883/1200 sportster

[Phil]

Originally Posted by kiwidave

I suspect in these days of sensors and injection, it is more costly than it used to be to do it to a new bike or a very recent one. My own instinct would be to let the last guy pay for it.......

Funnily enough Dave all downloads or ecm upgrades done through Harley on line cost money.

However all stock downloads are free. So popping a 1200 D/L into a converted 883 is the easiest bit.

[Adam 105th sportster]

I paid £2k less than the new price for my 1320 mile 1200cc sportster. Your mate obviously want's more power so I'd say put a stage 1 on a used low mileage 1200 that someone has already taken a depreciation hit on & probably added a few goodies too. Then I can't see an 883 conversion (although I'm sure a barrel load of fun) matching it on overall price or performance.

[Harleyheather]

just changed my 883 for the 1200 sportster - love the 1200 ,so much
better than than the 883, not just the bigger engine, but the way it handles and of course - the bigger tank and a few more miles between
petrol stations

[Spanner-Head]

If you have the cash, you can get an offical H-D 883 to 1200 upgrade kit that also includes stage 1 air cleaner assy. This upgrade does have the larger valves (as fitted to the 1200) as replacement heads are included. The down side is that I think it's around £ 1K mark.

Screamin' Eagle® Sportster® 883cc to 1200cc Stage I Conversion Kit - My Dream Harley®

Cheers
Steve

[robxtreme]

Pootle tell your mate, i shopped around to get my 883/1200 sporty conversion, i search for quite a while looking into as much detail on the net as poss and asking sales persons at my local HD stealership to see what i could afford and what was best. Everyone i asked said that the 883 was pretty guttless/ i also had one sales person tell me that they rust..mm!.. i could not afford a new 883 or 1200 for that matter as i didn't want a stock bike "i wanted all the extra bits like the stage 1 air filter upgrade, forward controls, load pipes & i definately wanted over 1000cc as i had a vn900 to trade" which adds to the price 'mydreamharley' oh i wish! . I search on the harley used bike sites & i came up with two possibilities in the end as to things i wanted on the bike. one of the choices i would of had to put on the forward controls on but had low milage 'more cost' & the one i went for had a lot more miles on but it's got about 3k's worth of upgrades on for the same price. i also wanted a bike from a stealershipe so i could trade my old bike in warrenty & all!. i am very happy with my choice its awesome i would recomend the 883 to 1200 conversion its fun.. & cheaper especially if someones already done it for you.

[pootle]

Originally Posted by grbrown

He would do well to familiarise himself with the variations of Sportster before making any such judgements! There is more to owning any Harley than making the engine bigger. He could of course come on HDH himself and also visit a few dealers to see them in the metal.

Mornin all
many thanks for all the replies on this,it seems my mate is going down the 1200 (with a few goodies added on) route!!
I`ve taken him to our local(ish) dealers and done a test ride so he now knows what he`s getting. As for coming on here they have only just got electricity in deepest darkest shropshire let alone the internet
cheers

[Stephen]

does the 1200 engine have bigger valves than the 883.

The 883 with 1200 conversions retains the 883 head and valves.

[Limey_Dave]

Originally Posted by Stephen

does the 1200 engine have bigger valves than the 883.

The 883 with 1200 conversions retains the 883 head and valves.

Read #9 & #14

[MadMax]

Originally Posted by Stephen

does the 1200 engine have bigger valves than the 883.

The 883 with 1200 conversions retains the 883 head and valves.

If you spend the extra cash and go with the MoCo full conversion then you get the 1200 heads included. If you have an 883 and you buy & fit the 1200 dished pistons and barrels then expect the bike to perform like a factory 1200, you'll probably be disappointed. The 883 valves and port dimensions are not designed to perform with the additional swept volume that the 1200 cylinders provide.