Does anyone have an opinion on these pistons from NRHS, I am about to embark on a reverse dome 1200 upgrade and I am after the best piston kit I can get for my sportster.

Any opinions or information relating to experience would be appreciated.

I am only a novice and this is going to be my first upgrade. I just want to make the right informed choice.

Any of the main brand pistons are fine........HD/SE, KB, Wiseco, Huricane, JE............

The huricane pistons are a fine piston I have a set here to go 88" on mine


For street use I personally have a preference for Hypereutectic pistons such as the KB and stock HD's

Stevo,
Thanks for the feed back.
So would you say there is no difference between say a wiseco and Hurricane apart from the price ?
Why would you not use a Forged piston for street use, What do I lose or gain with either ?

Forged pistons run more clearance because of their expansion characteristics......

Typically .0025"

Where a Hyper piston will have about 0.001"

Therefore less wear for street use


There's nothin wrong with a forged for street use, just you asked for the best for your conversion and if this is your first, I hazzard a guess that the bike is mainly going to be doin daily rider miles rather than drag strip miles.

I've had lots of success with Wiseco's and they too are a fine piston.....ya wouldn't know the difference on the street.....there may be some minor benefits for top end race use with the hurricanes..... but take your pic....it becomes personal choice as much as anything

Stevo, Zingy Thanks for the combined reply's, this subject on piston choice seems to be a tricky one. There are so many opinions for and against its hard to make a judgement especially for someone who is new to the whole rebuild process.

As I said ... personal choice.....pick someone to do the boring and go with what they use...

I don't know of any bad pistons around these days...

http://www.cppistons.com/Images/News/2003ResultsTitle.jpg
http://www.cppistons.com/Images/News/2003ResultsA.jpg

Turbota,
Would you run Hurricane Forged Pistons in a mild streeter or only for Race App's ??

Ron's runnin them in his bike now.......NRHS did the bore job

Like Stevo said ... I have NRHS Hurricane/CP 10.5 to 1 forged pistons. The bike is a fair weather bar-hopper.

No piston slap and it burns no oil. The pipes are very clean. In fact, with the fine job NRHS did with the machine work and piston fit, the piston/cylinder liner seal has been perfect since the first time the bike was started.

Zingy, the weight was a factor when contemplating going for cast, the wiseco Forged are around the same weight as my 883 slugs.
What do you guys think about the Cometic gaskets ??

Cometics are very good gaskets. I use em for the head gasket at .030. Standard HD for the rest.

My wisecos wieghed one once less each with rings and pins than my factory 1200 slugs.

Turbota, sweet bike mate is that one of those new rubber mounted versions ?

OK so I know which type of piston I will be using, Should I touch the heads at all, I would Like about 70hp with this conversion if possible and you blokes seem to have been there done that, what are my options ???

Zingy, I am currently running with the standard upgrade ie SE slipons, aircleaner setup.
I was thinking about the Forcewinder Aircleaner or the HurricaneFlow Air Cleaners. What setup would you suggest.

I would Like about 70hp with this conversion if possible and you blokes seem to have been there done that, what are my options ???
As has been said, any of the major brand pistons will do fine in the average 883-1200 conversion. I would put finding the right machinist higher on my list than finding the right piston however. Just as one point of reference for your 70hp goal I'm running the following:
Wiseco 10:1 reverse domes
SE bolt-in cams
Cycle Shack exhaust
SE Air cleaner
Factory Gaskets
the bike put out 74hp at the rear wheel after break-in and tuning....like I said this is only one option...just wanted to give you an idea of what is possible with a few parts.
As I said above, be sure that you get the pistons matched to the cylinders. When I got mine I went with the 10 over pistons to give the machinist more to work with since there was a bit too much taper to the cylinders that I was using.