‘Rider Magazine’ Spent 400 Miles on the Milwaukee-Eight: It’s “a Home Run”

You’ve already heard about the base details on the brand new 107-cu-in and 114-cu-in Milwaukee-Eights. They’re going to be seen in a bunch of Harley-Davidson’s touring models. They’re supposed to have more power, lower heat, vibrate less, idle lower, and have a better exhaust note. We’ve shown you photos, given you the soundtrack, and walked you around it. But so far, we haven’t been able to drive it to give you a first-hand impression of the things. So, until now, we’re going to have to rely on a couple outside sources like Rider Magazine.

Rider recently went on one of the first press drives and spent around 400 miles riding various bikes with the two sizes of engines, and it sums up the experience by saying that the M8 is “a home run,” also making note of the newly refined Showa suspension.

The engines still have the same set up, 45-degree V-twins with air-cooled fins and pushrods. It’s still rubber-mounted, but it has a counterbalancer to reduce shaking, which Greg Drevenstedt said is quite noticeable. He also notes that the shape of the engine is lesser between the legs, thanks in part to smaller air cleaner covers. Concerning torque, Greg notes that the throttle response and immediate power to the rear wheel is great.

The review is thorough and gives a great run-down of a lot of the changes to the bike and engine. Check out the full article here.

via [Rider Magazine]