I have tried the SE 255's on a buddys bike and SE 204's, hands down the SE 204's are the better cam in my opinion, idle sound and performance, no question from my experience trying both. My buddy is now going to change out his SE 255's for the SE 204's since we swapped bikes.

 

A smog cam as stated is EPA friendly & compliant. Harley uses SE255 cams in the CVOs and stage II kit because the small overlap of the very late intake open allows them to pass EPA testing and stay 50 state EPA/smog legal. Most of the 255s power gain over stock is in increased lift which the newer bikes are designed for. The SE254 is also EPA complaint with less lift and a little more overlap to move about the same power to the right. If you like the 255/254s, good for you, but imho there are much better choices in the aftermarket.
I have never understood the whole super low rpm torque thing anyway. I have no problem downshifting and HP is made with RPM. But that is another discussion.
Contrary to all the dealer lies, in order for any part to affect the warranty, the manufacturer must prove it caused the warranty problem. Not an easy thing to do.

 

"I have never understood the whole super low rpm torque thing anyway. I have no problem downshifting and HP is made with RPM. But that is another discussion.
Contrary to all the dealer lies, in order for any part to affect the warranty, the manufacturer must prove it caused the warranty problem. Not an easy thing to do." Yep ... The "OldHippie" pretty much got it right.

 

Thanks for pointing to that, as it must be a new addition. That curve looks good, especially from 2500 up, but if you compare it to a 96/255 chart I have for reference (not my bike) it's down around 7 ft. lbs. at 2200 rpm. Some would say that is not in the normal operating range for them, but it is for me and I consider 2000-2500 rpm to be an area that's more important than what happens in the top-end.

Be advised that the 96/255 chart is the best I've seen, so YMMV. Knowing their tuning skills I would venture to say that Fuel Moto probably got the optimum from their setup, too, so these may be fairly comparable considering you can't critically compare two different bikes dynoed in two different locations on different days.

Also be advised that the 255 chart (bottom) was from a bike with TD's installed, and TD's tend to hurt low-end performance. I would expect that weakness at 2800 and lower would be smoother and higher with an exhaust system comparable to the Fuel Moto 222 bike.

96/222

96/255

 

Should the OP also change out a bearing while doing the cam change?

 

Well, that was a the line my dealer gave me....ran a SE 255 for 10K

 

An inexpensive upgrade is to do the cam bearings, mine was upgraded when dealer I stalled the SE 255, and used ( new upgraded) cam bearings again when TW 222 cam was installed.

 

Regarding the "I have never understood the whole super low rpm torque thing anyway. I have no problem downshifting and HP is made with RPM."

For instance, the TW 222 make 90+ ft/# torque at 2000 rpm, 100 ft/# at 2500 rpm. It's a blast to ride that torque in twisty curves and rolling hills, at least I like it. Sort of like a diesel and you don't shift a lot, or as much to maintain that torque and throttle roll on is right there. Works for my ride style 2000-5000 rpm and
I don't need to bump a rev limiter for smiles.

 

Here are the specs for the SE 255, SE 204, and TW 222

IO IC EO EC ID ED IL EL OL
SE 255, 6 25 48 7 211 235 .550 .550 13
SE 204, 22 34 52 8 236 240 .508 .508 30
TW222, 14 34 34 14 228 228 .555 .555 28

The intake side of the 255 is less then stock but the early intake closing is where it makes its torque, with just 211 of intake duration it will not do much past 4,000 compared to other cams, it is why they put it in CVO's and still pass EPA.

 

I could careless about HP I love the "twist"!