? about EV27
Road Master
Joined: Jun 2018
Posts: 757
Likes: 366
From: Winnipeg
While in your world youll trust lifters in low compression non-stroked motors that spend 80% of their life below 4000 rpm
mine dont.
I dont own a motorcycle that isnt stroked. I dont own one below 10,5:1 mechanical compression. I dont own one less than 190lbs seat pressure on the valves. I dont own one with a cam with less than 560 lift. 90% of every ride sees at least some north of 6000rpm. Lifters are cheap compared to total rebuilds.
93 Shovel 4.5 Stroke 12:1 compression 590 lift 210 seat, 7,000 rev limiter
113 EVO 4.5 Stroke, 10.8:1, 560 lift, 190 seat, 7000 rev limiter
127 EVO 4.5 Stroke. 10.6:1, 610 lift, 210 seat, 7,000 rev limter
I dont own a motorcycle that isnt stroked. I dont own one below 10,5:1 mechanical compression. I dont own one less than 190lbs seat pressure on the valves. I dont own one with a cam with less than 560 lift. 90% of every ride sees at least some north of 6000rpm. Lifters are cheap compared to total rebuilds.
93 Shovel 4.5 Stroke 12:1 compression 590 lift 210 seat, 7,000 rev limiter
113 EVO 4.5 Stroke, 10.8:1, 560 lift, 190 seat, 7000 rev limiter
127 EVO 4.5 Stroke. 10.6:1, 610 lift, 210 seat, 7,000 rev limter
Grand HDF Member
Joined: Sep 2022
Posts: 4,417
Likes: 3,823
From: Florida
Last edited by Rains2much; Sep 9, 2025 at 10:59 PM.
Grand HDF Member
Joined: Sep 2022
Posts: 4,417
Likes: 3,823
From: Florida
Yes. You can minimize with only using enough seat pressure and not going overboard. You can run lighter valve train stronger parts, you can spend a lot of time in set up and valve geometry, roller rockers
all of these practices help give extra life to your valve train.. but distilled down its always about compromise with performance.
Seasoned HDF Member
Joined: Jul 2014
Posts: 8,590
Likes: 3,361
From: Cental, MI
Only failure Mode I ever witnessed on Evo Lifter, has been won't stay Pumped up.. you'll certainly Know when need replacement...Gonna Rattle Badly!! Now Shovelhead, or even Ironheads... Them little Rollers can cause Serious Damage!!
Grand HDF Member
Joined: Sep 2022
Posts: 4,417
Likes: 3,823
From: Florida
I’ve only ran solid vintage nos sifton in Shovels for many years now. I blew up velvatouches. I still have one set left brand new never installed of solid sifton. What I like about them even though they are solid is they are super short. With strokers and longer pushrods it makes the valve geometry way better with the push rod angles. It’s a secret weapon of intimidation when you’re in the left lane with solids, a 5” stroke and 12:1 compression.. a Bandit cam makes so much racket the guy in the right lane is terrified your bike will grenade. Sounds like a commercial size Folgers coffee can filled with bolts in a paint mixer. Lots of power. But you can see it on his face.. he’s thinking “dear God it’s gonna come apart.. this might be how I go” Then just smile to yourself as that hot dirty oily exhaust gas blows out your pipes with a slight angle so the air surrounds him.
Last edited by Rains2much; Sep 10, 2025 at 09:01 AM.
Advanced
Joined: Jul 2025
Posts: 71
Likes: 66
From: UK
my old FXR had a lifter bearing collapse and it trashed the cam !! so new set of lifters and an EV27 cam, lover the way the engine ran, more grunt low down and mid range, it also made it sound better. good cam.
Grand HDF Member
Joined: Sep 2022
Posts: 4,417
Likes: 3,823
From: Florida
lol.. I was small time racing street classes. Under 98” Stock cases and heads, DOT tire, no shift assist, no bars. In the end around 2003 there weren’t very many like me still. Most of who came to race street class were entered in 2-4 different classes with different bikes and endless money backed by teams. They’d show up with these ridiculous budget built bikes they “called” street. It was brutal to compete. The guys who helped each other were long gone. I couldn’t compete anymore. Life got me busy and I moved. Lots of years have gone by.. Being a Shovel among EVO and Twinkies left me an underdog. I used any advantage I could get.
Last edited by Rains2much; Sep 10, 2025 at 09:49 AM.
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Road Master
Joined: May 2018
Posts: 783
Likes: 179
From: Bay Area
Id ask why are you looking at swapping the 13 for a 27 if you like the way it pulls down low now? The 27 is a great cam and by no means would I say its "harder" on lifters than any other cam, but it does like the mid to higher RPMs and really needs compression at 10:1 and up to shine. Now if you already have bumped compression and like to ride in the upper RPMs, the 27 would be a nice change as it will pull clear to your rev limiter, plus the idle chop is better IMO haha.
Ive had a few FXRs that I kept the 80" in and my go to was always the 27, dome pistons, mikuni 42, and thunderheader. My first bagger was a twin cam in 06 and my preferred set up was a 10.5:1 95" with SE 211 cams, another set up that prefers the higher RPM because that fit my riding style. Yes they might be a little softer down low in the heavy bike but I didnt hangout below 2800 RPM much anyway.
Just be honest with yourself and how you ride and then decide what fits best.
Ive had a few FXRs that I kept the 80" in and my go to was always the 27, dome pistons, mikuni 42, and thunderheader. My first bagger was a twin cam in 06 and my preferred set up was a 10.5:1 95" with SE 211 cams, another set up that prefers the higher RPM because that fit my riding style. Yes they might be a little softer down low in the heavy bike but I didnt hangout below 2800 RPM much anyway.
Just be honest with yourself and how you ride and then decide what fits best.
Cruiser
Joined: Jan 2023
Posts: 190
Likes: 409
From: Scotland UK
Lifter issues were not present when I ran my EV27 for a couple of years although I did install Hylift Johnsons at the time of the cam install. When I inspected them during install of my EV13 they still looked like new. Like others have mentioned, id be more concerned about whether you will enjoy moving the power band further up the rev range. I like my harleys to have that low down muscle car grunt off the line, EV13 has that in spades.
