I've been reading the forums for awhile now and I'm curious about these other motor manufacturers in the market, like S&S, revtech, etc. I see that they have similar displacements and look like Harley motors.

My question is this: how do they compare? better or worse? Why would someone buy one of those over a Harley motor?

Why do custom builders often put non harley motors in their bikes? I think I'm missing an important piece of the puzzle...

 

Sounds to me like you are not a wrench.Nothing against a Harley motor after all look where they are.So many manufactorers want to mimic them.After market motors are made from better materials and cubic inches are not limited.The government has a strangle hold on the MOCO when it comes to making serious hp.

 

So many Harley's being kept around and rebuilt created a market for replacement parts. I think S&S was one of the first to offer a complete engine. Now there are several companies that make engines that will fit into Harleys.
Many custom bike builders use them as well. Quality varies, as does price and some bikes may require modifications to make some of the motors fit.

 

"Why do custom builders often put non harley motors in their bikes?"

Money.

After market engines cost less in stock form.

Worked in the auto repair business. The factory is not going to sell direct to builders. Dealers are not going to sell the engines at wholesale to builders. Some will give a discount of 10% and up depending how much business you do with them. Why help the builders/indy get your sales?

Variety.

HD stops at 110cu in. and will only go so far in how they will boost an engines output. After maket goes way past that. Almost no limit to custom built engines.

Their operation supplies parts to do a wide range of builds. Just pull off the shelf whatever the customer wants put into the engine they are buying.

 

Thanks for the answers to my questions and it all makes sense now.

I'm not a wrench but wish I was... it hurts to think about all the money I could have saved and had some fun at the same time....

 

Good info posted so far but here's a bit of advice from a mechanic , S&S makes good stuff been around a very long time and has a proven track record but because of the " Old School " boom they have gotten a very big head lately and their price's are showing this .

Stay as far away from anything RevTech as you can all I've ever seen from them is junk , odd sized motors and parts don't interchange well . These were popular motors with a bunch of those kit bike companies that didn't last 3 yrs , see a problems here ?

Ultima is fairly new , they are US made but I haven't had direct hands on with any so I can't say much , but I've heard good things about their products in general .

There's a number of other places building big inch motors with good reps but with that comes a big price tag too .

Rule of thumb anything over 100" is going to have a shorter life span , it's the basic mechanical physics of a V-twin motor . I love 113" motors but that's a 20-25,000 mile engine period . Don't care what any else says seen too many of them prove it any different to me , so as it gets bigger the life goes down just the nature of the beast . On the flip side a 124 " may be short lived but it's a real fun short life

 

Be aware that the only part of Ultima that is Usa made is the engine case, the rest they call born in the Usa, which usually means designed.

 

May have changed , was most of their earlier stuff was made in and around St. Louis . I know that the transmissions come out of Korea now but 90% of HD's stuff does too ( subcontractors ) . Thanks for the heads up .

 

Here's my thoughts on aftermarket motors. A few years back my Evo motor blew up. Not wanting to tackle the job myself I went in for Harley's "reman" deal. Well, after spending almost 4k for the reman plus all the incidentals like new mounts, new stator and rotor, and what ever they had to do on a bike with 50k on it. That gave me a 100% stock motor with a 1 year warranty. I could have gotten an aftermarket motor with more cubic inches, more torque, with a two or three year warranty for about what Harley charged me. I would have had to do it myself, but looking back I could have gotten more bang for the buck with an aftermarket motor.,,

 

OK...so lets say your motor gets worn out or wimpy and instead of a rebuild can you find a brand new motor that will just "plop" right in to where the old motor came out?

As I admitted, I am not a wrench but from looking at things around the motor there aren't that many things hooked up to it. Probably inside is a big problem, right?