Question for you guys - Any of you have any real world experience with these different motor upgrades from Harley Davidson ? Just curious about performance, reliability, and gas mileage. Thanks MDS
Depends how much and how hard you will use it. They can make a bunch of power but the crankshafts are a fundamentally weak design. Their demographic is married to it but the engine is stone age and if the Motor Company had any balls they'd quit building it tomorrow and replace the entire line with the new Pan America engine.
I just turned 50 in July and want to have a nice decade of touring ( for me that means one or two out of State trips a year over a two week period of time - say ~ 2000 miles ) with some shorter trips added in. I’m leaning on ordering a 2024 Roadglide Special when they come out in January. I had some work done ( Big Bore kit Stage II, I think ) when I ordered my RoadKing in 2006 and that bike has been bulletproof - have about 64,000 miles on it. MDS
It's too bad Harley stuffed that Porsche motor into a horrible chassis. I've often wondered how it would do in a standard frame.
Another bad decision made more by marketing than anyone else. The Pan America is a really good engine and if they can make a lumpy idle and sound like a Victorian era air compressor maybe the hardcore customer base will accept That kind of use it will be fine for a long time. Problem comes when a hot rodded Harley is ridden like it was stolen. Those multi piece, built up cranks don't like that long term. My current scooter I just did a full rebuild of the cam chest (2nd time in 60,000. Its a terrible design) And my crank had .004 runout. A ****ing disaster on any other crankshaft. Just aces for a Harley. Probably because I am never trying for 6000 RPM. Love the motorcycles for my type of riding but the motor passed its use by date decades ago. My riding partner recently bought a all the bells and whistles Roadglide. He loves it. Hes lived on Harleys for a lot of years. Retired motorcycle cop. Says its the best hes ever ridden. He rides more than he drives.
So a buddy answered my question - he has the Stage III in a new RoadGlide and a Stage IV in a new Softail … Said the Stage III gives great power and 42 mpg - the Stage IV is a bit stronger, but mileage drops to 35 I’m not that worried about mileage within reason, but he said the extra $ to go to Stage IV wasn’t worth it Cheers MDS
Image Unavailable, Please Login Well, I can tell you about Stage II. It came stock with my 2003 100th anniverary CVO Screaming Eagle Deuce. Performance is excellent compared to the standard Deuce. Reliability, I've owned the bike since new in August, 2002, and have never done anything but regular maintenance. My gas milage is consistently at 47 mpg, which is only about 3-4 mpg below the standard model. Performance is fine for me, but I'm sure a Stage III will out perform. Caveat: Keep in mind back then the standard engine was 88 CI and my Stage II bored it out to 95 CI. Way below today's standards.
Next problem is they changed the front fairing on the 2024 Roadglides - they are no longer analog gauges - they are the digital ones like in the new cars I’m honestly thinking of buying the 2023 to get the older gauges - not sure if that makes sense, but gonna go look again tonight MDS
Wait a minute, shouldn’t this bike be in black or baby **** brown? [emoji33] Sent from my iPhone using FerrariChat.com mobile app
That’s probably gonna be the bike - was just out there again - probably order next week Don’t like the 2024 gauges, view from drivers seat, handlebar setup, or the saddle bags MDS
What did you end up getting? I've debated getting an M8, I think the teething pains are behind them now but with the VVT in the latest CVO I think they'll have a few more. The Pan Am is suffering some interesting problems but not just engine issues, wiring harnesses grounding out, software, display and ARH problems. Lots have had new crate engines already. I think if harley scrapped the 09 touring frame thats long in the tooth in place of a pan am powered modern bike they would be just like every other bike manufacturer. The mystique would be lost, they would sound like sewing machines.
Last year I bought 10 bikes from a guy that stopped riding all of them a couple years before that. One was a 2017 Dyna Low Rider S with a 117ci kit. This thing is ridiculously loud. The torque is ferocious. The actual numbers are 129 torks and 124 at the wheel. And yes as stated above the cranks are the weak link. Or at least they are the main weak link lol. A fun bike to ride as long as you don’t mind everyone hating you.
Well, I have a slightly different spin on HD, as of late. It seems the "Motorco" is gambling with it's customers lately. The wager is that, "Are the riders going to ride enough to cause transmission and wheel bearing failure, BEFORE the warranty lapses?" You see, the MOCO has elected to use sub-par bearings in their products. This occasionally shows up, on forums, too. For the most part, riders don't really ride that much. And certainly, NOT year 'round. Well, some of us, do. And were seeing bearing failures at an alarming rate. With no abuse nor rain/snow/sleet, they're literally "sawing" the outer races in half. The reason for components that don't stand up? Bean counters cow tou-ing to stockholders. They had to cut costs because bikes are sitting on dealers' floors. A lot of 'em. And I won't even mention the fork seals and protective coverings on bare metal components. Image Unavailable, Please Login
