harley recall
...and now I will have to execute myself in a terrible fashion in light of the fact that I purchased a new bike with helical gears!

This Dyna owner does'nt really care, he just wants to enjoy his motorcycle (not heavy rtuck) without the needless opinion of those, that for some reason wish others to doubt.
Vin
I don't want to hijack this thread, but I'm going to have to disagree. Straight cuts gears are used on massive torque motors (like in the 1000lbs range) because they can handle that torque while helical gears can't. On top of that you can abuse your straight cut gear tranny a lot more. Straight cut gears will handle misshifts much better. I have also heard that popping the clutch at the wrong time can damage a helical gear; not so with a straight cut gear.
Straight cuts gears like MegaHDMan mentioned are also more forgiving on the bearings and cases. The only reason helical cut gears are use are for smoother shifting and they don't suffer from gear whine.
On top of all that helical gears have a greater degree of sliding friction between the meshing teeth.
You have a point here, but that doesn't make them stronger for these reasons. When the shift is complete you will have 1 1/2 teeth contacting opposed to 1 in straight cut gears, but the shift begins with a single point of contact at which time the gears are vulnerable. So where a straight cut gear engages right away into 1 tooth contacting, the helical cut gear will begin with a very small single point of contact and mesh to 1 1/2 teeth contacting. Also, the strength in straight cut gears comes from the fact that you have full contact across the whole tooth. With a helical cut gear you only have a small point of contact, so you're only loading a fraction of the tooth at any given time.
On top of all that helical gears have a greater degree of sliding friction between the meshing teeth.
I've read all these threads on the various gears with great interest, and I have learned a fair amount from each of you on the subject. The flaming in the other threads was unneccesary, and I'm glad to see that it is being left out of this one.[sm=smiley20.gif]
That being said, there are a few mentions of "talking bad about someone elses bike"...
Now, before we get our chaps all bunched up around our *****, let me just offer this up...

It's a forum, and when kept at an "impersonal" level (is that a word?
) members have the right to post opinions...and in many cases, they are just that, OPINIONS, and fortunately we all have our own smelly hole that OPINIONS come from. Some are a little more informed than others, granted.
Now if, for example, you read something about how another mans opinion of a particular option (let's call it paint color) is different than yours, move on, but if someone says that all the PINK colored bikes induces unwanted beastiality tendencies...don't get pissed off, we'll just deal with it, discuss that opinion (however inane YOU think it may be), and then you get to voice your smelly ol' opinion and move on...
Discussion is good, and it's informative. Like many of you have said, it's your ride, you wanna enjoy it...all I ask is that you post some pictures every now and again so I can enjoy it too. I love motorcycles, all of 'em, and I love this forum, so let's keep the discussions going without being quite so sensitive.
(For the record, I didn't read anything about Pink bikes and beastiality, I was trying to come up with something completely off the wall, and I think I succeeded
- No puppies were harmed in the typing of this message).I'm off my soapbox.
Mac
The Best of Harley-Davidson for Lifelong Riders


