LOL!!!! Thanks Mike
I don't know about the fastest but it did put up some good numbers on the dyno. I will post results when I get home this weekend.
TJ

 

Anyone having trouble with hot starts? the last couple weekends on 200+ mile rides,after a stop for fuel or whatever,mine wont turn over.almost like the battery is low.ill let off starter,give it a second,hit it again and it fires up...

 

So far so good with hot starts. It was 103 out today and I rode for about 2 hours up to the mountains. Engine temps up to about 275 a couple times going up grades. No problems on the starts after its hot.

 

I had to drive the cage to Rochester NH HD to get a new outer primary cover that I F'd this weekend.
While I was there, they were doing demos. So after spending 3 bills, i took advantage of the test rides. Signed up for the breakout and was on it 15 mins later on about a 15 min ride on misc roads including highway.

This was a 2014 stock Breakout that was that golden orange color. Stock 103 motor and what not.

I personally thought it was a dog. My way smaller stock motor seems way faster. I was giving it full throttle when I could and I was like come on!!!! MOVE. The only thing I liked about it was cornering, cuz I was scraping the pegs on the forward controls and enjoyed the added lean angle that is non existent on my train when slammed. Comfy ride I guess but unless this thing comes alive after mods, id pass on it.

 

Interesting perspective. I have a stock 2013 BO and I guess I don't expect that much from it compared to the other non-HD non-cruiser bikes I've had. Not sure I'd want to add the $1,000's to the motor to make it pull better (Stage 2+) but are there other 103's that you've ridden that you think pull harder than the one in the BO?

 

This is just my personal experience. I even asked about power before riding it, and was told, of course its powerful, its got a 103"..... Well, i wasnt impressed by the power at all.

No, thats the first 103" ive even been on. Ive riden other 88s on carb'd and EFI bikes and all had more than the 103".
Even my old 94' sporty with a 1200 seemed beastly in comparison.

Maybe its me. but if I switched from my stock 88 to that particular 103", id be unhappy. I have zero motor work, nothing but a AC and pipes. No tuner, no nothing.

 

I THINK that the only differences, other than Unbalanced engine versus balanced engine (Softail), among ALL the models with the 103 engine are the exhaust systems. I do agree with the OP's statement that the stock 103 engine feels weak.

On the Breakout, where there is a true dual exhaust with no balance tube between the pipes, that is a configuration that hurts low rpm torque and power. A good duals with balance tube, or better, a 2 into 1, helps a lot, and a Stage 4 race kit addressed the whole power thing nicely.

Jim G

 

I just realized why the poster about "low power: felt what he did. I forgot to mention the stupid gearing.

HD has been progressively making the overall gearing of its bikes more and more numerically low, which means lower rpm at any given road speed, in each gear. i.e. "freeway long distance touring gearing" versus "responsive / nimble gearing. Donny Peterson tlaks about this a lot in his Volume 2 book on the HD bikes.

HD is doing this to reduce noise levels and emission at any given "testing speed" that they must do noise and emissions testing at. The lower engine rpm lowers the sound level and the emissions level.

Unfortunately it absolutely kills the feel of the bike, making it seem like its dragging a busload of weight or something, even though many HD models are actually light compared to earlier models - the Breakout actually only weighs around 700 pounds wet.

The "best" cure is to re-gear the bike, so that the rpm at any given speed in any given gear is higher.

With the older HD models, this was not hard. There were multiple sizes of transmission output sprockets and rear wheel sprockets available, both from HD and from the aftermarket. In addition, you could also change the egaring at the primary versus the final drive, with there being choices in both compensator sprocket and clutch sprocket.

Now, this has changed for the worst.

HD offers almost ZERO ways of changing your gearing. Basically, you are on your own to hve to figure out what sprockets or pulleys they offer for various models, current and older, and figure out which ones are compatible with your bike. That sucks. My dealer was absolutely no help.

And, if you eventually find a set of parts that can make the gearing change, you bike is going to be "non-standard", so that 132 tooth final drive belt that fits every other Breakout won't fit yours anymore. And, since a final drive change affects speedometer operation, and since hD went the "software" route for driving both the speedo and the gear indicator, now BOTH your speedo and your gear indicator will be wrong, until you correct them via either an aftermarket speedo correction black box, or by using a tuner like the Power Vision to reset an internal "field variable".

Plus, the parts and labor bill for th gear change is going to be several hundred dollars, because no matter what you do, you need to disassemble the primary. . .

It' a real pain. But, I intend to make the gearing change as I KNOW from past experience how much difference it will make. It'll be dramatic.

Jim G

 

I put Vance and HINES big radius pipes, screamin eagle heavy breather, screamin eagle 103 heads and jugs on my 96ci to get more power. Also added 204 cams and a super tuner and threw some high numbers on the dyno. I don't have them here with me, but I can tell you I smoked CVO 110 from the start with no problems. My 103 has plenty of get up and go.

 

Don't forget that the "nothing but an air cleaner and pipes" adds 15 to 20% more power to any big twin Harley. Now, you might not have gotten the full 15 to 20% because you did not optimize via a tune, but that's still a notable kick over a stock 103, which makes very little more rear wheel power than the smaller displacement engines that preceded it. The stock output for a 103 is only about 65 to 68 rwhp.

Couple that with the adversely tall gearing, and yeah, I can see why you were disappointed in the stock 103, compared to your Stage 1 smaller engine with decent gearing.

Jim G