Back in 1986, I traded my 1979 Triumph Bonneville special in on a new 883.
I put about 50,000 miles on the Triumph, one ride (by myself) of 9000 miles around the US in 4 weeks, but Triumph went out of business, so long rides on it were out, no place to get parts. It did not lack speed or power.
I thought the 1986 883 was close to the Triumph, light, nimble.
The 883 at that time had a 4 speed trans I think, chain drive, solid mounted motor, and I remember blasting down 95 in Philadelphia at over 110 mph dodging cars and so on, seemed good enough for me!
My big beef was the small gas tank.
I got a beef with people thinking 900cc's is a small bike, and its not a 'good' bike unless its got a motor bigger than some cars, and weighs almost as much.
A huge bike, with no ground clearance is not much fun, and not very safe, someone pulls out in front of you and you have no choice but to plow into it.
I am sure a new 883 will do over 100 mph, and there are not many places you can get away with that without trouble.
I cant figure out why people are not happy unless their butt is a foot off the ground, and they have at least 2000 cc's.
Brett