I agree with all the comments of perceived value in the 1200c over the 883c for the extra chrome and extra cc's. Thing is, if we spent the same money in the after-market, it would probably cost just as much or more if done right and still able to keep the original warranty. One way or another, the MoCo will get us, but as long as their building products that we love, we'll spend the cash. It's a given for them...So yep, Fools we are

 

More chrome, bigger engine etc... My personal favorite item of a 1200 over the 883 is the black cases. Is it worth $2000 over an 883? Probably not, but asa total package I am happy I upped the additional $1650 for a 1200 over a 883.

 

It must be the 1200cc offers Harley a favorable profit/nitch from what I can tell, yet still enough of a margin to keep us from moving up to a Dyna/Softail, a $4K leap at least. I asked when the 883 Nightster gona hit the street???

 

Just spray paint your 883 with flat black paint and sell it for 500 bucks more than it's worth.lol

Just kidding!!!

 

I rode an 883R for 2 months, then upgraded to a 1200C, mostly for the chrome. Purely for comparison's sake: The ride is a bit different, definitely more pep to the 1200, and smoother at higher speeds.(And, yeah, if you're not a mechanic, the parts plus labour will probably be more to upgrade the 883, than just to buy the 1200, if that's what you want). But HEY, they're all HARLEYs, and they're all AWESOME! It's whatever turns your crank!

 

I agree with Biker Chick; If you were to have an 883 turned into a 1200 at a shop it would probably cost you more than purchasing a 1200 from the dealer. Not just the engine, but the chrome, too.

If you are talking about doing it yourself, then everyone who purchases a bike is just as much as a fool because they should just buy the parts and assemble your own and save all that money on labor.

And those folks that assemble their bikes are fools too, because they could fabricate their own parts for a fraction of the price of the purchased parts.

But those folks would have to buy the raw material. So if you owned your own steele mill and iron ore mines you'd be saving a ton of money.

Dont forget to toss in your own power source to run the machinery. Electricity is expensive.

If you did it ALL yourself your bike could be free!

But I dont own a steele mill, or an iron mine, or a power source, or machinery to fab my own parts. I can change the oil, but not build a bike. I dont have time to take my engine apart and build a different out out of it. I could put the chrome on, but what would I do with the old parts? I don't want them laying around my garage for 10 years and they're worth more than I'd get on Ebay.

Much easier to just buy the engine I want with the chrome that makes it look cool.

 

lol when you figure this out let me know and I will pay you to explain it to my wife .

 

Simply put, because people will buy them at that price...

 

While not exactly the same heres one example

If you want to buy a truck you can get teh V6 or the V8
one is goign to cost several thousand dollars more, even tho you can buya crated V8 for less than those price differences.
An even better analogy is goign from the chevy 305 to the 350, same block jsut bored out bigger. But your gonna pay more for those extra ponies.

So while the blocks are pretty much the same and the bikes have very few differences between them your gonna pay a premium for the extra power.

 

Thanks guys! Was just wondering if there was any concrete physical evidence to substantiate the premium... We don't want to get the 883 just to upgrade, ifwe decide to, and have more take-off items in the garage, especially if we can purchase the parts initially...