Yep, does sound good to me too.

 

Pipes and more compression and cam all help especially under load. But the idle won’t sound as good as it should unless you can turn the idle down. The exception is a cam so wild it needs the 1,000+ rpm idle.

I think MoCo learned from the past. Low idle with corresponding low oil pressure requires more maintenance and times 10 for the people who insist on letting it idle for far longer periods of time than necessary.

 

Oz, I bet your bike sounds good. I have an M8 107 with just V&H slip-ones, and I like the way it sounds. It’s loud with a nice percussive bark when blipped and revved. However, my local indy Harley guru told me, “a cam will make it sound like a Harley,” which concurs with what folks are telling us here. The person who told me that also approves of the sound of my 80” Evo with an EV27 cam, Thunderheaders, and Mikuni carb. That bike settles into the potato cadence at idle, so I guess that’s what he means by “sound like a Harley.” My Shovelhead with a stock cam, S&S carb, and straight pipes has the potato idle, but compared to the Evo, the Shovelhead just sounds like a great old bike. The Evo with the Andrews cam and 2-into-1 pipe sounds busier than the Shovelhead, and the M8 busier still. The sound of the pretty basic Shovelhead at idle and when putting down the road always makes me smile.

 

Yeah, that's pretty much what I meant - the potato cadence at idle. Also, it does sound good - a bit too loud for me, (pipes came with the bike), but when I told the wife I was going to change them for something quieter, she told me not to as she reckons it sounds great and "sounds like a big bike should."

 

Ran across this on the net, Wonder why the 114 idle is higher than the 107 and 117?

The Milwaukee Eight 107 and 117 engine warm idle speed is 850 RPM. The Milwaukee Eight 114 engine warm idle speed is 950 RPM. The idle speed can vary depending on other factors including electrical load on the vehicle. When EITMS is active on this engine, the idle speed will increase to 950-1000 RPM until EITMS is deactivated.

https://serviceinfo.harley-davidson....the%20vehicle.

 

Maybe higher compression. 107 & 117 have 10:1 & 10.2:1 compression, 114 has 10.5:1.

 

My 2019 Heritage idles aound 850rpm, and it's a 114. Maybe different specification in EU than the US?

 

That’s a good wife!

 

well, my 2023 fatboy warm idle speed is set at 850rpm, that's how it came when I bought it brand new a year ago...
I complained to service dept several times saying it's to low, they told me that's what the warm idle
speed is suppose to be set at, and If I want to change it , I'd have to buy a tuner !

 

I remember it was all “hear no Evo, see no Evo, ride no Evo.”