I don't have a 1200C, but I'm considering buying one. Just wondering how difficult and expensive it would be to lower the gear ratios a little? I doubt that I'd do the work myself, so what would you think it might cost at the Harley shop for parts plus labor?

Edit: Would the cost be about the same for a 1200 Roadster?

Thanks

 

Some 6 months ago I changed my gear ratio by swapping out the existing transmission pulley. I bought a new pulley from the dealership for $72.45 in Los Angeles. The shop charged me 2 hrs of labor to make the change. The labor cost will depend on where you are.

HTH.

 

Thanks. That does help a lot. That would put the price at somewhere around $230 in my area.

How do you like the acceleration and torque now that you've made the change?

 

its SUPER easy to do yourself!!!! I changed my "Custom" over from a 29T to a 30T it made cruzing on the HWY much nicer and its a "harley" Part... its actually from a "international" model (HDI) you can also put a 28T from a 883 on there if you really want...

BTW both the "R" and the "C" are gunna be the same... i think it takes a 1 3/16 socket and a good impact gun and about 1hr of your time... YOU do NOT need a new belt!

It took me about 1hr and that included ridding down the street to my friends shop to borrow his impact gun and take some tool along to take the pully cover off and swap pully to the 30T.

If you want to order it from a guy here in the states and not the dealer there is the 883 guy:

http://883sportster.webs.com/products.htm

 

I might be wrong, but it seems that those pulleys are larger in diameter than the factory standard pulley which would give higher gearing instead of lower gearing. I think I would want lower gearing, therefore a smaller pulley would be required....... I think.

 

Yes, the US XL1200x (where x = C, R or L) Sportsters have 29T as factory standard. You can buy a 28T pulley from the dealer to lower the gears or you can buy a 30T to make your gears taller.

And ev0lution7 is right, with the proper skills and tools you can probably do it yourself.

HTH.
(ps. ifyou buy a non-Harley brand, avoid buying an aluminum pulley. I hear they wear out after a few thousand miles. I bought the HD pulley and it's steel.)

 

Thanks. Anyone have a video showing a step-by-step on this? I don't really need it now, but if I do buy the 1200, then I'm pretty sure I'm going to gear it down a little bit. I don't do a lot of Interstate riding.

 

We had a similar question recently which is worth looking for. Depends what year Sporty you wish to modify, as there is a change of pulley design in recent years and some sizes that are available for older models won't fit the later ones.

You are right that to improve performance you will need a smaller pulley. I changed the compensator on my Dyna from 25T to 21T, which may be more radical than you have in mind, but really woke that bike up! With a Sporty the front pulley is very easy to get to and it makes good sense to change gearing there. A change of only one tooth will have a small effect, compared with say two teeth, but availability of pulleys may limit what you can do.

 

Something else to keep in mind is that your speedo will be thrown off a bit. However, just a one tooth change, I doubt it will make it too far off to worry about.