Sometimes, when I have what I consider to be a great idea, I find that I've glossed over or completely missed something important. For instance, fuel vapors are extremely flammable, you know, stuff like that


I have a 2011 Road King with a 96" motor and 32x68 final drive gearing. It has a 140T belt that is 1" wide; all of which is stock. In my opinion, the bike is geared too high which causes me to have to row the shifter when I want power. I usually don't shift into 6th until 70 mph. I understand about cams, tuning and larger displacement. I'm just talking about gearing here.

I was looking at the 2011 Tri-Glide parts fiche and found that it uses a 70T rear pulley an 1 1/8" wide. What would prevent me from putting a 70T rear pulley sprocket from a Tri-Glide and getting a 2 tooth reduction in final drive ratio? I understand that my belt is 1/8" narrower but I think it would work.

Can someone check my logic here?

 

I don't know if that will fit. The sprockets look different in the IDS portion. Might not work.

I think these bikes are geared pretty well. What is it that makes you think they need to Rev a little more? Just the way it feels or no power?
I can shift into 6th at like 60 without hurting anything in comparison, and it seems to work fine two up fully loaded(over loaded) that way.
That is either with the 96 I had and definitely with the 103/HO Cam. That made a huge difference. I know that doesn't help. Just saying.

 

LP

You were one of the ones I hoped would respond. My bike is 96 with a K&N, Fat Cat and SEPST that was dyno tuned. I'm used to the kind of torque and throttle response my 02 Dyna with an 88" has. Literally, I have to start out in 2nd gear when the street is wet with that bike. My Road King with the 96" was always lacking below 3K rpm. I ride single up and I'm 160 pounds soaking wet.

When I say I don't shift to 6th until 70 mph I mean I could ride in 6th at 60mph but I like to have the ability to move without down shifting. If I'm on the highway I do shift to 6th and the bike starts to have what I consider to be acceptable throttle response at 80mph which is the aforementioned 3k rpm. Where the bike really exhibits the tall gear for me is on rolling terrain or the twistys. One gear is too high the one below it is too low.

I have most of the parts I need to bring it up to 103 including SE 255 cams. I'm just one of those guys who intends to get 100K miles out of the original stuff before putting on new

 

Wow, I appreciate that plug. Thanks.

So I hear what you're saying and I agree. With the older stock cam that RPM range is a little non-inspiring. I mean it works but it's not the same feeling as the lower geared 5 speed/88. That model rev'd and had instant throttle response up until 4k or so. That's it's power band so to speak.

I wouldn't mess with the gearing until after you've tried your 103/255 combo but warning... with the 255 you're going to feel it start dropping off after 3.5k as it's a great low end cam but not great up top. Still better than a stock 2013 (minus) cam. Just try it.

Hell, the cam by itself might be the ticket. I ran it in my 96 as well. Pulled really good.

Let me know if you need to borrow the cam installation tools. Mine are dusty at the moment.

 

LP

I don't mind if it drops off completely at 3500. I mean, at 80mph in 6th it's at 3K rpm. I don't usually exceed that too often so the 255s sound like just the ticket. I just replaced the noisy lifters the other day. I took the pushrods out the top and re-installed from there. I used Comp Cams 850-1 lifters. It's less noisy and I'm not worried about a lifter failure away from home on one of my trips.

To be honest I should have inspected the cam tensioner shoes, (just north of 50K) and changed the cams while I was at it. But I was bound and determined to make it a quick job because I was going to ride down to the Ocala Rally for a day and then ride back. I had to wait on gaskets so I missed it. I do have the tools for cam install (for both the 88 and the newer 06 and later models) which is even bigger indictment of my sometimes half assed nature In my defense, the Road King is my cold weather bike and I'm about to change the tensioner shoes on the Dyna now that it's getting cold and that bike will be sitting.

I needed to hear somebody say don't mess with the gearing so that's what I'm gonna do; leave it alone. I have to admit I wasn't keen on the speedo error or the possibility of losing cruise control.

Thanks man

 

Sweet. Yep, I use 850-1's myself. Worked good with the 255s and stock pushrods.

Good luck and keep us informed of your progress.
My bet is when you jump back in there and add the 255s you're going to be just fine.

 

A further difference in gearing of the trikes, IIRC, is that they also use a 30T front pulley. If you were to use the trike combo you will get a quite decent boost in gearing:

30/70 = 2.33:1
32/68 = 2.13:1, a change of approx 9%.

So when riding at 3,000rpm at present the new gearing would put you at around 3,300rpm, for the same road speed.

If you do change over to a trike rear pulley then use the correct width belt. The rear pulley centres the belt on the front pulley and I cannot see that it is wise to use a narrower pulley!