Hello all-

I've been crawling the forums for quite some time. I have a stock 2013 Iron that I bought new in Germany two years ago. It is still bone stock, and now that I've moved back to the US I am starting to itch for some upgrades.

This site offers tons of useful threads, such as DK Custom's overview of stage 1 options for EFI bikes, but I have a combination of questions that I haven't seen answered in one coherent/combined thread.

I would like to do the H-D 1200 conversion, I would like a good high-performance tuner and air cleaner, and I would like new pipes like V&H Short Shots or Hi-Output Grenades. I don't tinker and I'm not super confident installing my own upgrades or troubleshooting problems (and have no garage at home), so I'm interested in performance upgrades that won't threaten the reliability of my bike or make mechanics anxious about working on it.

With all that in mind, should the above upgrades be installed in a particular sequence? Can they be done all at once? Will a dealer install the non-Harley parts or will I need an independent mechanic?

Thanks for your patience with my noob question! Here's a picture of Her Royal Stockness from today at work:

 

Yea the 3 main ones exhaust tuner air is all there is for the easy stuff.

 

I had my local dealer do the exhaust, intake, fuel pack, and i tackled and am working on the small things

-Dk custom tank lift
-Dk Customs ignition coil relocation
-cleaning up wiring
-inverting my mirrors
-signal trim rings
-licance plate bracket change

having some fun and learning while i go, i really like the clean/sleek look

 

I recommend you look further afield than the factory 1200 conversion. It is expensive and comes complete with new heads etc., but leaves you with a bone stock 1200. Is that really what you want?! H-D also sells a SE conversion kit, which retains your 883 heads, but substantially increases performance, with high CR pistons, new cams, tuner, etc and is a much better proposition.

However simple 1250cc kits are available which are economical, cheaper than either of the above, and will work well with your stock heads, cams etc. You will need a tuner, but we have several excellent threads by members showing what is involved (whether you plan doing it yourself or not). That way you will get more performance than the H-D kits and save money as well!

 

I recommend you ride your bike for a while and make upgrade based on what YOU want... not based on random nutjobs like us.

People on here will tell you all kinds of good stuff and all kinds of really, really stupid stuff. You said 1200 conversion so its a matter of time before the oem vs hammer discussion pops up. Then the other stupid stuff.

Ride and enjoy. Change what annoys you. Dont add crap that reduces reliability.

 

Yes. It can all be done at once. That's actually the best way to go. Only one tuning session if you do it all.

Yes. Your dealer will install non-Harley parts. I love the V&H Grenades by the way.

Do look into the Hammer Performance 1250 kit though. $700 gets you to 1250cc but with higher compression than the HD kit. A bit more power. NHRS makes one too. Same price. Your dealer will install it.

 

I would add the blue book value of your bike to the cost of your planned upgrades first. In the long run it may be more cost effective to upgrade to a bigger bike/engine.

If you decide to keep it then it depends on if you're more interested in how the bike looks or how it performs. If it's mainly looks I would start with a good looking high flow air cleaner. It will be easy to install and there will be no need for a stage 1 download or tuner at that point.

Next I would do the exhaust. Get high flow pipes that you like but remember at this point you will need a stage 1 download or a tuner as well. If you have the money then I would recommend doing all 3 (Air/Exhaust/Tuner) at the same time. All 3 of those things could be installed in an afternoon relatively easy and without a garage as long as you can follow directions and have the right tools (Box wrenches and Allen wrenches). That will only get you a 3 or 4 horsepower gain but the bike will look and sound better. You could consider this a combination of looks and performance.

If performance is your main interest I would still start with the Air/Exhaust/Tuner. Then you could follow with a cam upgrade or the 1200 conversion. The cam would be the cheaper option but a Harley dealer would charge you about 4 hours of labor on top of the part cost. Even more for the 1200 conversion. Your also not going to get big horsepower gains with those changes.

Your Sportster will never come close to the performance of a Japanese sport bike. Even the 500cc sport bikes will blow it away. That's even true for the 96", 103" and 110" engines. Anyways, the weather is getting nicer, get out and ride and worry about this stuff over the winter. From your picture all that bike needs is a blacked out exhaust. It already looks badass.

 

Thanks everybody for the input! Yeah, I've ridden Kawasaki/Ducati sport bikes and I know it is throwing good money after bad to think you can turn a Sporty into one of them. That's not what I'm after. As a short rider, it's actually the FIT of my bike that I love as much as anything.

I would like a bit more grunt across the RPM spectrum and a little more sound, that's all. I'm not 20 years old anymore and don't want to rack up points on my driver's license.

I went my dealer today and set up to do a/c, exhaust, and tuner. I also bought a service manual so I don't have to hunt around online whenever I want some tech details.

I'm curious what options exist too for brakes and suspension upgrades. I'm thinking that if I punt on the 1200 conversion and wait for winter, maybe I'll develop a plan for shocks or brakes to do at the same time.

I'm starting to get excited!

 

Check out Burly:
http://www.burlybrand.com/

They have some cool stuff for Sporters. Especially if you want to lower the bike or turn it into a Cafe Racer.

 

Wow I love the look of that Burly scrambler kit!