here is the situation.

Ride to work here in awesome Austin, TX. rolling hills on west side of town (360Hwy for locals). I ride to work at about 6:30 am almost every day
and it is awesome. The road is 2 lanes each direction and safe for me to ride that fast in a couple of places. On the downhill sides of the "hills" I can
only get up to about 80-83 mph. I have tried to give her a little more but she doesn't want to go much faster. This is not a one day event, I just can't
seem to top that speed.

I have a 1999 Harley 883 Stage 1 SE kit with 18.5k miles on it. It is very well tuned by the local HD shop and it otherwise performs awesomely.

Why can't I go faster? is this the norm for the 883?

Please keep your speed and safety judgements to yourself.

I'm only asking about what i could do to get it to go faster other than a full stage 2 kit.

Thanks

 

Also forgot to add.

I also have a windshield and saddlebags, so that could count for some wind resistance.

 

I have an 06 883. I have been to the 85 mph with no problem, and had more to give it.

No winshield, or bags, just me, but I am pretty big heavy guy.

 

Yeah another thing to add...........

Big guy here also 6 ft 230 lbs.

 

Never had an 883, but all my 1200s are just getting warmed up at 80. Not that I like to ride fast, but do like to see how much muscle the bike has every now and then. I have taken a 1200, 115 mph+. The bike has more, I just dont. I also have always had wind sheilds on all my sporties.

Im about your size as well. Little lighter though. Im 6'4" 210lbs.

 

My '04 883 kind of winds out at around 80ish too.
I'm doing a conversion, S&S carb/air cleaner/ Adnrews Cam/ V&H exhaust.

I'll let ya know if it's any different. Or just the gearing

 

Well the bike only has around 55hp at 6000rpm and it has to carry around 804 lbs at least. That's about 14.6 lbs per hp and im not even factoring in the wind resistance which grows exponencially according to speed. All im saying is that the Sportster ain't no sportscar.

 

I have a `02 883R with all taxes paid and i`ve taken it up to 95 and there was more to come before i backed off.I also have a windshield and weight about 13 stone.

 

losing compression mabey?

 

I have an 02 883 and it starts to come alive at 80MPH. Even with 2 people on it 80 shouldnt be a strain. I would say that the professional tuning you noted isnt done properly or your compression is way low. Somtimes it doesnt take much for the tuning to be out enough to really effect performance. If you have a tach what does it read? What sprockets are you running?


Good Luck,
Tim