you want the most seat of the pants power for how most people really ride (not racer types) look for the cams with the early closing intake numbers ie the 21 and 26 grind from andrew. Crane makes a 300 that has a 33* intake closing that puts out great numbers.

 

You should keep in mind that the manufacturers exaggerate the rpm range of their cams. Only the mildest cams from each mfr are really low end cams, i.e., they make their best power in a range starting at about 2400rpm. Those are the ones that close the intake at 30 or 31 degrees. Every five degrees after that means a bump of about 500rpm more before they start making their best power.

 

The parasitic drag from chains is the same as gear drive, maybe less with the new setup. With the new hydro tensioner/roller chain setup there is not real advantage to going with gears but there are several advantages with the new chain setup. A high volume oil pump, the forgiveness of a little crank runout which is a good thing to have on the '07 and later models, no bearings/gears to press on/off, no lash settings to worry about and the new chain setup is quieter and cheaper. I have converted one of my gear drive bikes over and will convert the other this spring.

 

Some really helpful info thanks chaps! I'm off to take another look at cam timing....

 

the crane 300 was a real nice cam,kinda getting hard to find.we used alot of them

 

Crane recently got taken over by S&S and have also relocated to a new factory, so it seems likely things will improve from now on. Their website is upbeat. The 300 is still listed, although for the TC they call it 1-3000, with 'Grind Number HTC-300-2'.

 

It seems I have a shortlist of just three cams, so thanks to you all for your help. Table shows them compared with the stock cam timing, which makes for interesting comparison. Any further comments welcome!