Only two things ever left me stranded on my 98... No gas and 2 snapped secondary drive belts... Good o'll torque baby..... Gotta love em........

 

Mr Brown, thank you for the ramble. I appreciate seeing the comparisons from a long time owner/rider perspective.

That second part about most dependable. That puts the EVO high on my list then. Remember, I came over from metrics, Honda V-Twin in particular. Pretty much a fire up and ride, remember to change the oil once in awhile, but if you're a little late, it still keeps going, kind of bike.

I'd rather ride than wrench and definitely not wrench on the side of the road. Out this way being stuck by the side of the road can mean long hours of heat, little shade, and spotty phone service.

I toy with the idea of later trading the FLHS off on a 2012 or later Ultra Limited or something like that. But, then I think of the costs and the fact that my bike is paid for. I could replace the engine and probably rebuild the entire bike having someone else do the work and still be well below the price of a new or very late model Electra Glide. I just don't want to be spending all that just to keep the bike on the road.

I am learning that there are some things that even with the back making it hard to get down and around I could probably do on the bike with basic tools and not being a dedicated mechanic.

Would it be fun to have massive, ripping, be glad there is a trunk back there to catch you acceleration? Sure, but at what costs in terms of dollars and reliability. The 80 EVO as it is currently set up gets off the line well enough. I have acceleration on the highway. Not instant at 100, but good enough without having to downshift. On back roads running 55-70 it's quite pleasant to ride and I'm nowhere near scraping the floorboards while doing turns with a nice lean.

I don't need the in dash comm unit. Nice, but one more thing to go wrong. Having that issue in my Juke with the everything stereo head and they Nissan has to replace it. (I do like the back up camera and hands free phone thing though.) I just need to add some tunes in the form of some speakers, preferably with the built in amp that do bluetooth and maybe take a microSD card. Ya know, soundtrack for the mood.

Thanks again for the info and the patience. I won't turn down a late model Ultra Limited because of the engine if one just forced itself on me. However, I won't feel like I need to get the latest and greatest when my old EVO will take care of me if I take care of it.

 

Also, for the most part, an evo engine is infinitely rebuild-able. I also agree about simplicity and reliability. YD

 

I think you will enjoy reading this entire thread which echoes a similar sentiment.

https://www.hdforums.com/forum/evo-c...arb-bikes.html


In addition to what has already been said regarding what is the best, I prefer the Evo for many reasons. It is modern enough to be reliable and oil tight yet old enough to maintain simplicity. The twin cam was supposed to address some of the Evo's short comings while offering increased displacemen. What it did was bring a new set of issues due to unnecessary complexity without much real benefit. If you notice, the newer bikes are traded in in very short order and are seen as disposable whereas the Evo's were / are kept so long that they sometimes get passed down to the next generation. They are so simpl and infinitely rebuildable using simple hand tools. The twin cam still had the less than ideal valve train geometry but replaced a single gear driven cam shaft with a pair of chain driven camshafts. The two cam shafts didn't really help anything and the first version of the chain tensioner had a higher failure rate than they should have. Supposedly the chain was quieter than gears which hold meet noise standards, but I question how much quieter is it really, especially if the 80's style gear drive could probably be improved with modern manufacturing. There are some carbureted twin cams, but most are fuel injected, which again, a lot of electronic wizardry that is not DIY friendly or cheap to fanigle.

I think the M8 is a vast improvement over the twin cam and is the engine that should have replaced the Evo, but the abundance of computerized electronics, the canbus system that requires you to reflash the ECM so the computer can activate a oil cooler fan if you add one, catalytic converters, etc kind of take some of the appeal away from it. Incidentall, the oil pump on the M8's is failing at a higher rate than it probably should. An oil pump is one of the most basic parts of engine. There should be virtually no failures of it, especially since the M8's predecessors didn't have issues with the oil pump.

My favorite overall engine design was the carbureted Sportster. I had a 1991 model and did a lot of work to it. I especially like the valve train which is more forgiving if you install high lift cams. Yeah, cams, with an S, as in four of them, gear driven.

As much as I like the Sportster engine design and like working on them, the big twin Evo gives the most satisfying ride. The push rods are arranged like a helix in the big twin Evo, which may seem strange at first.

The Sportster's Evo engine is still in use today,with only a few minor changes over the years. I think a new 48 in hot rod red would be a fun secondary bike.

 

If being the most dependable doesn't make it the best motor what qualification are you using to decide which motor is best??????

 

Some have said it's the motor that saved Harley-Davidson. I have a built TC95B in my custom, but I love the sound of a built Evo...

 

Not so much the motor itself but the Softail Fatboy and Heritage Classic matched up with the Evo.....

I have to agree Prot, I believe it's the modern day FXR...... BadAss..........

 

No the Shovelhead is the best and the best looking.

 

I always thought/heard that thing they put in the V-Rod was Harley's best engine ever created,was tes ted like no other.. Evo is an engine,not a motor,motors are electric,thought I would toss that in there. .

 

Not this again.
You really should look up the definition of motor.