Appreciate it. Better than a response I got the other day, when another member called all Heritage and Road King Classic riders “posers”!

Take it easy out there.

 

One thing to take into account is that most performance cams will harm the low-end unless compression is increased. One spec to look for is an early intake close, which increases cranking pressures down low, but in preserving or increasing the low-end there is a trade-off, which is to reduce the increase in peak-HP.

The SE255 is an uncommon design that emphasizes the low-end and midrange, but does not provide prodigious peak-HP numbers, mostly because of its conservative duration and early intake close (25°). It is a torque cam, pure and simple, and is excellent for heavy touring bikes with tall gearing if your emphasis is putting the power where you ride. The top-end will increase with it, but probably not more than 5-8% based on dyno charts we've seen. Torque will move up but not to the right, which is what I wanted, which was to have the power where I ride, not after downshifting one or two gears. Not everyone wants this effect, but if you do this may be the right solution. Do a search, as it is a popular upgrade and there is much feedback on it here. I did a write-up here on my DIY job.

One other aspect to the SE255 is that they are readily available on Ebay for very good prices (usually around $150), so it can be an economical upgrade as well. Some people with CVO bikes want higher HP numbers and swap-out their 255's (stock in CVO's) for other options. Others buy a Stage II kit and sell the 255's in the kit unused. You can do a DIY cam job for $200-300, and for my money that's a great bang-for-the-buck upgrade.

There are dozens of cam choices available, and one will give you what you want. What you're doing is the right thing by asking and researching rather than taking one person's recommendation or looking only at raw numbers from a dyno run. For example, if someone says "My bike now has 90hp and 100ft/lbs. of torque" you don't know if the torque peaks at 3200 or 4200 rpms. And even though the torque number may be higher than stock you may actually have lower torque where you ride most. Keep in mind that what I'm saying applies to a bolt-in cam without other engine mods but given the usual Stage 1 upgrades. Add a compression increase, for one example, and the environment changes significantly.

 

Ketoman - iclick has done a considerable amount of research on this and I have come to respect what he has to say. If you are looking for an economical upgrade and want the increase in torque to be felt at the lower RPM's the SE255 is a good option. I had my mind set on the 255's based on many posts including iclicks but my service manager talked me into the S&S 510. He didn't think i would be happy with the 255's. I didn't have a used set of 255's so i went with his recommendation. I have not done the dyno yet but i can say I am impressed! It definitely. costs more than iclicks option though.

 

Did you look at my dyno post on the first page? You can't get a better torque line then that,I had the 255 cams in my 107,at 3,000 RPM the torque started dropping off and while the 255's are cheap to buy there's a reason people dump them.Joe Minton of American Rider who is an "expert" strongly recommends the Andrews 21 for most street applications.IMHO

 

bob2002

I am looking them over with many other dyno results now and trying to decide based on my driving habits which would be right.

 

Andrews 26H seems popular also, not much in dyno results yet

 

I had the 26 cams in my 07 when it was a 96 yet,not impressed,I was going to go with the 21 then but the guys in tech at Andrews talked me out of it,talk about not knowing your product line.
I ride a lot of miles in NY,VT,NH and ME so I know what your looking for,I have no problems in the WHITE and Green mountain areas power wise.

 

Well Joe push's the 21 for everything (lol), theres no doubt it's a good tq cam but imo I want a little more pull in the midrange also, the 255's will just about limit your mods to a very conservative build if you up grade, you can get 85hp and 103tq out of the 255's if they are set up properly though, but if it were me I'd go with the woods 6 or the TW37 and since Jamie has it worked out why look any further.

 

Or you can get a set from me for $150 shipped on the forums here...I've got one set left in great condition.

Seriously, if you ride in the 2000-3500 range most of the time, going to be doing some riding in the hills/mountains, and want some torque where it benefits you in that RPM range, the 255 cams are a nice choice.

 

I ended up with 80 HP and 93 TQ in my 96 w/ andrews 26H cams....Good enough for me. They really come in about 2200 and pull hard to about 4500 the fall off is minimal....The HP keeps climbing to the rev limiter.

Mark