeys in a similar way, but rarely do we have the same stories to tell. That's one of the reasons I started the Bike of the Month feature on this page- to hear your stories and share them with the rest of the motorcycling community. While Presley may not have a lot of stories from the road just yet... he's well on his way with his 2011 Harley-Davidson Sportster XL 883L.
Sportsters are...
Bad ass. I don't care what anyone says about Sportsters- I like them. We've all heard the same old crap about Harley-Davidson's incredibly popular XL family of motorcycles- "they are (insert whatever disparaging comment here)". One of the most common- they are "chick bikes." The ironic part is, for as many "chicks" that I've seen riding Sportsters, I've seen just as many ladies riding Road Glides, Street Glides, Road Kings, Wide Glides and Low Riders... so the attempts at feminizing the Sportster sort of falls dead on that one.
Brief history
The Sporty was born in 1957 and replaced the popular K model. The K model was different than the rest of the Motor Company's line-up with it's small, nimble, lightweight frame and unitized motor. The folks at H-D recognized the K's popularity and capitalized on the design for the new bike. The new Sportster's iron barrel cylinder heads earned it the nickname "Ironhead" and the MoCo ran that engine and it's variants for the next 28 years, until 1985. In 1986, H-D introduced the new Evolution Sportster engine and we've seen that mill in every Sportster since. This year marks the 35th anniversary of the Evolution powered Sportster! The Evo engine comes in two sizes from Milwaukee- 883cc and 1200cc, but the beauty of the Evo mill is that with a few hand tools, some general knowledge of small engines and a relatively inexpensive kit of parts- an 883 is easily converted to a 1200. This also lends to the popularity of the bikes. Well, that and the endless customization potential of the Sportster.
That's enough history for today though, let's talk about Presley and his 883L!
Presley's journey started early
Presley grew up around motorcycles his whole life, so it's really no surprise that he became the proud owner of his own scooter when he grew into adulthood. I've known Presley since he was a baby- his dad and I grew up together and even though our careers have kept us on separate continents, we have always stayed in touch and kept up with each other and each others' families. As such, I knew that Presley had spent much of his childhood on the back of his dad's bikes and had caught the motorcycle fever from a very early age. When Presley reached out to me and submitted his bike for consideration for the BOTM feature, he said that, even though he wasn't as "seasoned" as my usual crowd, he still wanted to submit his bike. Well, as far as I'm concerned, anybody that has spent their whole life on or around motorcycles, is seasoned enough to be featured in my little corner of the interweb.
Presley grew up as a military kid, living much of his young life overseas. When he graduated high school, he decided to attend college back home in the good ole' U.S. of A. After Presley moved back to the states, he got a car and went to work on his studies. As Presley was nearing the end of his college career, his parents decided to give him the gift of two-wheels. That was last March. Yep, right before the coronavirus pandemic started sweeping across the world. Needless to say, the timing was perfect.
Getting the bike
Right before everything shut down, Presley and a friend drove four hours away to pick it up. Presley looked it over, then saddled up and set out on his ride back home. Just shy of a hundred miles into the journey though, he pulled into a gas station and realized that his new scoot was leaking oil, and leaking bad. Upon closer inspection, Presley saw that it was leaking from the derby cover, so he called the dealership that he bought it from and found out that they had recently done a service on it and the tech had probably pinched the gasket. But, Presley didn't have the tools to check it and fix it, so he decided to limp it to the next dealership... which was 30 miles down the road. He made it safely to the next dealer, who quickly got it fixed for him. It wasn't long before he was back on the road, heading home under clear, blue skies. Presley described the rest of his ride home as "otherwise uneventful in only the best motorcycle rider's ways."
The bike
After getting his Sportster home, Presley soon realized that there were a few things that he wanted to change. He started off with a better seat, swapping the saddle with a gel cooled Saddleman Profiler seat for those long, hot Texas days. Soon after, he installed a sissy bar to secure his luggage to. When Presley bought his 883, a previous owner had already installed a set of Vance & Hines Shortshots, so it was plenty loud enough to get him some attention on those busy Lone Star streets. Other than that, Presley's Sportster remains mostly unchanged from when it rolled out of the factory in 2011. 
Chasing sunsets and dreams
Presley rides his Sportster as his regular commuter to work as much as he can, but the rides that he looks forward to the most are the ones where he can find a sense of freedom, where he is free to wander and claim a piece of blacktop for his own, even if only for a few miles. He says that he yearns to feel the rumble of his bike through his entire body, as if it's telling him to "go faster, dive into that corner and find the next beautiful sunset."
Presley recently graduated from college and is now chasing his dreams of working in the film industry. Perhaps he will produce the next Hollywood blockbuster, or maybe the next iconic motorcycle film? Either way, I have no doubt that he'll be successful in whatever he endeavors to do, because he comes from a good, loving and supportive family that has instilled in him, the love of riding and the courage to venture out into the world to forge his own path.
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