Don't you get a certain "gift" allowance free of taxes? I thought there was some limit like $25 dollars.

Piracy is alive and well on the transatlantic trading routes.

It's just run by Her Majesty's pirates these days.

 

You're quite right that goods below that value are not subject to charges, but everything above is. Having owned Harleys for 40 years I have plenty of experience importing stuff from the USA and just occasionally stuff gets through without the taxman getting his fingers on it, but not often! I'm sure your taxman fingers imported stuff as well?!

 

No need to try convincing me over the earplug issue. I'm there 100%.

I was out a couple of years ago with a satnav and soft ear phones. After a while the battery ran down but the plugs made such a good job of keeping the noise down that I wear plugs whenever I'm intending to be out on the bike for more than half a hour.

The jury is still out over the revs issue. A mate of mine who used to take care of my BMW's used to run a workshop for classic bikes in London. He always advised me to keep the revs below 3500 if I wanted to see 100K out or my engines. I saw my last BMW well over the 100K.

I know that there are obviously major differences in the engines. I used to teach engineering and I can appreciate the subtleties and issues regarding power bands and wear etc but I just happen to like the 2500 feel of my bike.

 

I ran a new 1977 BMW for almost 90k miles without regard for its engine revs! It got written off, otherwise it too would have done 100k plus. It's maximum speed was stated as 124mph and max sustained cruising speed was 124mph! It would certainly cruise at 115mph - with ear plugs of course!

I don't buy the low revs thing at all, but then as a rider for almost 50 years I'm a bit of a dynosaur. I won't claim to ride my Harleys as fast as that BMW, but they are for riding after all and being regularly run to 5k or so does them no harm IMHO. At least none of mine have given any problems so far!

 

Naw. We let the world dump their stuff on our docks.

Try and buy a new Ford Mustang GT in Japan and see what the price is.... $32k car magically becomes close to a $50k car...

 

Have you played around with a gear ratio calculator to see how much of a difference it would make, e.g. bigboyz? A 27T comp is almost the same as a 65T rear (about .1 of a different) and I think the belt still fits. It'll certainly be the cheapest way forward as you're bound to find them used locally.

You are talking about a change at highway speed of around 8 percent ... a 5-mph increase in speed, or a drop of about 200 rpm in cruising speed. Is that enough?

You are also reducing low-end torque by the same 8%, would you notice that? See discussion, here.

What mods have you got on your bike? This dyno sheet was with a pipe and a carb kit (below).

Just out of interest, is the problem vibes? Because someone in the UK has developed an improved rubber engine mount kit for the Dynas.

Of course, what we are best at doing here is spending other people's money, so what you really need do is is stroke your engine to 89 ci with T&O Torquemaster flywheels and stick in a very early intake closing cam like an EV13.

If you wont consider that, you're obviously not worthy of our technical expertise, as we simply would not dream of getting out of bed to stress our engine for less than 80 hp - 80 ft/lbs, old chap. [/sarcasm]

I've played around with my gearing but in the other direction, to make it spin more. It's called the 'Jerry Branch bottomline' ... a 3.5:1 ratio. To be honest, I didn't bother recalibrating the speedo. Whenever were speedos that accurate anyway? Just get a friend to ride at a given speed and remember where your dial is.

It looks like a pretty expensive mod. I'm seeing $175 to $250. The chain is, what, a half link longer?

 

I like that! A compact solution to supporting the front of the engine from lateral loads. Would go well with a rear True-Track stabilizer, if that is available separately. I had a TT kit on front and rear of my Dyna, which transformed the bike under all riding conditions.

 

Hot off the press - now available here in the UK with rhd - as god intended! Price? For the 5.0 litre, from $50k.......

I shall just have to get by with the 4.6 litre Mustang engine in my MG!

 

Pics. The 4.6 is a wide engine, must have been fun squeezing that in.

Here's my 'old school' 5.0L in my 76 Jeep CJ5:

 

I'm pleased to report that MG did all the hard work, I just had to buy it! My engine bay is nothing like as clean as yours, so I've cheated by finding this one. The battery is in the boot!