Identify What Model of Harley-Davidson Sportster You Have

I came across someone who was restoring a 2005 Harley-Davidson Sportster motorcycle he recently bought. He was doing an awesome job rebuilding it, but he had a question: “What model of Harley-Davidson Sportster do I have?”

It’s an important question to know the answer to. The Sportster has been in production since 1957 and to this day comes in a wide variety of models and variations. The Sportster model you have could be Low, 883R, SuperLow, Iron, Nightster, Custom, Standard, Roadster, or more. While 80% of parts are interchangeable, getting the wrong Sportster parts for the others can result in different lengths at suspension and at the forks, the wrong tires, and more.

I took a guess based on a picture of his motorcycle:

My guess was it was an ’05 Standard model.

Standard model sportster should have:

• front and rear mag rims
• mid controls come stock
• seat height should be 29″ (tallest of the sportster models)
• shocks should be around 13″ from “eye” to “eye”

How to tell what model Sportster you have

It’s all in the VIN # located on the motorcycle’s frame.

Where is the VIN # on a Harley-Davidson Sportster?

Up close your VIN # should look like this.

The letters below (4) (the 5th and 6th characters in your VIN number, beginning with the letter C) represent what model of Sportster you have.

For 883cc Sportsters:

CN = XL-883 Standard (like my 2007 Harley-Davidson Sportster)
CP = XL-883C Custom (typically has a solid rear rim and wire spokes on the front rim)
CJ = XL-883C Custom
CR = XL-883L Low (typically has spoked rims front and rear)
CK = XL-883R
CS = XL-883R (which would have 2-into-1 exhaust, mag rims, and dual front disk brakes)
CMM = XL-883 Low (sent in by reader Art M from PA)
CM = XL-883L
CE = XL-883H
CF = XL-883 Deluxe
CN = XL-883
LE = XL883N

For 1,200cc Sportsters:

CT = XL-1200C Custom
CG = XL 1200C Custom
CV = XL-1200R Roadster
CX = XL-1200L Low
CW = XL1200L Low
CY = XL-50 (2007, 50th Anniversary Sportster)
CZ = XL-1200N Nightster
CH = XL 1200S (1998, dual spark plug heads, may have also had two front disk brakes)
LA = XR1200
LD = XR1200X Probably the best Sportster ever made… Just sayin’…
LC = XL1200X Forty Eight
LF = XL1200V Seventy Two
LH = XL1200CP (1200 Factory Custom)
LJ = XL1200CA (1200 CA Custom)
LK = XL1200CB (Sportster 1200 Custom B)

 

Others/Miscellaneous Sportsters:

CA = XLH Hugger (mixed history, from 900cc, 1,100cc, 883cc and 1,200cc, this one includes Deluxe, Huggers, and even Confederate Editions and is kind of a nuissance to tell without knowing the year of the bike)
CB = XLS Roadster (1,000cc Ironhead, 1979-1985)
CC = XLX (1,000cc, 1982-1985)
CD = XR-1000 (1,000cc, 1983-1984)

Soon we’ll have a list of how to decode your entire Sportster’s motorcycle VIN# to discover where it was intended for sale, what size it came stock, when it was introduced, and more.