Never!!!

 

When HD Made the "Better" TC they lost there memory of what worked so well with Evo.
A "Twin Cam Evo" with all gear drives and thicker cases, welded cranks, tighter tollerances, better bearings, larger displacement, ect, would have made a great engine a better engine. BUT HELLL NO THAT WOULD BE TO LOGICAL.... FPMO....

 

Call rubbish if you want, but I have owned everything from a Panhead to a Twin Cam including a Sportster and the ONLY one that I would not be able to repair on the side of the road if it had a fuel or electrical problem is the Twin Cam. But then maybe you pull a trailer around with your tool box and spare parts just in case you need them.

 

Doing a frame up refurbish on my 89 currently, except for the S&S 96, that's still in great shape. Those FX/FL frames were great handling, and I'm sure it will be better with a new front suspension and swing arm mod. I like simple, and this is about as simple as it gets with a Harley, no tooling problems, do it all in my garage. And a really big factor for me, retired on a fixed pension, is a great touring bike for less than the cost of a new sporty. And no Chinese bearings...

 

The old indy guy I took my baby too was as about as hard-core biker as you can get…..looked more like Willie Nelson than Willie himself. He is known for being the best around and has repaired bikes that, I was told, HD could not get right. Anyhow, I was fortunate enough for him to afford me a few minutes of his time when I was at his shop. He mentioned that the evo motor is the best ever produced. And the bearing, yes, it was an issue. Some base gasket weeping, yes, nature of the beast. One or two other minors. But overall, nothing but all positives for the evolution HD. Many very high mileage evos have come in to his shop without previous major maintenance issues.

 

I have for a long time said modern stuff sucks big time.
When I was first in Spain I bought a new van to lug my bands music gear around.

It came with fly by wire throttle, which had so much lag that you could floor it in neutral and release the accelerator peddle and the tick over wouldn't change. It was a turbo diesel, and was a gutless pile of ****.

When Harley announced they were going over to FBW for the throttle, soon after I bought my first Harley, a 2012 Fatboy, I thought that meant I would never be able to trade mine in for a new one.

Having bought a 2014 Kawasaki 1700 Voyager and found that it is pretty much castrated by emission rules, meaning that it runs so ****ing hot so it can run lean as possible and has the ignition so retarded when the engine is hot that it has less power than a 125cc learner legal bike, I wish I'd never bought it. Add to the fact that if you decide to add free flowing exhausts and filter, unlike Harley, Kawasaki do not offer any means of re-mapping the fuel injection, which necessitates using an after market tuning device, which adds in the old fuel injection stutter, I'd rather be back on my beloved FB, which only really got the boot due to bloody mindedness as Harley cut my warranty in half.

I am SO glad I shelled out on a pre O2 sensor fuel injected Road King, and would have waited for an Evo, had I been blessed with more patience.

Modern stuff sucks because we live in a society where high mileage for a motorcycle is anything over 3000 miles a year, and if it goes wrong, nobody is bothered, or even knows how to repair it, we just throw it away and buy a new one, or at least new parts.

I would like to say it won't be long before guys wake up to this and the value of the Evos or early big twins starts to go up, but it won't, because there are more than enough to go round because there are very few of us that actually know these bikes are worth their weight in gold, because the typical Harley owner is unfortunately the guy that earns a packet, buys new or nearly new and admires his ride in the air conditioned garage more than he actually rides it.

 

Good read - thanks for the link.

 

Great article with some stinging truths.

 

I own both.I thought the article was pretty accurate. Evos are cheaper than twin cams. That's a fact. Everyone is hot to get into the largest motor, when there is nothing wrong with an 80. Also a fact. Evos are clearly easier to work on.
I love my Twin cam fxdxt. I looked for a earlier model TC for the stronger bottom end (thanks scotty)because I wanted to hot rod it. And its FAAAAAAAST!!!!
I know that a carbed Twinkie is reliable. So is an evo. But EVOS ARE CHEAPER! Bang for the buck? I'm glad to be back into an evo.

 

And another thing-Evos have more soul in my personal opinion. (Just had to throw that in there)