Hey never had a sporty before what is max cruise speed in 5th gear...yea i commute but im gonna take a trip mostly interstate and don't want to hurt the engine only have 500 miles on it. Thanks

 

red line +2-300 RPM would be my guess....

 

thanks but no tach on this scoot..... looking for someone riding a new model 883 with experience riding it on the freeway. Lot more vibration on this hard to find a sweet spot. Not like my 08 fatty, easy to read i mean feel when your there...

 

The 883 is geared slightly higher than the 1200 so...its gonna push a little bit higher RPM than a 1200. I find that in 5th gear, 60-65 is comfy, and around 65-70 vibrations increase a bit more. As for hurting the engine, you can run an 883 at 80mph all day long with no problems.

 

The first 1100 miles or so on my 08 1200 Custom were full of nasty vibrations. It was really only comfortable between 60 and 65, and 'comfortable' was a stretch ("bearable" would be a better word).

Around 1400-1500 miles it was like the entire bike wore itself in and loosened up. The engine had a different feel, and most of the vibrations were gone (gotta have some or it's not a Sportster). After that point, I ran it 80mph down the freeway for lots of miles, and it loved being wound up like that.

 

thanks for the info... brothers new bike. I have a 08 fatboy feels a lot different with the 6 speed.

 

If you are going to make a long haul on the bike swap the 28T counter out for a 29T counter (stock on the 1200) and your rpm will drop about 400 in top gear. It will reduce the vibes at freeway cruising speeds between 70-80mph.

 

The 883 is geared lower than the 1200. The chart below details the RPM vs. speed in each gear. While 5th gear "theoretically" tops out at 110 mph, real world factors such as rider weight, baggage, drag, etc. will cause you to run out of HP before you reach red line in 5th gear.


The gear differences between the 883 and 1200 involves both primary and secondary gears. Changing from a 28T to a 29T only, will reduce your RPM by a factor of .9655 or 3.45%. 71 MPH at 4000 RPM will drop to 71 MPH at 3,862 RPM, for an RPM decrease of 138 RPM.

 

so 138 rpm reduction not really worth the bucks?

 

I've ran my custom at 80 for extended times without feeling bad. I don't tink you are going to hurt it... It has a limiter to keep from any serious short term damage.