M8 vs vintage Harley motors
Tourer
Joined: Feb 2018
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From: Eastern Washington USA
Club Member
Joined: Jan 2007
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From: NE Florida
I won't say I'll never own an M8, but I purposely bought a 2015 Twin Cam when I bought my CVO in 2022. I've owned five Twinkies and have all of the tools for them and fully understand how they work. I've never ridden any of them and thought, "I need more power". Building them was fun and extra HP/TQ is great, but needed? No.
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Cruiser
Joined: Feb 2020
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From: TX
I won't say I'll never own an M8, but I purposely bought a 2015 Twin Cam when I bought my CVO in 2022. I've owned five Twinkies and have all of the tools for them and fully understand how they work. I've never ridden any of them and thought, "I need more power". Building them was fun and extra HP/TQ is great, but needed? No.
Maybe in a few years I could snag me a twin cam dyna or something to add to the garage as a sort of backup bike.
Seasoned HDF Member
Joined: Dec 2005
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From: poway
I would say that the 4 valve heads are responsible... They allow more conservative cam timing with reasonable perfoarmcne and cleaner emissions. 4 valve heads open and close quicker. It's my bet that that motor has a cam with some overlap..
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From: State of Confusion
HDF Community Team
Joined: Oct 2018
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From: Seattle
The M8 sounds fundamentally different from pretty much every single VTwin out there that's 2 valve head. Indian, Yamaha Bolt, Honda Shadow, Suzuki 50ci, all of them once you put a set of pipes on them have a really nice Harley sound that's more similar to the sportster EVO, or the twin cam.
But then you hear the M8, even in that carbed video you can hear that it just does not sound like the 2 valve Vtwins of anyone else.Plus you can hear that distinct whine the softail version of the M8 has.
That whine is a lot quieter on the new M8 117 and it has a more clicky type writer sound bu comparison.
The carb setup definitely sounds closer to a twin cam than most others M8s, but it still sounds like every other M8 with just a pair of slip ons on.
Also he has that idle turned down real low. There's no way that bike is idling over the 850 that the FI makes you sit at.
You can take a powervision and flash it to a lower idle and it sounds pretty similar. I've done it to hear it.
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Haarley
General Harley Davidson Chat
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Aug 2, 2018 09:42 PM
