'had an XV1600 (Wildstar)'

Ah, I stand corrected, Wildstar, not Midnightstar! Nice bikes, good effort on grounding away the frame! I agree with the reliability too. I like it when people say I'm not wrong. Haha.

'Actually we were looking at getting 2 1200's so no pillion, mainly in light of off roading( some at least) I figure a sporty would handle dirt a little more forgivingly than a road king,( which is my ideal bike btw) '

As I have only had a go on the little one, I can't comment through experience - but the kid in me says they look and sound cool, so it is the correct bike. I'm sure the extra 400ccs would alleviate the gutlessness of the 883 too. It's like I read your mind with the Road King - great minds....
Got to agree that I wouldn't fancy dragging one off road though.

'what I need to kno0w about would be endurance of the brand and accessability of spare parts. '

Definitely going the right way with taking the same bike. As for availability of parts, I'm sure that finding Harley parts in North America would be like seaching for sand in the Sahara. As for S.A. I don't know about availability on the road, but Mr FedEx is your friend. Like you say, it is a big simple stone age bit of tech, which is an absolute bonus for roadside fixing.

It is also essential to properly 'bob' them up and take off all the extraneous chromey bits that will only vibrate themselves off anyway!



Sex.

Happy Riding

Joel