Had a 98 egc and now have 00 rk, I'll take the twin cam motor all day everyday.

Had an 86 sportster which I would guess vibrates similar to a evo softie, was not enjoyable going any distance on the highway because of the non rubber mounted vibes.

 

Some of these comments are funny. "Evo is the last true-sounding Harley", and "Old school". I heard these comments about Shovels when the Evo first came out.

Softail (any year) not my first choice for long haul. You need a swingarm with shocks to be comfortable.

Not to sound like a hot-rod bragger, but I haven't seen a stock 96" that can keep up with my Evo (and I've ridden both enough to know). The Evo has a fair amount of top-end performance work (mostly done to pass a truck without working hard). To get the same performance out of a TC, it would involve more money and effort than what has already been done on the Evo.

More moving parts in the TC, more heat, and the typical glitch-type issues that follow every (new?) model engine for years after it's introduction. Any Evo you find now with good maintenance records should show itself to be solid. My $.02

 

I've had both. 99 EVO Heritage. 07 TC Heritage. The TC is so much smoother and more powerful that it would be no contest or question for myself. And with the six speed tranny the 80 mph cruise is just that, a cruise. The EVO was fun but it did vibrate although not excessively. The TC would be my choice everytime even though I liked the sound of the EVO better. The EVO was cammed and had the carb tuned with Woods stuff and the TC with stage 1 tuning would run away from the EVO.

 

I think it all comes down to price-point. The Twin-Cam is a vastly superior piece of machinery, but if the price is right, I'd jump on the Evo in a second, and save the extra money for repairs and upgrades. Problem with Evos these days is that their owners still think they're made of gold, so they're not much cheaper than a used twin-cam.

 

Ok first of all you do know why they are called "softail" right? considering the fact that the fatboy, heritage classic, road king just name a few are pretty comfy rides that use the same suspension the softails use. The TC has a fuel injector the only extra moving part I can think of and they seem pretty reliable. Power wise my tc 96 with stage one is pretty strong and no problems passing trucks or anything for that matter and I still have 6th gear left . my .02 worth

 

I would not hesitate to buy either. But would make my decision based on the condition and maintenance records. I will pay extra for a bike or car that has been well cared for.

 

Glad your happy with it.

 

The RK does not have a softail suspension and that extra cam is a pretty big extra part you forgot about. They are called softails because they have a hardtail looking frame, but with a suspension. The name has nothing at all to do with the ride comfort. The fatboy and heritage classic ARE softails. HD makes 6 classes of bikes not counting the CVO's. There are Sportsters, Dyna's, Softails, VRSC's, Touring, and Trikes. The Roadking is a touring bike, not a softail.

http://www.harley-davidson.com/en_US...bmLocale=en_US

Click on browse the bikes

 

Evos aren't necessarily "twenty year old bikes you can't get parts for." The motor in my custom is a brand new EVO that the MOCO still cranks out in the form of a crate motor. You can buy a brand new Evo motor from the dealer for about 3 grand delivered. And it's the best deal in the dealership besides the free coffee. As for the rest of the parts, anything I can't fab up myself, I can buy. Basically I can make anything that fits a Softail work fine. And there's a huge aftermarket for that stuff that ain't going anywhere soon.

As for sound, sure it's doesn't sound like a Shovelhead, as the Evo is meant to idle at a higher RPM, but the trade off is an Evo top end will last a heck of a lot longer than any stock Shovelhead. And the Evo sounds way better than any injected TC which sounds like an air compressor to me, LOL! Also I don't miss the leaks and maintenance issues (compared to an Evo) I had with Shovels.

Also, in a lighter weight custom bike like mine (lighter than anything Moco stock) my Evo pulls like a freight train right out of the box.

On the TC heat issues I've heard it said it's due the larger cooling fins that causes the rider to feel more heat. That's gotta be an all time high-water mark in MOCO double speak. The fact is 96 CCs is just too much for rider comfort on an air cooled motor. If it throws heat like a blow torch (even if the motor itself can take it) you aren't going to enjoy riding it.

It's hard to believe the MOCO will keep slapping bandaids on the TC like the rear cylinder shutdown system (which makes some sense in a parade mode setup) but for everyday street riding leaves me scratching my head. To me that just screams there's something fundamentally wrong with that motor. Some say the answer is stock oil coolers on all the new bikes (I think the do come on some CVOs) but they'd have to be fan equipped to do any good when needed most and that's when the bikes not moving. And the MOCO suppling these on new bikes would almost be a tacit admission the original TC design was flawed. And might put them in a spot where they'd have to retrofit all previous TCs with oil coolers at a cost of millions of dollars. Don't think some smart lawyer wouldn't gather up some older TC owners and file that case? It would happen in a heartbeat!

 

I own a current Softail (2008 XBones) and heating problems are simply not an issue. I have ridden in a lot of conditions, and have not noticed an issue with excessive heat.

I asked my dealer about an oil cooler and synthetic oil before I took a trip to Arizona and New Mexico last year, and he advised me not to waste the money. The "upgrades" were simply not needed. Remember, he could have made money off me!!

I ride regularly in the CA central valley where temps are regularly above 100d in the summer, and so far the highest oil temp reading has been 260d. Over 280 the oil starts having problems, but so far that's never happened.

You've never experienced excessive heat until your liquid cooled bike's fan comes on in traffic on a hot day!