I just got my sporty two weeks ago. After taking the BRC at a local community college on the nighthawks they provided, I can say I am exceptionally pleased I went with a 1200. Although I am a novice rider, my first impression was not of weight, but of balance. The weight of the sporty makes me feel more secure, not less. The bike seems so balanced compared to my expectations and the nearly destroyed nighthawks in the corse it makes me smile every time I stand it up.

At 5'11" and 190 lbs, my sporty is more comfortable than I had hoped for. Both foot controls feel as if they were custom designed for where my feet would like to be. The entire bike has a very natural feeling to it.

As a novice rider, I can't compare my bike to any other, but I can say that I am suprised at the power the 1200 offers. Even after logging 200 miles on it, including 50 highway, I have yet to open it all the way up! The most I've let it go was on the freeway, already going 50 in 5th. In what seems like a fraction of a second, I had to close the throttle down some at 75mph. The adrenaline boost was like driking a pot of coffee. I'm glad I tested it out, if I had done that out of need rather than interest I may have not had a good enough hold on the bars and dropped right off the back.

The points that brought me to the 1200 over the 883 are:

* More standard chrome on the bike.
* Will not "outgrow" a 1200 as readily as an 883.
* The price difference is not very great.
* I thought I heard a better sound from the 1200 (once again, I'm a novice, so there might not actually be a difference)
* The idea that I dont have the smallest engine in the least expensive bike HD offers sits nicely in the back of my head

Although I looked at both the 1200 and the 883, the result wasn't a difficult choice for what I wanted.

 

no brainer, get the 1200 if its in your budget.