Twin Cam going extinct?
Seasoned HDF Member
Joined: Feb 2016
Posts: 8,022
Likes: 6,914
From: NC
@Uncle Larry Not really. I am happy with my things and prefer to keep them nice and mechanically sound. I'm not the keep up w/ the Jones kinda guy. It's not to have the same thing as everyone else, but I do have things happen on trips, like many of us. What I worry about is lack of parts availability more than a current platform. Some dealers in my area will not work on bikes more than 10 years old. So, age is the sole factor, not the looks, nor performance, both which I am happy with on my bike.
Stellar HDF Member
Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 2,328
Likes: 2,205
I have two twin cam 103 bikes and I have really zero incentive to get a newer model. Given the cost of the new bikes and the fact that H-D thinks they're going to charge over MSRP for them, I don't see myself buying a new bike anytime soon. The new ones do have some features I like, and the M8 is overall smoother and I like how it's narrower to get my legs to the ground easier, but the new ones being so expensive that I couldn't sell both of my current bikes without showing up to buy the new one with a bag of money indicates to me that I'm a long way from seeing an M8 in my garage.
Hopefully they come back down to earth sometime, but if not, I'll be riding my twin cam bikes until I'm much older and grayer than now, they've really priced us normal people out of the brand pretty good at this point.
Hopefully they come back down to earth sometime, but if not, I'll be riding my twin cam bikes until I'm much older and grayer than now, they've really priced us normal people out of the brand pretty good at this point.
Thread Starter
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Tourer
Joined: Jun 2021
Posts: 281
Likes: 218
From: MS
The TC 103 is a really nice engine and my SGS is beautiful bike. Not even a swirl mark on the paint. But connectors, wiring, and the tech on it is a decade old. **** dries out or connectors wiggle loose. I don't travel with my multimeter.
Mfg's are required to produce oem parts for 10 years after a model discontinuation if I recall correctly. After that, it's all aftermarket. Now I know there are shovels, pans, evos all out there running the roads, and HD has an insane aftermarket. It's not parts I worry about getting, and there will always be an Indy mechanic who cut his teeth on Twin Cams... like a Chevy 350.If my bike is at home and I need a part, it's a Google search and 2 day shipping away, but travelling, it's a different story.
Indy's are hard to find when you're on the road, HD dealerships aren't. Not that I want to use a dealership, but it's a place to leave my bike if SHTF and it's a big repair, or extensive troubleshooting, it's a safe place to get home and go fetch it later on, vs someplace shady, or fly by night that will have its doors closed down 2 weeks later when you go to get your bike.
Mfg's are required to produce oem parts for 10 years after a model discontinuation if I recall correctly. After that, it's all aftermarket. Now I know there are shovels, pans, evos all out there running the roads, and HD has an insane aftermarket. It's not parts I worry about getting, and there will always be an Indy mechanic who cut his teeth on Twin Cams... like a Chevy 350.If my bike is at home and I need a part, it's a Google search and 2 day shipping away, but travelling, it's a different story.
Indy's are hard to find when you're on the road, HD dealerships aren't. Not that I want to use a dealership, but it's a place to leave my bike if SHTF and it's a big repair, or extensive troubleshooting, it's a safe place to get home and go fetch it later on, vs someplace shady, or fly by night that will have its doors closed down 2 weeks later when you go to get your bike.
Road Master
Joined: Jul 2019
Posts: 769
Likes: 432
From: CLT NC
I have two twin cam 103 bikes and I have really zero incentive to get a newer model. Given the cost of the new bikes and the fact that H-D thinks they're going to charge over MSRP for them, I don't see myself buying a new bike anytime soon. The new ones do have some features I like, and the M8 is overall smoother and I like how it's narrower to get my legs to the ground easier, but the new ones being so expensive that I couldn't sell both of my current bikes without showing up to buy the new one with a bag of money indicates to me that I'm a long way from seeing an M8 in my garage.
Hopefully they come back down to earth sometime, but if not, I'll be riding my twin cam bikes until I'm much older and grayer than now, they've really priced us normal people out of the brand pretty good at this point.
Hopefully they come back down to earth sometime, but if not, I'll be riding my twin cam bikes until I'm much older and grayer than now, they've really priced us normal people out of the brand pretty good at this point.
103 TC engines have proven to be quite reliable and the later 103HOs really wake up once uncorked and properly tuned. The 255-ish cams may not be great but they are better than the short/small cams in the pre-2014 103s. Tons of TC bikes down here in NC/SC area.
Last edited by VortecCPI; Aug 16, 2023 at 02:20 PM.
Thread Starter
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Tourer
Joined: Jun 2021
Posts: 281
Likes: 218
From: MS
My signature is your clue. Now if your not familiar with who Puff is, YouTube is the answer.
https://youtu.be/Y7lmAc3LKWM
--04 Softail Deuce 88TCb FXSTDI--
- Sadly A Puff the Magic Dragon -
----- North Beach, Florida -----
Shocked theMighty Eohippus didn't see that ..
https://youtu.be/Y7lmAc3LKWM
--04 Softail Deuce 88TCb FXSTDI--
- Sadly A Puff the Magic Dragon -
----- North Beach, Florida -----
Shocked the
Mighty Eohippus didn't see that ..
Club Member
Joined: Apr 2013
Posts: 5,903
Likes: 3,886
From: Cape Cod
Still got my 96" 07 EGUC. 65K miles
WILL be my last bike.
S&S 551 cams and S&S MK45 pipes with S&S head pipe.
I'll still be able to get parts for the next ten years or so. I do my own work, but by that time I'll be 75 and slowing down.
Heading for a 2200 mile trip from Mass to Texas next month, will ride throughout the winter with my son, in the spring ride it back.
No compunction to get a new one.
I don't know what I don't know...........
WILL be my last bike.
S&S 551 cams and S&S MK45 pipes with S&S head pipe.
I'll still be able to get parts for the next ten years or so. I do my own work, but by that time I'll be 75 and slowing down.
Heading for a 2200 mile trip from Mass to Texas next month, will ride throughout the winter with my son, in the spring ride it back.
No compunction to get a new one.
I don't know what I don't know...........
Thread Starter
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Tourer
Joined: Jun 2021
Posts: 281
Likes: 218
From: MS
I'm glad to hear from the Twin Cam peeps. Maybe I just got overly worried since the last few trips, I've had hiccups of some kind (not all bike related) and admittedly, it was small stuff... stripped shifter shaft, leaking fuel quick disconnect, and a CEL from my right hand control module, something else that I forget... stuff like that creeps in my head in the dark of night (or day) on a lonely stretch of road. I go over my bike w/ a pretty fine tooth comb. I'm the type where I've always marked my critical fasteners w/ a small paint pen so I can see if anything has loosened.
I can "what-if" myself from 0-60 quicker than the Fast and Furious dude.
I can "what-if" myself from 0-60 quicker than the Fast and Furious dude.
I plan on keeping my twin cam until I can't rebuild it any more.
I see no reason to spend money on a newer bike just because other people are.
I see no reason to spend money on a newer bike just because other people are.
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Seasoned HDF Member
Joined: Mar 2010
Posts: 38,668
Likes: 6,460
From: Honah Lee
Old cars with computer controls get hauled off to the bone yard all the time since they take up a lot of space and most cities frown on cars pilling up in back yards (except WV 
)
Those that don't know how to work on their stuff, do they send old Harleys sitting in their garages to the bone yards?
)Those that don't know how to work on their stuff, do they send old Harleys sitting in their garages to the bone yards?
