Yeah, I gotta get one for Spinner. Not only am I piling on the miles, but it's her I'll be riding in the worst places at the worst times.

BTW, tell me about clearance issues and forward controls.

My bike came stock with the guards so I didn't have to add them. I bought my bike used with hi-way foot rests mounted on the guards pointed out. The guards are the "second" thing to hit the ground on my bike the first being the footboards and frame then the guard lets the bike sit up on them. As for a sporty I"d assume the same sequence only farther over.
Just a heads up, I had a big ass dog one time try to bite me as I rode past and he lost a tooth on them so they have a real life protective feature.
If you're logged in and reading this go check out my photo album here, those pics show what they look like.

...man, are you fugly...

I think the Sportie skid bars are more round or elliptical in shape. That is my concern. Since the Sportster forward pegs are not really 'forward,' but more in keeping with the natural bend of your legs, would your boot rub the inside of the bar? After all, I believe these bars are from an older design, before forward controls were even dreamed of.

Even if they cleared, how much is enough? I notice that when I look down at my feet I appear more "toes out." I guess I rode for so many years keeping my knee out of the carburetor than I sit a bit splayed.

Thank you, I resemble that remark.
I think forward controls keep your feet farther inside towards the bike. I can't really give you that much info cause my seating position and foot controls are for the floorboards. I have heel /toe shifters and a brake pedal out of an old pickup truck. Which by the way once broke my toe when the bike went over in a slow fall into sand and my foot got pinched in between the brake pedal and the floorboard that folds upward. I didn't take my boot off until I got home cause that sucker was so swollen I knew once I got that boot off it wasn't going back on.

Yikes, you bring up a good point! If I have to hurriedly punch the rear brake trying to dodge a herd of lemming cagers, I wonder if your average size 11 Havoc boot will collide with the skid bar?

We need more research here.

RoadKing, I like the way they look on your bike. I thought they would be wider but that looks more sporty for the sportster bike. Definetly something to look into.

Yikes!

He's a biker, for Pete's sake. That's the way they look. A tad repugnant, slightly shopworn, scruffy beard, scruffier clothes, a Harley made from the parts of four or five different vintage years. Oy, I'm afraid of these guys...

And you say--in print--that you like the way he looks. I bust my butt for a solid year keeping his ego in check and now he'll be signing autographs! If he now demands we call him Mister Roadking, then it's on you, newb!

I had that problem when I bought my Ultra a couple years ago. I watched some "Ride Like A Pro" video's and learned to look to where you're turning and you will just automatically go that way. That is what the ride like a pro instructor said. I tried it, it worked and I have never had that problem again, in fact I am actually quiet adept in my bagger manuevering now incorporating that friction stuff Tourist was mentioning.

In a very real and practical sense I think eveeryone does. We can make a bike go fast and straight, and most of us learn to stop a bike with the proper use of the front and rear brake in conjunction.

The real problem for all of us is the handling of a big bike at slow speed.

In our daily lives we all have to maneuver a bike in parking lots, or do U-turns, or just turn on tight narrow city streets. For example, just to get to my bike shop I have to do a complete 180 degree turn from a Class A highway onto a frontage road. At least there is a short dedicated right lane (more of a turning apron) that let's you downshift and brake from fifth to second to initiate that turn. Modulating the clutch and gently pressing the rear brake makes that maneuver easier.

(That is until you try and navigate the three blocks of severely broken pavement in front of the shop... )

You goof ball, he said "they" the guards you know....
But hey if you want to start calling me by MR. RK, I've got no problem with that LOL
BTW, those photos have been there for almost 2 years now... All of them are old and i have to put up some newer ones but those were some really good rides all over the country.