I have a Sportster and have fallen in love with the heritge softwail Classic. unfortunatley my budget is still not as big as my appetite for bikes and so I am looking at older used models, although I really dont have any reservations about used Harleys - they defintiely hold their value and seem to hold up well.

In particular I am looking at two bikes both in the $10K range, one is a '98 and the other a '02. during my search, I have run across a number of people who have all said that there was some kind of "big changes" in the softail around 2000 and taht the improvements were important. yet none of them so far has been able to list exactly what those changes were or why they are so important. I am wondering if anyone has an opinion on these two year model bikes and if there is any merit to what I have been told?

 

I beleive it is Evo motor vs Twin Cam motor

 

Yup...

The Twin Can 88 is a rigid mounter counter balanced... the Evo is 80ci and is not.

What do you want from the bike? All other things being equal, the Twin Cam will make more power, last longer, and provide a smoother ride (from the counterbalence)... The Evo will have more personality... i.e. better sound, more "feel" (read vibration) and more leaks, lol. But not too bad, it's not a panhead (for reliability).

New Powerplant is a big deal... always is... some say the Twin Cams don't sound right, or shake like a HD is supposed to.

 

I'd go with the EVO. Do a little research about the twinkie motors. They're not all that great. The twinkies have cheap cranks with excessive runout from the factory, crappy bearings (after 2002), plastic cam chain tensioners, flywheels that are just pressed on to the crank and prone to slippage (not even a keyed shaft!!) etc.. Hell, even the clutch basket is made of aluminum! ??!?!? Why would somone encase discs with friction material in an aluminum basket?? Go with the EVO or if you're a wrench, maybe you'd like an older shovelhead. They have much more character than the twin cams, too.

 

I believe the frame was beefed up / redesigned in 2000 for less "flex" in the turns. At least that's what the 2000 dealer catalog said. And again, the B motor from 2000 on.

 

Agreed... The main difference is the Evo -> TC88. For 'me' I like the less vibration of the balanced TC88, but that is definitely a personal like/dislike. Sounds to me like you have a couple of nice bikes to choose from, ride them both and go from there. Depending on total mileage and overall condition, anywhere near 10k for either doesn't sound bad to me.
John

 

There is no question, go with the 2002'.

The older softails were called "sloptails" for a reason. The frame itself is superior on the newer twin cam models, and the engine is also.

People who try and chime in here in favor of the EVO don't realise that they make more Twin cam Harleys in a year now than Harley made EVO's in their entire run of existance literally. SO any potential "issues" will of course be magnified. But on a percentage % basis the Twin cam engine is a more reliable platform overall still.

EVO engines had a whole mess of issues on with their own quirks and shortcomings. They are known to have porous engine case castings and weeping issues. Their top end valvetrain geometry is far inferior to the twin cam, and excessive valvetrain wear on moderate to agressive builds can require a quicker need to "freshen" up the bike on a more regular basis, and the older style electrical ignition systems were junk in comparison to the newer twin cam counterparts. The 2002 year Twincam engine your looking at has no crank or bearing issues, in fact the 02's use the heavy duty timken crank bearing assembly and the bottom ends on these motors are very rugged. The few "weak links" on the twin cam engine are easy to remedy as there are countless aftermarket options of upgrading and bullitproofing the engine.


Nobrainer here, go with the twincam 02'. This IS coming from a "wrench".

 

I disagree with you pal. I have a '02 since new and it's never had problem one. Also the '02 is the last year of forged crank & Timken bearings.