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I have had a 2016 in Spain, and have a 2022 now. I really was trying to find a 1998 Carbed EVO...not so easy to find. There are lots of nice looking Road Kings on Cycle Trader. What years are "good years"? I dig my Milwaukee 8 but I hate the sound.
I have had a 2016 in Spain, and have a 2022 now. I really was trying to find a 1998 Carbed EVO...not so easy to find. There are lots of nice looking Road Kings on Cycle Trader. What years are "good years"? I dig my Milwaukee 8 but I hate the sound.
I haven't ridden an evo since I was in the AF years back outside of Moron AB in Spain. They're pretty reliable especially any of the last 3 years from what I can recall.
Mainly though I wanted to tell you, you're right about the m8 they sound awful. My Low rider ST sounds like hot garbage even w a 2-1 HPi pipe. Twin cams and especially evos sound and feel a million times better. Of course they're much less powerfull.
I owned a twin cam Road King Standard and now an M8 Road King Standard. I prefer the M8 powered Road King over the twin cam. More power all around and seems to run much cooler.
The M8 sounds pretty lame from the factory but put a cam in it and it sounds like a proper Harley again, not to mention you gain a significant power boost! I just installed a Redshift 468 in my 107 powered Road King.
I owned a twin cam Road King Standard and now an M8 Road King Standard. I prefer the M8 powered Road King over the twin cam. More power all around and seems to run much cooler.
The M8 sounds pretty lame from the factory but put a cam in it and it sounds like a proper Harley again, not to mention you gain a significant power boost! I just installed a Redshift 468 in my 107 powered Road King.
I have the 117 in my low rider ST and I own a twin cam ultra w a 103. If performance is your only or most important measure, then yes the m8 is much better motor.
I stand by my statement though that the m8s neither sound nor feel anywhere as good as a twin cam or evo does. Your preferences of importance is your own of course but for myself, having had 8 different Harley's over the last 20 years, power isn't always everything.
We lived n Rota. Bought a house there. I want to die in Spain.
I hope you live a long life putting many thousands of miles on your Harleys. You're in a beautiful part of the country.
I rode from Germany all the way down to Sevilla and then back along the coast line through Barcelona and south France then north again. I never had a chance to get down to the southeast where you are or up to Portugal. You're living the dream pal, ride safe.
I have a ‘97 Evo RK that I Iove. It’s been done-up with a Mikuni carb, Andrews cam, and Thunderheader exhaust. It’s a reliable and fun bike and is my go-to road bike, but it is what it is.
It is inferior to my 2020 M8 107” softail for power and gas mileage. Both have been reliable bikes, and if I could put my 6-speed 107” M8 engine into my RK I would do it for the higher cruising speed and better fuel economy.
My M8 has V&H slip-ones, and I think it sounds great, but it does not have the classic H-D lope of my Evo or my Shovelhead. I don’t think you will get that sound out of the M8, but they can sound great. My friend has a 117” M8 with a Thunderheader and it sounds great. If you are hung-up on the sound of the motor, a TC or an M8 is not going to sound like an Evo or a Shovelhead, etc., but exhaust and cams will make them sound awesome.
I rode a ‘24 RG from L.A. to S.F. and back, and that bike was great, and objectively was the best bike I’ve ridden. I was really interested in it after all the hype about the 2024 touring bikes. However, for my own subjective likes and aesthetics about motorcycles, as good as the new bikes are, they are too tech-laden for what I personally like in a motorcycle. As stupid as it sounds, I prefer my Evo RK for touring, as slow and under powered as it is, with no ride modes, no throttle-by-wire, no ABS, no traction control, no navigation, etc., etc. I have that bike sorted out to where I like it, I know it well and I can carry everything on it that I want on it for camping and touring. It’s an old bike and I’m an old fart, so we get along.
I have found that parts for Evos and older bikes are available, some stuff still from H-D and some from aftermarket. The dealerships won’t touch it, though.
Objectively speaking, probably the newer the bike the better. The 6-speed M8s are pretty good bikes.
7 Surprising Harley-Davidson Products that Are Not Motorcycles
Slideshow: The bar-and-shield logo shows up on far more than motorcycles, some of the company's most unexpected products have nothing to do with riding.
Slideshow: From the troubled AMF years to modern misfires, these bikes earned reputations for reliability issues, questionable engineering, or disappointing performance.
Crazy Bunderbike Build Looks Amazing, But Is It Impossible to Ride?
Slideshow: The Swiss custom shop has taken a Harley Softail and stretched it into something so long and low that it looks closer to a rolling sculpture than a conventional motorcycle.
Engraved Rebellion: Inside Bundnerbike's Glam Rock II
Slideshow: A standard cruiser becomes an intricate metal canvas in the hands of a Swiss custom house known for pushing Harley-Davidson platforms far beyond their factory brief.
Slideshow: Harley-Davidson's challenges aren't abstract; they show up in dropping shipments, shrinking dealer traffic, and strategic decisions that aren't yet translating into growth.
Best Year Road King?
