Iron Glass Design Blog

Here are a few photos of my new ride. It is a 2007 FLHR Road King in black cherry paint. The stock tank  has metallic grey lettering so I picked up on that grey as the base color for the glass inserts.
The console insert is pewter silver dichroic, the derby cover and air cleaner insert are also pewter silver dichroic with a black cherry glass flame overlay that is fused on top of the pewter making one 3D piece of glass. The timing cover and chain inspection insert were made from pewter silver dichroic and black cherry rods. I’ll have more on the specs of this unusual custom Road King in my next post.

Ted

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One of the reasons I ride a Harley is that parts are available all over the country and from many different aftermarket companies. You can break just about anything and have a new part the next day.

In 2009 HD made a change to the touring bikes that most people won’t know about until it’s too late. They changed the wheel and tire size and these new tires are only available from a Harley dealer. Dunlop makes them per spec only for these new Harley wheels.

I am guessing that after HD stiffened up the frame in 2008, there was probably too much give in the original tires so they changed the aspect ratio to stiffen up the sidewalls. This is all well and good from an engineering perspective but I think the motor company lost sight of the basic soul in riding, touring old country roads and lost highways. These are touring bikes and if I get a flat tire, I certainly do not want to wait for the parts department in the nearest HD dealership to send me a tire.

On any of the touring bikes before 2009, you could get a new tire shipped overnight from many parts suppliers in several tire brands. I’d bet every local Harley repair shop has one too.

I have to give HD a big thumbs down for this change. 

Here are the tire sizes:

2008
Front MT90B16 72H
Rear MU85B16 77H

2009

Front 130/80B17 65H
Rear 180/65B16 81H

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In these tough economic times, I think it is important to all of us to get the most value for the money spent. The cost of a bike isn’t the just the purchase price but the cost of ownership.  I hope these posts will help someone avoid buying a Harley that will keep tapping your wallet and your patience.

Check these posts for information on the Twin Cam 88 and how it will effect your wallet and aggravate your wife.

Fuel injection..the performance trap

EVO vs Twin Cam hp and torque

Twin Cam nail in the coffin

EVO vs Twin Cam..Riding experience

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The stock Keihin CV carburetor is a simple and effective method of delivering fuel to the combustion chamber. Dyno testing has shown that this stock carb competes with the expensive Mikuni or S&S carbs through out the power band. It will compensate for altitude up to 10,000 ft and provide the proper fuel mixture for EVO engines up to 90 hp.
The nicest thing about having a carburetor is easy tuning. You can swap jets and adjust fuel mixture in less than an hour to match cam or head upgrades; all for under $50 in parts. On my 1996 Road King I added a couple of hp just by changing the $15 jet needle.

Stock CV Carb

Carburetors have been replaced by fuel injection, mostly due to EPA regulations. The EPA doesn’t like the idea that we can easily change the fuel mixture on a carb. To meet the EPA  guidelines, Harley and everone else has eliminated carbs from their bikes and added fuel injection.

Fuel injection is controlled by an ECU computer map and provides a lean fuel mixture to meet emissions. As soon as you add air by installing a high flow filter, higher lift cams, bigger pistons or better flowing heads, the ECU map will not provide enough fuel and the lean condition would result in engine damage.  To correct this you can get a stock remap download from HD for about $250 + $150 for installation. That map will get you close but will still be lean. Or you could install a Power Commander that will let you tune the fuel mixture like you do with a carburetor. To do it right, you’ll need to finish tune the bike on a dyno. This could set you back $700 but has the advantage of easy tuning in the future.

The other issue with fuel injection is the sensors that feed the ECU information. There are a variety of electrical sensors on the Twin Cam 88 that read air pressure, temp, throttle position etc that do get old and go out. Then it is a trip to the dealer to find out what fault codes were set and which sensors need to be replaced.

Fuel injection does reduce warm up time but the carb works like a dream on a good running bike. I pull the choke and start the Road King while I am putting my helmet on. By the time I am ready to ride, so is the bike. The only other difference you will notice with a carb bike is burst of power from the accelerator pump when you twist the grip.

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Here is a comparison of HP and Torque numbers for EVO and Twin Cam motors. These are general comparisons of Stage I motors based on rear wheel load dyno testing, SAE corrected. 

EVO 80″         HP       64                    Torque 73 ft/lbs

TC 88″            HP       69                    Torque 74 ft/lbs

TC 95″            HP       78                    Torque 90 ft/lbs

TC 96″            HP       76                    Torque 90 ft/lbs

TC 103″          HP       80                    Torque 95 ft/lbs

TC 110″          HP       85                    Torque 101 ft/lbs

There are some things to consider if you want to increase performance.  The Twin Cam 88 motor is starving for air through the stock heads. Even though the TC88 motor is eight cubic inches larger than the EVO, the intake valve sizes are identical and the exhaust valve in the TC88 motor is .030 smaller than the 80ci EVO. Why? So HD can trap exhaust gas in the cylinder and burn it again in the name of the EPA.

So it doesnt make sense to change the piston and cylinders on a Twin Cam,  increasing the cubic inches from 88 to 95 or to change the cams to a higher lift. It is still sucking through the same small straw unless you upgrade the heads.

Here is a link to my favorite performance site with a pick list of performance upgrades for Harleys.
The EVO is so solid, you can build a 90 hp engine with bolt on parts and still maintain the 80ci displacement.

http://www.nightrider.com/biketech/hplist_evo80.htm

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While I was in motorcycle school, I had the opportunity to tear Harley’s down to every nut and bolt available. I saw the guts of EVO and Twin Cam engines. The problem is that they were unused bikes donated by the HD motor company. There was no wear on the engines. I did some wrenching for a couple of years and noticed a big problem with the Twin Cam 88 engine. The cam chain and tensioners are a disaster waiting to happen. When I fully understood the problem and implications, I sold my 2002 Heritage and bought a 1996 Road King.

In 1999 the Twin Cam engine came out with chain drive cams instead of the gear drive used on the EVO since 1984. The twin cams were a good idea as they reduced the angle of the push rods and allowed a higher RPM on the Twin Cam motor.  
The problem is  that the chain eats the shoes. Then pieces of the shoes mix in with your oil. Or the shoes wear down to metal and pieces of metal mix with your oil. That oil travels from the cam case to the crank case and to your pistons with metal shavings mixed in. Or the cam chain could jump a tooth on the gear leaving a valve open to get slammed by the upcoming piston. In any case it’s not a pretty picture.

Sadly, this is not a myth or rare occurance, the cam chain tensioners are the biggest problem and weakest part of any Twin Cam 88. It is not a question of if they will go out, it is when.  I have seen them go out at 6K miles or last until 70K miles.

Why aren’t owners replacing these tension shoes as maintenance? Because they are not on the service schedule. It is also a very labor intensive task. By the time you get to the inner cam chain you may as well put some good cams in.

There is a fix to the cam chain problem and it means going back to the reliable gear drive used on the EVO bike.  It is about $2500 to make that conversion and tune the bike to the new cams.

Or you can just buy an EVO. No shoes, no cam chain, no problems.

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The problem with purchasing a Harley is getting the opportunity to ride different models before you buy one. Dealers don’t have the insurance to let you test ride and most private sellers won’t let you take their Harley for a spin till the deal is final.
I bought my first Harley in 2002, a brand new Heritage Softail Classic. The TC 88(Twin Cam) motor had been around for about 3 years and the fuel injection system was now Delphi. After the break in period, the bike got some Vance and Hines 2 into 1 exhaust for and a K&N high flow filter for performance.  Then I added the Stage I download map from the Harley dealer to correct the fuel mixture. The bike was now running like it should be and was a lot of fun to ride.
Later in the summer of 2004 I was riding with my brother. He was on a 1998 EVO Road King, a beautiful black bike with lots of chrome and rumbling dual exhaust.  We switched bikes so I could ride the EVO and that’s where the enlightenment began.

This 1998 EVO 80″ bike felt completely different. It reminded me of the days of my 1967 GTO and the monstrous torque of the 400 cubic inches in that motor. The EVO felt faster, had better throttle response and flat out laid me back in the seat with a twist of the throttle. I was so surprised by this that we took that EVO bike down to the local dyno shop and had them do a couple of pulls to see what that bike had. Turns out that it was just a good running stock EVO.

So what is the difference between how these bikes feel and respond?

It’s the stroke of the crank shaft. The longer stroke of the EVO motor means more leverage and more torque. Here is a break down of the bore and stroke for Harley engines.

EVO 80″         Bore    3.50″               Stroke  4.25″

TC 88″            Bore    3.75″               Stroke  4.00″

TC 95″            Bore    3.87″               Stroke  4.00″

TC 96″            Bore    3.75″               Stroke  4.38″

TC 103″          Bore    3.87″               Stroke  4.38″

TC 110″          Bore    4.0″                 Stroke  4.38″

Harley crankshaft

Due to the longer stroke, a lot of people ask about vibration on the EVO motor. The old EVO Softail motors were bolted directly to the frame and do vibrate considerably. The FLH touring bikes have rubber mounted engines, just like the current new bikes. My 1996 EVO Road King doesn’t vibrate much at all. You can see clearly through the mirrors at idle or at 85 mph. The “vibration” that you do feel is more of a low deep rumble from the Thunder headers timed with the stroke of the engine. A lot like turning up the bass on your home theater. To me it is pure pleasure.

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It cant get better than motorcycles and bunnies in the California sun.
(except coming home to your loving wife of course)

Jenny McCarthy hosts the 2nd annual Leather meets Lace rally for charity at the Playboy Mansion

This two day event is sponsored by Motorcycle Charity Associates, a group dedicated to health and safety for children and seniors

 Here is the link to the event

thanks to Carol the webmistress for this information

Need a nice old school bike to ride to the mansion? The Iron Glass Road King is for sale.  

 

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Ever wonder how our ancestors fashoned spear heads to that razor sharp edge?  Many of the cutting and hunting tools were made from Obsidian, a glass that formed during volcanic eruptions. Yep we have been using glass since the stone age. Volcanic eruptions also contain a large amount of metals like iron. This makes for a spectacular event when a lightining storm is close by.
Click here for more pics of the Chaiten Volcano that erupted in Chile on May 6th 2008.

 
photo courtesy of the Boston Globe

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NEW YORK (Associated Press) - Harley-Davidson Inc. said Friday it will buy Italian motorcycle maker MV Agusta Group for about $109 million to boost its presence in Europe, giving it entry into the popular performance bike market there.

Some History:

Like AMF bought Harley in 1967, Proton bought MV Agusta in 2004 and the same sad marriage occurred.  Proton paid $70 million for MV Agusta and sold it for 1 euro in 2006. With declining sales, Proton would have been subject to 3 times their debt if MV Agusta had fallen into bankruptcy.

Proton is a huge Malaysia company. Check out the cars they make. No wonder the big 3 are in trouble:

http://www.proton.com/showroom/showroom_high.php

Some info on MV Agusta from CNN Money 7-11-2008:

“MV Agusta is considerably smaller than Harley-Davidson, which has nearly half the U.S. market. The company has about 500 dealers worldwide, the majority of them in Europe, and in 2007 it shipped 5,819 bikes.
Harley-Davidson shipped 330,619 bikes last year and has a network of about 1,300 dealers.
In the U.S., MV Agusta has about 45 dealers that sold 330 bikes last year.
Harley-Davidson noted MV Agusta significantly slowed production this year due to financial difficulties.
MV Augusta’s bikes are considered premium, high-end bikes and typically sell in a range of about $14,495 to $24,995 in the U.S. Some sell for even more, with special editions fetching $120,000. In the upcoming Batman movie “The Dark Knight”, Bruce Wayne _ Batman’s alter ego _ will ride a new MV Agusta F4 superbike.
Harley-Davidson’s bikes range from $6,695 to $34,995, with the average about $15,000.”

I’ll bet the MV Agusta dealers are squirming….

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