I came from the sportbike world to a 1200 and love my bike. I've never ridden an our but my wife rides alot with me so I wanted the 1200. When by myself, shoot, I assume the our would be just as fun. But...I wouldn't trade my 48 for any bike in the market because I got what I wanted. Folks said, "You can't ride far on those sporties". Set the bike up to fit you and you'll be fine.

 

My 883 is my 2nd bike, first was a '66 Honda 305 Superhawk bought myself when I was 16. Rode it all over Texas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico and had a blast.

After a 40+ year break, I wanted my dream back then, a Sportster. Found a 2007 XL883 that I could afford and almost 2 years later still pleased with my choice. In the process of a mid-glide front end conversion and will likely take it to a 1250/1275 later. At 67 I don't plan on ever buying a different machine. Mostly ride back roads in central Texas so torque is more important to me than speed. Figure the upsize will allow the engine to work less to perform as well or better than what I have, with plenty of reserve to handle the occasional Interstate runs carrying more gear. At 5'11", 150 lbs, the Sportster fits me perfectly. Just my 2¢.

 

​​​​​​1200 overall power train ratio must be higher to compensate for the extra heat generated compared to the 883.
MoCo must have test data on these engines.
Engine wear is a function of temperature, speed, load, metallurgy, finish , tolerance,and especially oil quality.
Visted the Kansas City Sportster factory tour 3x, there is a wide tolerance spread on engine parts assembly, including crankshaft run out tolerance.