After four years and nearly 40,000 miles, I believe that I may be ready to get my HD dealer do a Stage 1 upgrade on my Road King. I want to get them to upgrade the cam chain tensioner anyway, so this may be as good a time as any to go to the next step. The "sound" really does not interest me that much. Instead, I am hoping for a little more torque at the 3,000+ RPM range, and I just like the idea of anything that makes the engine run cooler with upgraded air intake/exhaust.

I am interested in anyone's views on whether or not there are any other upgrades (push rods, clutch, etc.) that I should consider as I start down this path. This bike has been very dependable in its first 40k miles, and I take about a half dozen road trips a year of 1,000+ miles round trip. So, I hope to do anything the will keep her going reliably over the next 50,000+ miles.

 

Here's what I'd do if I were in your shoes.

Slip ons
SE Stage 1 intake
Herko's conversion kit with 26N cams
SEST tuner

 

If you are looking for more torque, and you're going to have the cam chest open.........it only makes sense to swap out the cams while it's apart.

Andrews 21 or Andrews 26 will give you more torque where you want it with your 88" motor. Do an air cleaner, good exhaust, and an EFI tuner, then maybe a dyno tune just to get everything working together.

Steve