I own both, and both are new.

Save 2K and get her the 883.

Don't get me wrong, the 1200 pulls lots harder than the 883, but the 883 can keep up with it just fine till about 80-90.

 

Depends on how much horsepower you want;

"The XL Evolution 883 engine is rated at 53 peak horsepower at 6000 rpm and 51 ft. lbs. of torque at 4300 rpm. The XL Evolution 1200 engine is rated at 70 peak horsepower at 6000 rpm and 79 ft. lbs. of torque at 3500 rpm, an increase of more than 15 percent over the previous XL Evolution 1200 engine."

In showroom stock condition Dyno Runs show the 883 putting out approximately 40 to 42 horsepower to the rear wheel, with the 1200 putting out approximately 62 to 64 horsepower to the rear wheel.

 

My wife has an 883r '03. It was great for her to learn on & ride for over a year but, she's ready to upgrade to the 1200 kit. It's great to burn around town on but it's kinda doggy runnin hills loaded down w/ gear. You can save money puttin the 1200 kit in by an indy or do it yourself and save more (jugs and pistons are like 400bucks.)

 

 

Hey, very nice. She actually likes those colors. But I see that the engine block is blacked out, and I didn't think they did that until 2010. Is that a 2009 or 2010?

Joe

 

2009 1200 Custom color scheme

 

Nobody has answered your question about highway power and RPMs. You could upgrade the engine from the stock 53 horsepower to over 100 horsepower but if you don't change the drive pulley ratio, the engine will still be turning the exact same RPM at the exact same highway speed. You will just have twice as much horsepower. What you can do is either change the drive pulley attached to the rear wheel to a smaller pulley (smaller by a few teeth) or you can change the other drive pulley (attached to the transmission drive shaft) to a larger pulley (larger by a tooth or two) and the transmission drive pulley is cheaper to purchase. About $125.00. You can make this change even without upgrading the horsepower in the engine. I did this change on two different XL883 Sportsters that I own and the lower RPMs at highway speeds (80-90 MPH) was a great improvement. I thought that I would have to punch out my motor from 883 CC to 1200 CC or more but with the 2 into 1 exhaust pipes and the highflow air cleaner, I found that I am happy with the results. Yes, there have been a time or two that I was going up a large grade, with a headwind and loaded down with luggage, that I thought that it would be better to downshift from 5th to 4th just to crest the top of the grade but those few occations are not a problem for me at the moment. With the larger displacement of a 883 to 1200 converted engine, I know that I would have all of the power that I needed. I bought my 1999 XL883 back in 2003 and at that time I thought that I would do the 1200 kit conversion in a few months, but after 6 years I still have not felt the need to make the change. I rode that bike 6,000 miles round trip from CA to VA and back again in 9 days this year and a 4,000 total miles trip from CA to Sturgis SD and back again plus sightseeing in about 7 days so I know that the XL883 can do the job without the engine upgrade but with a few other modifications instead. If you don't want to mess with changing the pulley and punching out the engine to a bigger CC and whatever other little things that you might want to do...just go ahead and buy the 1200. When you go to sell the bike, it might be easier to sell as a stock 1200 instead of as a converted 883 to 1200. Just something to think about...

 

From experience can tell you is easier to resell a 1200 than an 883 no matter what you have done Big Bore, Cams, Sprockets, etc .. Would have never sold my 04 except a guy that had a truck I was needing bad made a decent offer for trading .. got twice the value it was truly worth .. If plan on keeping it then do what you like ..

 

Yes, thank you. I actually don't think horsepower will be an issue, it's more so having a lowre rpm at highway. I had forgotten that I could just swap out the sprocket. This was very helpful information, thank you. I do have another question though... by changing out the sprocket to lower rpm speed on highway, what will that do for around town riding?

Thanks again,

Joe

 

You won't really notice it. All you will get is lower RPMs around town. I have to say that the displayed speed on your Speedometer will be off too, showing slower than it should be because the Transmission pulley will be larger than the stock pulley was and it will have the same effect if you change out the rear wheel pulley to a small than stock pulley. I bought a re-calibration unit from Dakota Digital for about $100.00 that was totally plug and play. Piece of cake to do. I just what you to know everything involved with changing out the pulley so that you can make an informed decision about what way to go with your bike purchase. Good luck and ride safe out there.