Do you think they serve similar purposes?

 

Good question. They are very different.

The IDS is designed to take out some of drive line slop and the compensator is to protect the engine from sudden high energy velocity changes (sudden engine stopping like during hard braking without the clutch pulled in or fast starts with a heavy load) helps prevent sudden engine stop and damage.

In my opinion the existing stock compensator is a very poor light duty design and not designed to rotate very often and starts to fail very quickly causing noise, vibration and hard starting because the starter is trying to rotate both the engine fly wheel and the compensator during cold starts, so the big clunk upon starting. Finding neutral is very hard when it starts to fail because it is very sloppy and you are trying to hit a moving target finding neutral or just shifting gears, again the big clunk when shifting.

The new HD SE compensator is a more heavy duty design and has no slop when installed properly so easier starting, easier shifting and no loud clunk when starting cold or the "rattling" sound at idle.

Harley now installs the new SE compensator on all the 2011 CVO bikes and should start on the other touring bikes in 2012. I think they need a more heavy duty design on all the bikes, I'm sure that will happen in due time.

Hope this answered your question.

Steve

 

Well, I finished the comp install and it does feel completely differant as far as shifting and finding neutral. The bad thing is my ticking noise is still there...I thought I had it pinpointed but I guess I was off.