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The 865's don't make anywhere near the HP of a good 790, but they do make better torque where it is most useful on the street. Of course a BB with good cams, pipes & carbs will blow both away.



FWIW, my experience building motors and vehicles is probably the opposite of most guys my age. I started with bikes in the late '60s at a time when my buddies were hot rodding cars. After a few years though, I wanted more speed. Even in lower gears, the better hot rods would pull ahead, and I really disliked the inability to accelerate well at near-triple-digit speeds. That pushed me into four wheels, and over the years, I became a fanatical builder/tuner of big-block street 'Vettes. I quickly discovered that I could dust off any bike I came across, including my old favorites - the Honda 750 and Kawa 900. Sometimes they could pull a few feet in front from a standing start, but it was all over by the time we hit 10-15 MPH. HD riders were the worst at accepting this. They would try over and over, every redlight, absolutely unable to deal with it. Curves were even worse for the bikes, none of which had a chance on a winding road. In fact, I stopped racing against bikes when a guy on a Harley spilled it behind me, trying to keep up on a city curve in Dallas. This was all before the days of crotch rockets, of course. It would take much more work and money to build something competitive nowadays.

Anyway, the point is that I went through the faster-than-thou phase years ago, and I have no interest in doing it again, especially on a bike. There are times I'd like a little more ooomph at highway speeds, but not at the expense of low speed tractibility. That's why I said in a different thread that I would gladly trade my bike for a 1200cc America. Other than that, I like these bikes, and mine does just about everything I bought it for. I suspect we're on the same page in that respect.

'08 America Blue/White; Custom Headlamps, Custom Lowers, Clearview 20", Bafflectomy