That's a good idea, and would probably make a good road trip!

 

You’ll learn a lot about V twins and particular why the angle of the vee is important here.

http://www.vtwinengine.com/Engine-Te...ir-cooled.html

Having owned Japanese and Italian v twins in the past, the HD motor is the smoothest motor I have ever come across ... I was astonished when I first rode the Crossbones

 

Not terribly different, but the rest of it is stock.
Ask, and you shall receive. [edit: this is a 5 speed automotive trans, but it might help to give you a general understanding. I'll see if I can find a Harley trans animation]

Click on the gear number to see it shift:

http://www.gadgetjq.com/transmission.htm

This might help as well:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vq11CusULlk

 

In the animated piston page you will see a smaller gear off crank turning a larger gear that turns cam. On other side of plate there is a the same thing going on. Observe the attached photo. There is no gear drive. You will see a sprocket driving a chain that turns the cam. Same thing happening on inside of cam plate for other cam.



Picture show's newer '07 and up cam chain tensioner that is supposed to be much more reliable than 99-06 type.

 

Good stuff, thanks!

 

What gives a Harley-Davidson motorcycle its distinctive sound

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/question325.htm

 

I was following this thread and originally I found all your questions and curiosity interesting and I was learning a lot myself even after owning my own H-D for almost three years now. But after a few pages I kind of get the sense that maybe you are over thinking the whole idea of owning a Harley. No disrespect intended. I totally get the concept of making an educated guess before diving into something. I could stand to be more like that myself sometimes. But I think if your not totally in love with the H-D then you're never really gonna understand it anyway. And if you are completely obsessed with it as many people are then WHY things are done they way they are by the MOCO seem to matter a lot less. That may seem a bit naive but honestly I think that is the reality for most people.

If you are drawn to a Fat Boy like no other vehicle and you can't wait to get in the saddle then you are ready to own a Harley. Everything else will be easier to understand once you have been riding it for a while. And even the things that don't make sense to you will be easy to live with because the feeling you get from riding your H-D will far exceed any questionably design or engineering.

Anyway. This probably doesn't help you any. And again, I am not try to disrespect your train of thought. I just honestly believe that if you want a Harley then you will get one and everything else will fall into place for you.

Good luck with everything.

 

Well, no offense taken, and perhaps I am over thinking it, but in general, I like to know how things work. Falling in love with a concept just isn't rational enough for how my brain works, I guess. I know a lot of people get a Harley for the image and because of what other people think of them. I've never been into clubs, so I am looking at it from a point of view of what I like versus what I don't like. Sometimes something that looks less efficient on the surface turns out to have advantages that I wouldn't know about if I didn't delve into it. I am psyched and impatient to get my bike, but in the mean time I like to become as much as an expert as I can in something I am investing so much in.

 

I gotta tell you Wabbit...I've loved the idea of HD for a long time. I am a techie and there are some things done on my '11 Fat Boy that are pretty high-end. The fit and finish is so damn good, it takes a lot to make that happen.

I remember 10 years ago, when I was standing in the middle of a pack of HD's in Daytona for Bike Week (I had ridden up on my R1) and you could actually FEEL the sound soaking into your bones. Well, I thru some new pipes on my bike the night before last, and, well, that particularly feeling is back, except this time, it's from my own HD. I loved my bike before that, but now, it's truly mine. You can really hear the soul of the beast now!

 

I hear ya. Although I would offer a different perspective on your idea of people getting Harleys to impress others\clubs\etc. Although I certainly think that is true for a lot of Harley owners, in my experience that is the minority. Most people I encounter love their Harley because of what it means to them. That is certainly the case for me. I walked into a Harley dealer not even looking to buy a bike. I was just looking for a jacket that would fit and figured I'd see what they had. I then progressed through looking at a number of bikes on the way into the store starting with the nightster, the street bob and the night trian. They were all great looking bikes IMO and I thought "if they didn't cost so much I would get one." On the way out of the store I saw a denim black Bones and was just floored! Two months later that is the bike I ended up with even though it cost more money than any of the other models I mentioned. Even my wife gave me her total blessing on it despite the fact that I had originally budgeted myself for only $6K for a bike. She said "Just get the one you REALLY want. Even if it costs more, I know you will own it forever." So $6K turned into $16K just like that! God bless her!

I since learned that most people who don't ride Bones think they are ugly and a joke. Do I give a flying F*** about what they or anyone else thinks about my ride? Not for a second. It speaks to me on a level I never imagined a pile of metal could. Even after I learned that I would have to learn to wrench on it quite a bit since 1. Any service at the dealer is expensive and 2. The springer requires more frequent maintenance than other models. Which leads to another notion. I think a lot of us who love to work on our own bikes because "we like it" really start out of necessity. At least for me it was a means to justify owning the machine and not spending what some folks do to have the dealer do everything for them. I don't mind doing it and there is a great sense of satisfaction when I get through a service interval myself or install an aftermarket part on my own. But to be completely honest, sometimes it really sucks and I would much rather be riding or playing with my kids then screwing around in the garage for half a day to do what the dealership can do in an hour. Still, I stick to it because in the end I feel that I am better off for it and the knowledge and experience are invaluable.

Anyway. Let us all know when you get your Fat Boy.

Good luck.