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I sold my 2000 Electra with 200,000 miles on it for $6000 but pretty much everything had been gone through recently,I had that much in the 103" stroker alone so that's about all I got was my money back spent on the motor.
That was almost 4 years ago and the guy is still riding it,he even called me last year after a trip to Sturgis from Oregon and back.
I'd still be riding it if I hadn't test ridden an M8 Electra and fallen in love with it.
I bought the 2019 in Sept. '19 and sold the 2000 in June '20.
This pic reminded me that it took me a couple years to break the fuel petcock, compression releases and choke habit.
I swapped my 96” out of my 07 FLHTC for a low miles 103HO at 92000 to a builder in Chicago and he was impressed at how strong it was and the compression was still within all the specs. Didn’t use oil. Just got a deal on the newer engine.
I have 81k on my '05 Road Glide, we are riding her to Sturgis this year zero concerns. Will be over 85k when we get back.
But would I buy her, probably not. As stated, way too many cherry garage queens to pick from, why get something with high mileage. Even well maintained, mechanical equipment does wear out over time and use.
Might be getting near the end with my Roadie, been looking at the M8's, not sure what kind of $$$ I will get for as a trade in or even private sale, but I will worry about that, then. Good luck.
Looking at buying a used touring bike. What is considered a threshold to stay under with regards to milage? Assuming a good maintenance practice was done.
Thanks
in 2015, I bought a 2001 RG(TC 88) that had about 60K miles and rode it till I crashed it in 2018 with exactly 96K miles. My only major issues were the Cam Chain tensioners, and a clutch hub issue. Oh and a broken throttle cable. Regular maintenance is all I did other than those things. It had MM EFI but I had no problems with it. If I had my fix was going to be to convert to Carb.
Twin cam motor is good for 100K or more, depending.
The motor has a counter balancer, so not hard high rev down shift to cause the balancer chain to skip a tooth.
On the other side of the motor, due to the two cams, you have more chain on that side, and it uses two plastic shoe tensioners to keep the chain tight front and back. Prior to 2007, the shoes where spring loaded which caused them to wear hard in about 30K, while the later got hydro tension system to cause the shoes to wear slower instead (last up to 60K). As for lifters, good for about 40K, before they need to be changed out.
So down and dirty, if you do have the old spring loaded shoes still in the cam chest, then pull that system and upgrade it to the new hydro shoe system before the motor gets close to the 30K mark and you have a lot of plastic in the motor from the worn shoes. On the lifter push rods, change them out to adjustable push rods, which makes changing the lifters when needed much easier.
From there, them you just have the normal maintenance of the seals and bearing that you can get to without having to split the case, which will get the motor to the 100K mark before it may need to be rebuilt isntead.
Twincam B in the solid mount bikes (Softails) not the Twincam A rubber mount Dynas and touring.
Agreed, and if one does have the funds, to get rid of the chain and shoes on the other side of the motor, S&S does make gear to gear system that does away with those chains and plastic shoes all together.
Truth is, HD went gear to gear drive on the M8 counter balancer, so don't under stand why they did not go gear to gear on the cam side as well, to lose those chains and plastic tension shoes.
85000 kms on my 96 equipped 2007 RK which is about 53000 miles. Switched to 551 Easy Start Cams and new lifters at 70000 kms. Still purrs like a kitten. Compensator went at 80000 kms. Only PITA is the twice a year cleaning of the IAC. I would trust that bike to go anywhere. Thinking about doing a 103 on it but it runs so good and doesn't burn a drop of oil between oil changes. So I'm scared to mess with it.
