Yesterday afternoon I was at a red light at the line when a dude with an 883 pulled up next to me after a couple nods, he asked me if I wanted to race so I agreed, the light turned green and to me it appeared we both took off about the same time, by the time I was shifting into 4 th. gear he was about 2 or 3 bike lengths ahead of me, when I shifted into 5th gear my front tire was at his rear tire and I was closing the gap from then on it was a slow pass. The road is by Seal Beach Ammo base and its about a mile or so long with zero connecting roads, by the time I was ahead of him he backed off and so did I over 110+ mph.

We both pulled into a gas station and talked for a bit, that is when he told me he had the 1250 conversion and thou the bike did by all means pull ahead of me he couldn't hold it. Now I understand rider capability plays a good part in racing but weight wasn't a factor as we were about the same and I think once you get into higher gears it's all about the bikes at that point.

I have been reading posts for months about how the conversion will waste a 1200 but I found the opposite, yes maybe off the line but not in higher gears.

 

no way 883 gearing is going to go faster than 1200 gearing on the top end. so 883 gearing would be quicker to a certain point then the 1200 should pull ahead. if all he had was a 1250 kit without cams or headwork there wouldn't be very much difference in power anyway.

 

Yup, I don't recall anyone stating a 1250 kit alone would walk a 1200. Us crazier 1250 converts...well, you'd be pulling into the fuel station when I leave after filling up, maybe even after I eat a Snickers and down a Dew also

It's all in that cam, headwork, gearing reconfigs, TUNER, I have a chain drive so I also play with the teeth counts also...Although I've stopped because I want to ride the damn thing.

 

The 1250 could have had the sprockets changed and "could" be the reason for the slow pass.

 

Way too many variables to even address the situation. Way too many!

 

Take a 48 bone stock run it down the drag strip. Then put 883 gearing on it, same rider, you would be astonished at how close the mph and et's would be.

How you launch the bike, how you shift the bike and when you shift the bike are huuuuuge!


In your street race, if one guy is shifting 500 rpm short of redline, that throws everything off. Along with the other things I mentioned.

 

Sounds a reasonable comparison, thanks for posting. The 1250 kit with higher CR but the smaller 883 head ports has given a good account of itself, which shows it is good value (well I think it is!).

 

Hey, going through all of the previous owners stock parts and what installed I came across a Screaming Eagly clutch kit, doesn't appear that it was installed. This is a naive question but what exactly is a clutch kit for? Especially for the 1200? When I opened the box up, I read the instructions on the SE sheet and it said that the SE clutch kit was for bikes that will do 120+ torque etc etc so I think this is some type of mod for the trans? Any imput?

 

OK so I didn't fully ask the guy what exactly he had on his conversion but he did say he had head work, and he did say it cost him over $2500.00 total at a local HD performance shop in Huntington Beach, but to me an IRON 2012 costing a little over $7k then having $2.5k added to a so called conversion Was a waste if he wanted it to run better than a 1200, he should have paid for the 1200 then had CAMS added down the road. or he could have spent another 500 in gearing and still had an 883 built that might down a 1200 But now at least to me I would have to see it before I believed all the BS!

I don't know been reading all the BS about the 883 conversions $1100, $1500 and so on sounds like a bunch of dodo to me, $2500 beat me off the line but failed in the long run. Enjoy what you have, chasing the bigger ones will only cost you far more than it is worth than just buying one.

 

most often when you go to a higher compression engine you will redo your clutch with a heavier spring or a whole replacement clutch pack. the pervious owner probably picked up an upgrade and either hadn't gotten around to put it in or was just gonna run the stock clutch until it failed then replace it. if you don't notice any slipping you can run the stock clutch without any issues.