When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
1200 Sportster's are not a lot of bike. Power is good, delivery is real smooth. Longer gearing I'd imagine.
I have a 1993 Sportster that started life out as an 883. It was fun for riding around on the streets but made me nervous when on the highway. The bike would top out at like 80mph. Changed the jugs out to 1200cc and woke it right up! If I remember right, it put down somewhere around 80hp and tq. It caught a few people off guard thanks to the bike still having the 883 gearing. The 1200's longer gearing drops the RPMs a bit when on the highway but takes away from some of the fun factor as well.
H-D also put gearing similar to the 883s on the Sportster XR1200(x) and increased the RPM range. Makes for one hell of a fun bike on the backroads or if you just want to do a wheelie once in a while. The XR's are just a different bike in general though.