I think he was talking about my smartass reply, I couldn't resist. Just trying to lighten the mood.

 

I often wonder why the touring section seems to be the catch all for every topic.
We probably don't talk about them much in here because the cams most of us use, aren't high lift putting heavy sideloads on the valvetrain.
I did a search on roller rockers and found 10 pages of reference

 

MORE than one, actually...

I won't need a roller rocker until my stationary rocker becomes too hard to push!

 

I post these kind of topics here because I have a touring bike, you get more replies here and because guys who ride baggers are generally smarter.

 

hehehhehe True, so true. The dyna forum is good source also though.

 

To your question, there seem to be far fewer build threads than there were a year or more ago discussing specific engine builds. Also, there seem to be fewer vendors "upselling" roller rockers for builds that don't need them; those vendors were simply adding an additional expensive part to which they could add their mark-up to increase their profit on the build in the guise of the "if you want the optimum performance from this build" go with the roller rockers when the roller rockers would provide only a nominal improvement in performance.

Carl

 

I completely agree! I guess its a sign of the times and folks cant afford to do the builds anymore. It seems the forum isnt as informative and full of information as it once was, at least on newly posted threads, but Im sure Ill stick around as long as they'll let me.

 

still the best one I have found though.

 

I don't know about fewer builds being done though that's likely, but the guys who posted those build threads (e.g. Dalton and PhilM) haven't been as active in the past year or so. And most HDF'ers don't seem as inclined to post "how to" threads with pictures and, instead, seem satisfied to simply say this is what I did to my bike.

Roller rockers and larger throttle bodies have been major upselling items for vendors to improve their profit on builds in the past while delivering nominal performance improvements for many of the typical 95/98 and 103/107 builds.

Carl

 

Roller rockers are a somewhat misunderstood part in engines. On H-D engines the rockers are on shafts so there are bushings or bearing surfaces in the rocker that with an oil supply makes a low friction surface. And since the vast majority of friction in a rocker arm is at its pivot point there is little need for rollers there. The contact point of the rocker on the valve stem has much pressure of downforce, but moves very little on the end of that stem. Only with the extreme lifts is there a chance for much movement across the stem surface where a roller would benefit.

Years ago I built a Chevy small block with standard rocker arms. I later installed full roller rockers and the idle jumped 100 rpm with no other changes than the rockers. True rollers are an advantage but roller tips are usually not worth the money.