Are Shovelhead, Panhead, and Knucklehead engines purely cosmetic, or do you get a better engine due to the design? What's the additional cost (sometimes twice as much) purchasing? Longevity? Power per cubic inch? Exclusivity?

 

They are engines that were good motors for their era. (And just too cool to enjoy today.)

But no where near as reliable or powerful right out of the box as the Evo's and Twin Cams that replaced them. In spite of the complexity, my Twin Cam is pushing 150,000 miles on just the second set of heads and the cases still haven't been split. You are not gonna' get that performance out of an earlier motor (but damn I miss my '83 FXRT (shovel.)!!)

 

I've got a '76 & I love that old hunk of metal... But the wrench to ride ratio is about 40:60

 

Supposedly the Evo is the most reliable and more economical to build. Unless you like big inches...

 

I am restoring a 74 big twin shovel right now, and it's the first bike I've owned in 25 years. Only reason why I bought it is because I'm an old school mechanic, so it's what I knew. I don't know the evo's or later 103's etc. so that's why I went this way. In my opinion, the only reason why someone would want to buy the old engines, and pay the $ they want for them, is for nostalgic reasons or investment. The old bikes are not really meant for modern highways and cruising at 70-80 mph for long distance. Remember, the highways really didn't exist in full until the mid 60's, so most everything was built without highways in mind until much later. If you are considering an old bike, there's some things you need to be aware of:

1. Do not expect an HD dealership to work on it or even sell you parts. Their cut off year is 1984.

2. Do expect to work on the bike, or have it worked on, as things do need to be done to keep them on the road.

3. Parts are sometimes very hard to find, and can be very expensive

4. You should have the mindset of "I want a project" or "I love to tinker" cause that's what the old bikes will need

5. The old bikes do not have some of the safety features like disk brakes, redunant systems etc. in many cases. It depends on how old you go as to what safety features you'll have/not have.

Given all of this, I LOVE my old shovel and she's a joy to ride, and lots of pride. I get all kinds of looks and people always smile, and guys always give a thumbs up! Cause ain't nothing that sounds or looks quite like the oldies, and people notice that. BUT, I do not ever travel the populated areas OR go on the highway with her. I only cruise the back country roads, and I avoid cars like the plague. Also, I never go too far from home... and I carry a good set of tools to fit most things, in the event I have to fix something on the fly. And yes, I carry some spare parts like points and condensors etc. So, bottom line is - they are HUGE fun IF you like to work on them and don't mind the added risks that come with them. For me, it's the only way I know.

 

I enjoyed reading your reminiscence of days gone by. In 1974 I rode my first Harley. It's was a 72 kicker Super Glide. Hard to believe it was that long ago. Next stop will be a nostalgic ride, a Shovel....best sounding Harley ever............

 

Man, you're not kidding! Hard to believe it myself... I had to sell my old shovel back in the day cause my car broke down in winter, and I didn't have any $, so had to sell her so I could get a car. Life and time went by and the next thing you know, it's 25 years later! So much has changed in HD's that I said to myself - Welp! I know shovels and can't afford dealer tech services, so off I went with old school.... Only issue is that I'm 25 years older now! So... some things are not as easy to do as they used to be... like kickin' that mule when she's fussy! It has an e start but the starter is burned out, so haven't quite tackled replacing it yet due to higher priorities on it, like brake system etc.

 

We have a 103" Shovel here with over 28,000 untouched miles on it.
104 hp and 112 ft/lbs, pump gas.............in a 470 lbs bike...........with a 3.40 gear ratio.
It will have to be a BIG, POWERFUL, engine that may beat it, someday, as the 5" stroke has insta-torque, in any gear, at any time.
We have many older engines on the road in service that we've built here, some over 20 years ago, still going strong.
Guess we are just lucky.......
Scott

 

I think theres a little more to it than luck, Scott..............!

 

I Love my old 1000 Ironhead Sportster, definitely a wrench, ride, wrench kinda bike, but you can't beat the sound of any of the old engines! I just rebuilt the top end on my ironhead last fall, pretty simple really and learned a lot doing it myself.