I see you started this thread months ago........I had a '01 XLH 883 and loved it. Paid $5400 new and after 2 years and 36,000 miles the transmission case came apart....Harley of course replaced it (took almost 4 months) at which point I traded it in on a new Roadglide....big mistake, I should have kept the Sporty and just added the Roadglide to my corral. Since then I have purchased an 1990 Sporty that I spend more time working on than riding. Since you are new to Harleys....the first thing your gonna wanna do is buy a large magnet and attatch it to the back of your new bike.....this way you can catch all the parts that will vibrate off and you can reinstall them at the next gas stop Special Note: Insurance on the 883 will be less than the 1200 and down the road if you wanna put the 1200 upgrade in its not that big a deal and since its titled as an 883 you get to keep the cheap insurance.
Dennis
Dennis