I have only owned 2 motorcycles in my life. I have been riding since 2004. My first bike was a Vulcan 750, which I rode solo. When my wife decided she wanted to ride 2up, I bought my 2003 FLHTCUI, with a Stage One. This winter I had the SE Cam Chain Tensioner upgrade. The dealer asked if I wanted to change cams when he was in there, but I stayed with the stock cam, which he told me was in good shape, at 32 k. I am happy with my 88's performance and didn't want to mess with success.

I ride exclusively in the Midwest, so I ride some hills, but no mountains. I see guys spending big bucks on engine mods, and I am wondering what is the motivation for that? Just the thrill of accceleration, or power to go up hills without downshifting? I don't seem to have any problem passing, even 2up, fully loaded.

I try not to get too high powered cars or bikes, because it is too tempting to speed, and I always hated getting speeding tickets back in the Jimmy Carter 55mph speed limit days.

 

Because it's fun....


Harley's are dogs in stock form, that is totally unacceptable to most gearheads.
I have never had a bike that I didn't tear down and change into something that was more functional for me performance wise or practicality/style wise.

I love speed and power and I always strive to get both out of my bikes, cars....Whatever.
When I was in 8th grade my brother and me had an old raggedy assed riding lawn mower that would pop wheelies!

They were the Richard Nixon 55 MPH speed limit days and I got dozens of speeding tickets back in those days!
I had drivers licenses from different areas in different names and when I got a few tickets on a license, I'd just toss it and get another from somewhere else!
I never paid a single traffic ticket from the mid 70's 'til the 90's.

 

Because more is better. What she said.


My first bike was a 88 with a stage one. I also thought it was fine until I got a new bike with a 96. Now I have a 103 with cams, pipes and nice tune. The power difference is amazing. You don't have to use it but it's nice to have when you want it.

The engines are way under tuned to meet emissions and increase longevity. If you don't go too extreme, you can really wake up the engines potential and still have plenty of longevity and reliability.

The only disadvantage is a lighter wallet.

 

Never did anything to my engine until about 74K. That was the first time the cam chain tensioners were replaced and still in fair shape. Had a pretty radical cam job done, Andrews 57 in anticipation of a new top end going forward.

At about 95K I noticed a lag in top end going up hills. At about 97-98K got ran into a guardrail by a car so bike has been in the shop way too long. Going on is a S&S 97" and a complete makeover. Will be a Road King like no other on the road with a 7 gallon tank that really sets it off.

Holdup now is the painter. Very famous local guy that does incredible work. Spoke to him couple days ago and he got base coat on but would probably be close to 3 weeks before finished. Then hoping the mechanic will be able to put it back together and he has done all of his magic.

Some are content to leave well enough alone, as was I until I had opportunity to upgrade. When clutch would not lock up like I thought it should I had a Barnett Scorpion installed. Huge difference and well worth the money IMO.

For me it is not so much how fast can I go but how fast I can get out of the gate. It isn't like as if I speed and try to keep it at 4 over the limit but I want to get there real quick like. I am anticipating the front end getting up off the ground if I want it to.

 

 

If ya are happy with stock performance fine, others aren't. Just let me by when I come up behind ya...

 

How Fast

How Long

How Much


You pick Two

Performance work on one part of the system will result in an unending search for the next weakest link in the chain.

the clutch design and materials are based on a sub 100 HP motor...beef the motor and ...

Beef the clutch and the belt...

beef the belt and the tranny ( or bearings or cush drive or...)

then you better upgrade the brakes and suspension.

it will cost at least 2 sportbikes in improvements to make a Harley go fast, stop and turn.

Or leave it pretty much at stage 1 and ride 100,000 miles.
and buy a Ducati with your "mod budget".

and still have $10k in the pocket


Mike

 

I wouldn't say I've done heavy mods yet.. See my sig, I enjoy working on my bike, installing new parts, regular maintenance whatever.. I got a 2024 Silverado last year and didn't do one thing to it and I hated it.. I didn't get to know it, itbwas too damn new and perfect

 

Ok imagine you are on a hill, and curve road, and you need to
be somewhere at a certain time, and the speed limit is 75 MPH.
You are running only a tad late, no big deal, however you are
behind an 18 wheeler doing an average of 68 MPH. The passing
zones between two hills are short. Do you want 88 CI or 95 CI,
do you want stock compression, or 10.5:1 compression, do you
want stock cams, or great low to mid range cams? These is the
kind of things we think about when we decide to up grade our
engines. There are a lot of other things to think about as well,
but this will help you to understand why we do what we do.

 

This!!!