Should come for a ride down here in Australia,great countryside & you can ride for 2 days without going through a town in 3 of our states.

 

Hey grbrown,sounds like an invite,huh?G.H,when are you available to take this tour with us? That certainly would be a dream ride.Maybe some day...maybe some day.

 

Tim,

It certainly would be a challenge! We shipped our FLHS to Chicago in 03 and took part in the Centenary celebrations, so we have crossed continents before. Oz, however stretches that notion somewhat. Not sure I could swing it with her indoors....

 

great thread.
Lots of useful comments from what started out as a gripe.

I have been pondering a 127 Ultima for my bagger.
Not for speed , but for torque and long distance riding.
I am prone to 8-10k mile summer trips.

It looks like the best way to go is buy it, tear it down, blueprint and balance it and upgrade some parts.

Hmmmm ..... more to ponder, its it really worth the hassle ?

 

No! GH's experience is a good reason not to buy one at present IMHO. When they have a long established reputation for being bullet-proof straight out of the box, rather than being good at replacing broken parts, will be soon enough. Its pointless buying a brand new engine to strip and rebuild it to make it workable.

In the meantime there are alternatives with a better reputation for reliability.

 

I use my 1995 FLST with slight mods for long distance,the 127 in my custom could be a good motor by changing pistons,rockers & lifters to a better quality & would still be cheaper than S&S.Ive stripped the motor & found the rest well made.Reading about you blokes looks like were the same age so were all played with motors.I live in the country side here in W.A so most riding is long distance & apart from the last 10 years its mainly been done on a stroked shovel witch i built & never let me down.Big inch can be reliable if built properly & fun to play with.

 

I ran a stroker in my FLHS for several years and it was very sweet running. Just left me wanting even more, hence the S&S!

Running a current Ultima in a custom is one thing, but kickstart pan is talking of doing extensive tours of many thousands of miles. As he presses the starter button at the start of such a trip what should be going through his mind? Eager anticipation of the trip, or apprehension at how far the engine will take him?

It will be interesting to watch progress at Ultima and see when they achieve the point when the parts you mention are of good enough quality and we no longer regard them as needing a rebuild before fitting them in a bike. Frankly that sounds like trying to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear, which is no way either to run a business, or build a bike.

 

Not to rock the boat here,but from all I`ve learned it seems the most reliable high-mile motors I`ve ever known were hop on and ride it bone stock.For me the problem is...I CAN`T DO THAT!!!hah hah hah hah hah
I went with a stroked S&S in 96" and couldn`t be happier,in spite of the nay sayers saying it`ll run it`s legs off running the hiways.Mine`s no bagger,more of a hot rod bar hopper.But,I`m a long rider,not a bar hopper.It seems perfect for me.In`02/`03 when I got mine my thinking was to stay away from bigger inchers for reliability.It`s just my seat of pants technology to think either the cylinders are thinner (like in a car motor) or the jugs get fat and allow less free air space while requiring more cooling area that just isn`t possible.Also,the "swell factor" that we rarely hear discussed.I`m not bashing bigger motors and to each his own.I came up with a 74 being big,the Evo got bigger,and I`m at 20% bigger than that.I can`t imagine anyone feeling my big lacks an ounce of torque.I don`t even understand all this six speed stuff,personally.I`ve been caught up in the latest-greatest equipment-freak thing over the years and IMO that`s all it is.Why do more shifting if you don`t need it?My motor isn`t flat anywhere.I see most I talk to think they are getting overdrive with 5 and 6 speeds.I dig close ratio shifting.It`s a gas.I run a Muncie M22 in my`67 GMC pickup (my other hot rod) and love rowing it up the road.
Just to be clear...these are just my opinions and that is all.I can feel how I feel w/o needing to make the rest of the world agree.I`mopen for other views...that`s how I`ve learned and come up with my view,along with personal experience.It`s also formed around what "I" want from my ride,which may not be what others want.It`s all good.<WTF?Sounds like dang lawyer talk or sum kinda disclaimer...LOL! Hey,this form of communicating doesn`t always come across right.I`m not afraid to throw my $.02 in and it`s as simple as that.It`s all good.AND...I`m not sayin`I`ll never go big,either.I`m glad I`m learning here for if and when I make such a choice.

 

veeeeeeerrry interesting.
The advice I have been given is anything over 100" will not last 100,000 miles.
So that means a rebuild every 5 years- that's not too bad, of course you may not want to stray too far from home the last year or 2

I know people that tear down S&S motors to balance and blueprint before they will run them even on the street, mostly clearance issues, which is going to be an issue on any "mass" produced motor.
So if your doing that anyway, why pay S&S $6k rather than Ultima $4k for a base motor ?

The 6 speed I have is for overdrive 6th =x.86
to maintain 80-85 mph,fully loaded - uphill - against the wind - etc you need torque. Hence cu in.

I don't jump start or over rev(often) but I like to cruise @ 2500 RPM's and 80 mph.
AND get good gas mileage. Presently my bagger has a 95" with cams and 6 speed @ 80 MPH I am getting 30mpg more often less.
I think I am due 40+mpg on a motorcycle - am I wrong ???
So I need big inch

 

With a modern Harley and tall gearing, you can substantially improve your bike's performance by simply regearing it. If you lower gearing by say 10% you increase rear wheel torque by the same amount. The price you pay is you also raise the revs in top gear by the same value. Your engine is barely able to take full throttle at those settings. You also give the engine an easier time and may improve mileage.

At 5k rpm your bike would be doing 160mph if it had the power. Plainly it hasn't! Reduce gearing so it only 'doing' 145mph and you will notice the improvement.