Al? Kirby? Got an opinion to offer? Kirby, thanks for the PM, I'll get back to you as soon as I've decided what to do. I bored my evo cases myself because I was quoted $400 to do it... and put off dyno testing/tuning all this time because of numbers I heard tossed around for FI bikes.
TwiZted, Where did you get this training? I've survived all these years due to luck, defensive driving, and my guardian angel, but preparation never hurts.

 

When I was running shovels, my street legal, stock framed close to stock weight (huh) 80" ran mid 12's, After throwing a lot of weight off, re-tuning it (cam & carb change and threw away the headgaskets), I broke into the high 11's. After more tuning, (cam and carb change)and a better street tire (Avon Venom) with 10 psi, I got that old 80" into the mid 11's. That was as good as it got. It dyno'd at 102@6750 rpm on Chevron 93. That was with a compression ratio of 9.75:1 without headgaskets on stock S$S heads. Loved that bike.
I have a couple of friends, one has a stock framed close to stock weight, but modified 80" evo that ran consistantly around the 11.20's, and the other has a 80" evo on a light hardtail ran consistantly around 11.10, and broke into the 10's a couple of times. Properly ridden, with a clutch that will hold, and the Venom, and you know where the shift points are, and the track is preped, you should be able to get her in the mid to high 10's. I used to soak my tire in VHT to help with traction, but in certain conditions that can backfire on you and pull the motor down.
The real pro here, kirby, can give you some insight on what folks are running at the AHDRA. Their racing is more consistant than the jake-leg outlaw stuff I do, where the rule is "if you ain't cheating, you ain't trying"!

 

Thanks Al, much appreciated.
Kirby, do you pay any attention to the "lower" classes these days?

 

The shop owners, like Kirby, Twisted Biker, God bless them, and other shops pay attention to the street performance people. That is where their bread and butter is. Our business to the shop we are loyal to pays for their ability to run down the track, and their experience gives us better parts to run on the street and strip. They pay before we pay.
Man, this opens a can of worms for me.........
When we show up to race in a town, lets say, Noble, OK, and we don't get a good turn out, it pisses me off that no one comes out, especially the Harley folks. This is the tweenky Glide crowd that would rather sit in a bar and brag about how fast their geezer Glide is rather than come show us. We race all over the country, either in the AMRA, AHDRA, or in my case, outlaw races.
I know a lot of shop owners who lay down a lot of money to give their prospective customers the best that is out there. Search them out. They may cost a little more, but in the end you get a better product. Look at Kirby, he backs his shop up with national records, and if you have a problem, he's always there. Look for that kind of shop. The guy who says he can do it cheaper with cheaper parts is just jerking you off.
I'm not a engine builder. I pay a shop owner to do that. I go with his recommendations. It's not cheap. I just want to go as quick and fast as I can with the machine I have. I pay for great parts and great service, and in many cases, on the strip, with my builder looking over my shoulder, great advice!

 

Al, thanks for the additional information and advice. As always, much appreciated. I wasn't trying to insinuate anything negative towards Kirby, just wondering if his surely busy schedule, between running a shop and maintaining/riding a top drag machine, allowed him to keep in touch with other areas of the field. You answered the question.
Where were you stationed in Germany?
I was based in Mannheim from early '76 through mid-79, but was all over the Federal Republic and Benelux in the course of my regular duties. Temporary assignments had me a number of other places.

 

72-76, Padernborn, in the north with the Brits, and a short time at Hertzo base near Nurenburg.

 

I think I remember Hertzo, Paderborn rings a bell.

Did you ever run across any of the Spirit M/C, out of Heidelburg, in your travels?

 

No I didn't. When I was there, there weren't that many harleys. I hung with a club in Paderborn called the Paderborn Motorsport Club. They are still active, on line,and many of my friends still belong to the club. They (the Germans) took me under their wing and showed me Europe. Had a hellava time. I had one of two harleys in northern germany at the time. Needless to say, I drew a crowd when I pulled into a small town with that King of the Highway ElectraGlide.

 

There weren't many Harleys when I left in '79.
One of the club members came to visit me in Florida in '86, and offered me a flat fee of $1000 per bike plus expenses to find and ship used Harleys to him in Germany. I wasn't real comfortable with the idea, and introduced him to the local H-D dealer, whose wife was German, thinking he just wanted a bike or two . Last I heard of it until 2 years later, when I stopped in at the dealership for some parts, and asked the dealer if they had made a deal. Turned out they had shipped over a hundred bikes already, and were still going strong. I never even got a thanks, and yes, I had to pay for the parts... all $15 worth.

I bought my one and only new bike (FLHTC) from these people in '85, and had spent a large amount of money there completely re-doing my '70 XLCH about a year prior to that. Nice folks... My only consolation came a few years later, when they expanded to a "boutique". I stopped in for something small, and the wife came out to greet us, proud as stink of the new store. "What do you think", she asked?
"Where's the Harley toilet paper"?
She suddenly looked as though she had sucked a lemon and found something important she had to do.

They sold the shop not long after that. They are still together, he's a lush, and she's fat as a pig.