Wow, that sounds like an incredible deal! I love the current paint job on that thing.

I have noticed much better prices on the 883s (no big surprise). How much does a good 1200cc conversion tend to run? Maybe I could do the 883 for a lower initial outlay (should be a slight improvement over my C50- similar HP, lighter weight), and then in a year or two do the conversion.

 

I paid 4800 for a mint 06 with some extras, that was last year from a dealer and I did zero haggling as they held the bike for me through their open house sale as I was 500miles away and couldnt make it for a few days

 

I picked up this 87 for 3000 last weekend. I'm loving it.

 

I would look for 883's myself for that reason alone. They are plenty stout and like you said, later down the road you could easily convert to a bigger bore for around $700.

 

There is another advantage to going 883. Insurance. Usually insurance companies base your premium on the size of the engine as reported by the VIN. Thus if you get an 883 and convert it to a 1200 or 1250, you still pay 883 rates...usually.

Here is my bike as it looked when I picked it up for $2,500...



I added the mirrors, signals, and front fender as they weren't there when I bought it. It's a 1999 883. The forward controls were on it, there were dents in the tank, chips in the rear fender paint, the carb was gummed up and the tires were dry rotted but she only had 4400 miles on her.

I put about $3,000 into her and this is what she looked like:







That has a 150 rear tire (130 was stock), I fixed the dents in the tank and chopped the rear fender myself, had the wheels powder coated, new tires, made a dual headlight bracket for it and wired up those lights, intake, air shocks off a Road King, painted the primary, gear, and cam covers with bedliner paint, and did a 1200 conversion with heads off eBay then sent them off to NRHS for a .010 over bore, hone and cleaned up the heads. I did all my own work when I could, sought out bargins, and have a friend who can paint.

For me, buying a cheap bike that needed some work was perfect. I could make it into the bike I wanted for cheap AND got to learn how to work on bikes at the same time I got to learn to ride. (This was my first motorcycle.) If you're mechanically inclined, don't be too afraid of an older bike.

Oh, a couple of other things. 1997-2003 are the solid mount, carb Sportsters, 2004-2005 are rubber mounted cab Sportsters and 2006+ are EFI. Your Solid Mount Sporties are about 50-70 lbs lighter than a rubber mount bike. 2000 model bikes got the newer cams (the cam drive gears are the same in all bikes from 2000 onward...before that cams came in "color" sets based on their drive gear pitch and thus the cams out of one bike would only work in another bike if they were the same "color" set) and sealed wheel bearings. The 1200S models (1998-2003) came with higher compression, twin plug heads and a completely different ignition system along with W-grind cams. In 2004 1200s got the W-grind cams while in 2008 (IIRC) all Sportsters got W-grind cams. They are a little hotter cam over the older D-Grind cams. 2004+ heads are better than older heads and are prefered for 1200/1250 conversions.

I'm sure there are more differences but those are the ones I can think of off the top of my head.

 

Robotech, that is another beautiful Sporty. Very nice work. Unfortunately, I'm not the most mechanically inclined person. Pretty much limited to oil changes, though I might be willing to try (when I'm out of the apartment and don't have to worry about where to store things and getting hit by a car lying down next to the bike in the parking garage).

 

Thanks Jeff. The great thing about this forum and XLForum.net (if you haven't checked that out yet) is that any question you have regarding working on these bikes can be answered. Believe it or not, a 1200 conversion isn't much more difficult than an oil change...if you follow the directions, have the tools and service manual, and have the pistons pre-installed in the cyclendars when you buy them. (Something Dan over at NRHS will do for a small fee...well worth it.)

 

Bought my 06 1200c with 6k miles and about $1k extra in chrome for $4k cash.

 

Only if you intend to reuse the heads as they are and can do the work yourself. I would probably want the heads refreshed at least, if not a head job and a cam. But even if they are in pristine shape and you have a SEPST or PowerVision, I think you are looking at more for the dyno tune unless you can DIY.

 

Do you happen to know what happens in a loss situation? I don't. I wonder if they will pay it out as a 1250 or just tell you "Fawk you. I didn't insure that.". Does anyone know what happens when they discover what you did?