(I had a version of this started and somehow it disappeared. If this is a dup, pls bear with.)

Relatively new rider. Been riding my son-in-law's '14 Heritage, stage 1 air cleaner & short shots. Looking to buy a new Street Glide and make the most of the purchase by upgrading off the bat. Nice if it could be one-and-done for a few years. (With cars I like to buy new and keep for 10+ yrs.) And I like to know details.

Each shop can have its own definitions of "stage 1" etc. and their own descriptions of what they're like to live with. HD's site has graphs estimating torque and hp across the rpm range (example) for Their configurations. The graphs are somewhat helpful, but lines don't tell you how it feels on the road. You can see that their stage 5 has high torque across the rpm range -- but that's $$$. Other configs can have 5-10 ft pounds difference in torque at X rpm -- how noticeable is that?

Seems that the next major upgrade after air cleaner and pipes involves cams. Questions:

• what do, for example, HD's 585 cams do for performance?
• since they have more lift and let more air/fuel into the cylinder, what does that do to gas mileage? I can see where that's not a common concern, and to me it's secondary to performance -- but I like to know what I'm getting into. A parts guy told me that he gets 50 mpg on his '06 Road King with only stage 1 air cleaner.

All insights greatly appreciated.

 

My advice to you is ,if you buy a new Street Glide, instead of making all your upgrades when new,ride the bike at least for the first 1,000 miles and then decide what upgrades you want.Just because Joe Blowhard has all his upgrades done before he takes delivery of bike doesn't mean he's going to be a happy camper on down the road.And yes,fuel mileage does suffer with performance upgrades.You might be surprised and find that stock 103 cu.in. is all you want.Think of the money you might save.

 

To the OP. You have the latest 103. Maybe add a good fuel management system with the A/C and new pipes. Get it Dyno tuned then. You will be surprised how much more responsive the bike is with just those mods. Once the bike is broken in and you still crave more power and performance, then look into cams. Although my bike was fine with the high flow air cleaner and tune, I wanted more and had cams installed.. Only problem is it never ends.... Now I want a 124"

 

Honestly the new 103 runs very well. I have a stage one: air cleaner, pipes (Supertrapp Stouts), Cat removed from head pipe, Pro Tuner and dynode. The bike makes great power and torque and I feel nothing needs to be done besides that. These are not drag bikes they are built to ride and enjoy. Do the Stage one like I have done and you will retain all the reliability and be happy for years to come.

 

So, these 3 replies are in line with what I'm getting from dealers. All steering me to stage 1. But I want at least to understand what's farther up the line, why I don't want to go there.

Like hatework's reply, there's a good chance I may want more. I'll put it in terms of cars. I have a 2002 Saturn and a 2011 Camry. In the Saturn there are a couple hills here where I need to drop to 4th (manual trans) in order to keep speed up. The Camry is also 4-cyl but is pretty peppy -- but the auto trans is sloppy and can't make up it's mind to get with the program when I step on the gas. Overall it's OK. Compare those to the '72 Nova Super Sport I had back in the day. Stock 350 ci, 4 barrel, 4-spd manual. When I said "go", it went. I wish I still had that.

So yeah, the stock SGs I've tested get up and go, and reports like the above say stage 1 will be noticeably different. I may rent one (stock 103) for a day or two for more than a 20 minute jaunt around the block. I want there to be no hesitation in any of my situations.

I've been looking at the stage kits on h-d.com, comparing the dyno images. Want to understand what I'd be passing up. I compared % improvement over stock performance stats. Bolt-on 110 stage V costs (well) over $2600. That's a lot of $, and I don't want to shred tires. I also don't want to spend much time at 5-6k rpm -- but it's important that that's the range where that kit is the best performance improvement over stock: TQ 54-67% better, HP 48-100% better.

Bolt-on 110 stage III lists for $1850. It has the best TQ (41-51%) and HP (41-55%) improvement over stock, slightly better than stage V. For $800 less, I'd go with the stage 3 at my normal rpm range.

Yes, those are just numbers and they may not be entirely accurate. But they're objective and I can compare relative performance, if only just general (assuming that h-d prepared and reported them all the same way).

And I can certainly do what I want with my money. But I want to know what the real implications are.

This note (see the comment on stage 3 "mild racing engine") points to some mechanical risks.

Paying too much is a risk, whether it's the risk of buying more power than you want, or paying up for one mod when another, cheaper one would do the same thing. H-D's High Flow 2-1-2 exhaust promises(!) 67-126% HP improvement over stock at 3-4k rpm (TQ "only" 33-40% better).

Other than that, the only other risk category I can think of is safety. Are there particular safety factors involved in going to more power? What does "too much bike" look like in experience?

Any thoughts will be appreciated.

 

....... there are if yer thinkin' ya might do wheelies

 

If ya are buying new and know you want more power, I recommend a 110 kit done before pickup to keep the factory warranty. Put a proper exhaust and tune on it after ya get it to bring it alive. Stage 1 on the new bikes is a waste. The new air filters and exhaust flow more than enough for stock Rushmore motors. A proper tune is all they need and few dealers have that ability.

 

Well........having did things here and there. And knowing what I know. I should have just dumped a 124" in, from the start.

Seriously consider "what's enough for me"

I know there are guys out there who did an exhaust, then cam then heads then added the 110" and finished up with a 124".

 

This was the rational for my path on my 2010 96". Stage one with super tuner pro when I bought it. Left it alone until after warranty, then bought a 09 cat less head pipe, installed Andrews 48 cams. It now does what I want it to do, which is cruising at 70 mph in 6th gear, open the throttle and get around the truck in front of me. If I was to do it again, I'd buy a used low mileage bike, and build from there.

 

There's 2 reasons in my book why you don't want to go beyond stage 1.

Noise - Did a 107 to my 11 Ultra and it was too loud for the long rides we do. Sounded awesome for around town, but hours on the slab were torture.

Reliability - there's some Achilles heels to the new motors. Compensators are one. The crank is the other. When I boosted output on my 11, the net result was a spun flywheel/crank assembly. I would not go over 90/100 without having the crank welded, plugged, and balanced.

In the end I now have a bike that will easily run with my old 107 and quieter and more reliable doing it.

If you want to go beyond stage 1, I would go straight to a 120 and be done with it.