If you live near North Florida, the local HD dealer, Capital City Harley has about 11 new Harley trikes in stock as of this morning when I visited the dealership. They do not represent all of the available colors but there are a bunch of them and since they are in a consortium of 5 or 6 dealers, can probably trade out for any color you wanted. I would think that a call to Tate, their GM who is a very nice guy, might help you land a great deal on a trike. I have never seen so many new Harley trikes in one place. I sure love my 2017 M-8 engined Tri Glide. It seems like a very positive step up from my 2016 103 CI Tri Glide which was also a sweet ride for the 15k I put on it.

 

I'm waiting to see what happens in August with the 18's. Just 3 months and a few days off.

 

Maybe nothing happens, except the price drop on the 17's. I'll hang on to my 16 for now, Is the M8 different from my 16? absolutely but not a WOW kind of difference where I had to absolutely have one.

 

my thoughts exactly !

 

The M8 is kind of a WOW factor in the torque department down at lower rpm's compared to the TC103. However, at the higher revs, the 103 seems to be actually faster than the M8 because you can leave it in 5th gear and overcome some of the trike's mass whereas the M8 is too wound out in 5th gear to go faster. However, the M8 has a lot less felt heat and apparently is running better stock AFR's which might eventually translate into longer lived engines? I think the MOCO has probably ironed out most of the major kinks in design/production at this point on the M8's. I do very much appreciate the torquier M8 over the TC103.

 

Yeah, if nothing happens, then I will probably be picking up a '17 M8 at a good price.

This is for business purposes...product development...otherwise, I would keep my '14 just for personal use.

The M8 low end torque is appealing, but not worth the cost difference to me...I'm not retired yet like Capt. Bob.

With the little work we've done on the M8's, were seeing that you can get good top end power out of them too. Those 4 valves per cylinder really have opened up the doors to some nice performance, above what the TC can do.

 

Yeah, my warranty is good until 2019. Unless major changes, we gonna hang together, the 2014 is doing alright by me. The added hp of M8 isn't anything I can get excited enough to switch. The 14 gets the fat guy down the road at 80 mph at times, and has plenty left over.

 

That's not an unusual number of Tri Glides at Seminole H-D or Space Coast H-D. I haven't been to Orlando H-D lately, but they usually carry quite a few too. They all have quite a few Freewheelers too. This is Central Florida and trikes are popular.

 

Kevin,
To get more top end power that you mention, what do you recommend I do to my 2017 M8? Thanks

 

1. Keep your heat down. Too much heat is a power robber. At this LINK you can see how and why to do this.

2. A DK Performance Stage I. Not all Stage I upgrades are the same. Many folks do a Stage I upgrade and see/feel little, if any difference. LINK on Stage I overview.

Below are a couple of dyno charts of an M8 Freewheeler-

The stock torque is there low, and builds to just shy of 90 ft. lbs. quickly, but starts dropping off at 3200 rpm. With this DK Stage I it crosses 90 ft. lbs. early, and stays well above until 4200 rpm.




Again the stock torque the same, but with this Stage I (which will fit your TG) crosses above 90 ft. lbs at below 2000 rpms and is still building power, almost to 100 ft. lbs. at 3200, (which is where the stock power is dropping off) and it does not drop below 90 until after 4200 rpms.

You can see the biggest difference, that Capt. Bob was talking about, is that the stock M8 just starts dying around 3200, but that is the point where it continues gaining even more power with this Stage I.



These are two good first steps...and they may give you all the power you want...but even if you end up wanting more, these should be done before moving on to some Performance exhaust, then if you want even more, to a cam.