Gudday all. Hoping to get some advice from those of you that are knowledgable in such matters. In Nov last year, I saw the light and purchased my first harley. Being my first cruiser, I ended up buying the 883 as a bit of a test case, having ridden jap bikes for more than 15 years previously. The bike is everything I have ever hoped for and more, except for one thing. I've blinged it up with shortened straight bars and a fair dose of the shiney stuff, but now, as sad as it is, I have decided it's just missing that extra go that I really want.
I got the bike fairly cheap. I've heard a little about conversion kits going around, and am after any opinions etc, whether good or bad. I've typed it into google but can't find a real lot about the suckers in Australia, so any info what soever would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers all,
Greyman
Good to know you have seen the light. I like one of the HD ads that says "When you are over sitting on the fence".
I intended from the beginning to do the 1200 conversion on my Iron but since adding a few SE bits, and not wanting a passenger, have decided to stick with the 883, especially since the the 1200 comes with black and silver pots which would look brilliant on your ride but stuff up the matt look of mine.
My understanding is that the 1200 doesn't make a huge general performance difference but increases torque heaps, noting too that the 883 gearing means more grunt down low with a conversion than with a stock 1200. This would be a big improvement with a pillion. Kingchops though is the guru of such things so if he says it's worth it...it is.
A mate of mine did an upgrade last year on his sporty,
Mate a completely different bike as far as the ride goes, worth every cent.
Im a big fella 6'4" 140kg, and while it looks like I have a bike stuck up my ass when I ride his sporty,
It hauled my ass with ease and left many a bike in my dust thru the twisties, jappers included
Even on the straight it would go over 1.6 easy as.
Oh and a wheel stand was rather easy to achieve with a fast take off from the lights
But I didnt do that on purpose, honest I didnt...............
A mate did this to his, cost about $3000 all up with labour etc
Yes it makes a differnce but at the time I was riding a Buell XB9S (900cc) and except for take off he couldn't come near me.
You may want to consider new cams, Buell heads, open up the air etc, may be cheaper and WILL make a BIG difference
You should also be wary that ppl get concerned with 1200 conversions when it comes time to sell them, as a bad job will live with for a long time - oil leaks etc
Just my 2 cents
Cheers
Poddy
Hey Grey, up to you mate, look at it this way the 883 has a lot of meat in that bore so its one of the strongest bores HD make, you take 1/4 or an inch ( it's not a metric cruiser ) out of the cylinder cast iron linner to make it a 1200 (74 cubic inch) you will get more Torque prob a few more horses. the best i saw was back in 1996 or 1997 Heavy Duty mag asked John Treese to see what it took to get a 1200 sport to make a genuine 80 hp rear wheel, now there's dyno's and so on, and you read a buel has 90HP stock but on a dyno that don't lie a stock buell has 65hp or there abouts so just wanted to get that straight. well John tried SE cam change and was not much of a gain at all, then ignition helped that, but was not 80HP rear wheel so he did his own combussion chamber decked the barrel to bring the piston up to close up the swish on his own design chamber used stock cams as he could run a tighter swish band with the stock cams, but used Se ignition rejetted stock CV40 slip on muffs ( i think sonic but long time back) and it made 80HP rear wheel and bulk TQ at lower revs than stock 1200. could probably do that with 883 and still get close but have a touch bore good piston seal. why not contact John Treese find out. i know John Told Cow the sportster with genuine 80hp rear wheel and bulk Torque down low was a real handfull to ride, everytime they opened throtle front wheel just went up in the air. would be fun, he also said it could run pump fuel no pinging. comp was high.
would i do that?
yes i would
G'day Greyman,
I recently converted my '07 EFI Sporty from 883 to 1200 using the V Twin Manufacturing kit from the USA. It includes everything except the rocker box gasket set, and is very well priced and is of good quality. I sourced mine through Ebay and had it freighted here as it was a LOT cheaper than buying locally. (believe me I checked).
Total price including freight for all parts including a Cometic rocker box gasket set was just over $700.00. Took about two weeks to arrive from the USA. I fitted the kit myself and it was a very straightforward job. If you are handy with a spanner you can do it in a weekend. Just follow the workshop manual and make sure everything is perfectly clean and torqued to the manufacturer's specifications. Absolutely no hint of any oil leaks with my bike after the conversion and it runs great.
The only thing I couldn't do myself was flash the 883 ECU to 1200 stage 1 specifications, but I got that done by forum legend Scotty in Adelaide for a very reasonable price, much cheaper than going to the Harley dealer. If your bike is an '06 with a carby you could easily rejet it yourself.
There's a heap of information including how to do everything step by step on the internet. Do it yourself and save a heap in labour costs!
What you really want to know is whether it was worth the time and effort. Hell Yes! Much more torque and acceleration. Mine isn't quite run in yet but I could feel a noticeable difference from day one. Puts a smile on my face every time I ride it!
Enjoy,
Tmode.
