How powerful is an 883 Sportster?

[Anonymous Poster]

One of my mechanics crossed over to the dark side and bought an 883 the other day. Naturally we set upon it trying to make it a little faster. With straight pipes, modified air box, K&N air filter, and jet kit installed we strapped it down on the chassis dyno and made some runs. So, for anyone interested, any guesses as to how much torque and horsepower the little sporty puts out? Make some guesses and I'll post the numbers at the end of the day. Round answer to the nearest tenth-closest guess wins the booby prize.

 

[s1120]

Right now? After the mods? I would say about 50hp, and 70lbsft. They are kind of weak for there engine size, but do respond well to mods.

 

[Gary_in_Indiana]

<font color=blue>"One of my mechanics crossed over to the dark side and bought an 883 the other day"</font color=blue>

It's really nice to know that you're elightened enough to hire a female mechanic. This could be the only area where I have to say Harley is ahead of the Goldwing. There is no girl's Goldwing while Harley does make the Sportster just for girls. /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif/w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif/w3tcompact/icons/grin.gif/w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif/w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif/w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

Just stirring the pot...

 

[DUMBDOG]

Either way you look at it, it is still just a dirt bike.

 

[Thomas]

Ahh..what make carb did you install plus the type of spark plugs also the octane used,and by chance did you do anything to the transmission area.

883 a women bike /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif no sir re Jim Bob..for looks can fool yer. /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

 

[exeter_acres]

Actually the AMA had a roadrace class for many years with the 883... they moved right along.. I was racing in 600 supersport at the time... it later morphed into the Buell series, I believe.
Harley still has its superbike effort, but it never did too well with the VR1000 even with Scott Russell on board.
Here is a pic of an 883 in action....

 

[s1120]

<font color=red>even with Scott Russell on board</font color=red>

And if that guy could not win on it, noone could. He is/was the best rider I have EVER seen.

 

[RobertN]

I'd take those drag pipes off... They might sound cool, but they are only good for red-line power. One of the best performing pipes is still the stock cross-over header with Screamin Eagle tips. The pipes balance pressure waves better with crossover. The Screamin Eagle tips are a lot less restrictive than the stock tips, but still give enough back pressure to give you good bottom to mid power.

I tried a Thunder Header on my FXRS. It has cam, carb, ignition, shaved heads, and a couple other things done to it. It ran really good, especially on the top end. But... most riding is done in the bottom to mid range. When I went back to stock headers with Sreamin Eagle tips, I made very noticable gains in the bottom to mid range, and didn't lose much at all on the top end(all this, of course, is seat of the pants/w3tcompact/icons/grin.gif)

In fact, I would go out on a limb and say you might have lost power with the mods you made... Maybe louder, and different power at different part of the power band, but overall a small loss...

 

[RobertN]

Thomas,
Those Keihien CV carbs have proven to work pretty well. Instead of changing carbs, it is cheaper to jet and "tweak" the Keihien(sp, I know...). A few companies make hop up kits for them, with new springs and jets and stuff. They get the "CV" portion to react faster, as well as fattening up the jets.

They tend to get better milage than most aftermaket carbs. And, they flow plenty of air for 80-88" or so engines.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

You sound like a Harley guy. No guesses though? Chicken....cluck, cluck, cluck.