I have an 09' Iron 883... To me... it seems like it strains to cruise 70mph that its its just not comfortable at that speed. Should that feel normal? I live outside of Dallas (Little Elm), but i'm always going to Dallas. Should I stick to the sporty on in town stuff and leave the Dallas trips to my street glide?

To me, the sporty is at home and comfy at 55-60mph. That's not going to cut it here. You'll get ran over.

 

My '02 883 likes it at below 70 mph as well.

 

I know there is a difference between the 883 and 1200 gearing, and I cannot find those charts with the RPM vs. Speed, but my 1200 is very comfortable at 70 mph. I don't have a tach, but the last time I checked 70 mph was around 3500 rpm. I couldn't imagine the 883 at 70 mph being that much over 4000 rpm. As far as putting a strain on the engine? Nope. It might sound like it, but it's alright.

Edit: Here's the chart.

 

Yeah the 883 seems like VERY short gears.

 

At 70 it sounds like it's SCREAMING

 

2010 Iron here with a 1200 conversion.

Bike runs fine up to about 85 and then gets to be a bit too "buzzy" for me.
It might be because I'm usually in 4th gear until about 65 and then I'll shift to 5th.
It'll run that speed all day long without any complaints, but I start to look forward to gas stops.

 

My 05 loves to cruise at 100, not that I would ever go that fast.

Any speed is comfortable on my sporty.

 

I have an 08 883. Mine feels fine at highway speeds. Above 65 I can tell the engine speed is higher than around town, but my bike does fine with it. I don't feel like it starts to strain until 85 or higher, which I don't hit very often. I'm running stock except for some cycle shack pipes.

 

On a stock geared 883, 70 mph is about 4000 rpm's, and 80 mph is 4500 rpm's. Thats causes quite a buzz out of these small V-twins. Doesn't hurt them to run all day at that speed, but can get uncomfortable riding atop one. Above 80 mph, the wind blows Sportsters around a bit, and the front end could start to get that dreaded "Harley wobble".

Not every time, but I have experienced that wobble around 85 mph or so, and it made my butt pucker up a bit and I slowed down quickly so my heart rate would return to normal.

 

A fork brace will help immensely with that wobble problem:

http://www.superbrace.com/products.asp?cat=10