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Road my brothers new harley the other day man they have a ton of torque. They are a sweet ride all most makes me want one.

Did your brother beef his up any? I rode a '09 Wide Glide with the stock 96 ci motor last Fall and was kind of disappointed in the lack of grunt (it had HD performance pipes, but they were real weak).

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Road my brothers new harley the other day man they have a ton of torque. They are a sweet ride all most makes me want one.

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Oh yeah Rob, Harley's have gobs of low-end torque, however every close to stock Big Twin I've even ridden also has a rather short powerband and not much power left to go up top after you get to their relatively low RPM redline.

That's what I've always liked about our Triumphs...while they don't have quite the low-end grunt a Haley does(due to the Triumph being smaller in displacement and having a shorter stroke and oversquare design), they do have a relatively wide powerband, with some pretty good mid-range, and they'll also still give you some oomph right at redline and even a bit higher.

Try a Thunderbird. You want grunt? Ride a Rocket! Hey, my America wouyld stay with most Harley's till 85 or so. Then they would open it up and if there was a bit of distance I'd get back with them again.

Yeah, from what I hear they really do have a lot of bottom-end torque. But are they comfy? They look kinda comfy... and how did you find the handling of your brother's bike?

They are very comfy alot of shacking when your sitting still but i like it.

Yeah, they do have a lot of torque, and their 6 speed gearbox is a good match to the engine. Now, here is a little known bit of trivia about twincams, the Softail has what is called the B engine that has counterbalance shafts like the Triumph twins and they run about as smoothly. My Nighttrain Is almost my favorite bike except for 2 things. It won't go 35 in top gear (barely handles it in 4th) and the skinny front tire does not do near as well on dirt roads as my America. The top speed is about the same on the America and HD, But the America is quicker 50 - 80 and the HD is quicker 90 on up.

I seldom push my SM past 70 on most days. I do not enjoy having to aim the bike at high speeds. I am happiest at a speed somwhere between 60 and 65 MPH. The bike seems to run really sweet at that speed. When I want to pass something I drop it into 4th and it just powers along like a rocket until 80 when I shift into 5th.

The last 5 years HD has really tried to put some power into them. I think most of the line now is in the 13s in the 1/4 and the Sportster is in the 12s.

That twin cam cvo 110 makes some big power. Then again for 35,000 I can buy 4 Triumphs.

I was mildly impressed by the softail with the 96ci I rode, primarily cuz it felt almost as light as my SM and it had good grunt. My bro-in-laws T-sport with the 88 has great grunt and a huge powerband, but also SE pipes and I'm guessing some carb work. the HD motor that really kicks me in the a$$ is the VRod mill (by Porsche), but the one I rode was a Night Rod so all the pretty wore off the moment I realized how easy it was to scrape peg. So sad. That said, I will never buy a new HD for what they did to Erik Buell. Not to mention Triumph's a better bike by a long shot.

I LOVE my 2008 Harley Fatbob, dual front disk brakes, handles amazing, and effortless, abundant torque! I highly recommend it.......................... [image][/image]

My friend, who recently passed, had a Night Train and my SM could just barely pull away from him. Could be my 16 tooth sprocket to some extent but at no point could he catch me, by the same token I wasn't pulling away by much. His had a BB kit and dyno tune slider and the 6 spd tranny. Never ran him above 80 though it was always a rolling start when playing on back roads.

What's with the Harley love? I thought this forum was for Harley bashing?

"Then again for #35,000 I can buy 4 Triumphs" Yes you can. I've got an America, a T-100, a Thruxton and 76 Bonneville for less than my brother got in his Harley land yacht.

the hardly and Triumph banter has been going on from the very beginning i would venture to guess. My dad used to ride in the 40's-50's and used to tell me about how him and his buddy's use to screw with each other about the difference but have always run together. there was a time when the jap invasion was just setting in that the two were even more respectfull of each other but still bantered about who was better. my dad would admit that he knew the English bikes handled way better than the h.d.'s and were quiker but, that the h.d. would take most at topend speed. when i was in Cali. i wondered into Huntington bch and the town was full of Angels partying for the wknd and being that this was in the 70's i am sure if i had been on a suzuhondaha i might have been in trouble but being that i had ridden a "dirt bike", (as quoted by an Angel about my Triumph) i was welcomed and had a great time. so the banter between h.d. and Triumph is a time honored tradition and should be taken as such. but the young posers and wannabes and weekenders dont know about anything but h.d. and anything less is just that to them. i laugh when somebody ask me "what kind of harley is that" like h.d is the only maker of bikes. but that is what they know. its like when you ask them why they ride a h.d the typical answer is "because its a harley" its like asking "why do you drink coke" its what they have been programed to believe. but ask any old timer and they will tell you that Triumph and h.d. have always bantered and when push come to shove its us against them jap bikes everyday. BMW was always the profesers bike, duc,s were for raceing but the bikes that were on the street with bikers on them were English and American (Indian,& h.d)

Well newt, I was in total agreement with ya there up until you said that thing about "jap bikes". You see, maybe I'm in the minority around here with my following opinion, but I'll walk up and admire a very nicely restored or well-kept early CB750(basically the bike that killed the britbike industry), or a nicely kept up late-70s GS1000S, or mid-80s 900 Ninja or in fact a number of older jap machines, way before I'd take the time to walk over and admire some ubiquitous chromed-out, ghost-flame painted Evo/Twin-Cam Harley cruiser.

(...though direct me to an old Knucklehead/Panhead/45" Flathead, and I'd definitely take the time to admire that!)

me too Dwight i mean who dosnt like to see a nice old bike of any breed either restored, original or completely made over into something else ie; chopper, cafe, bobber etc, what i was saying though, was that the time honored tradition of the banter between h.d. and Triumph riders is what it is. we all know that the 750 is the bike that changed biking and that the japs contributed to the none dripping trustworthy bikes we all ride today. Nowadays its more about the fact that you ride, not so much what you ride as it was at one time in the past. for crying out loud i know some 1 percenters that ride yamasuzkdas, i mean its hard to tell the diff between a roadstar and a roadking or fatboy or whatever, but there was a time when you wouldnt be caught dead riding one of them bikes with a group of h.d. riders but Triumph (English) was always in that crowd, look back at some of the old B-rated biker movies and how many Triumphs are in the group, whereas today its all bikes in the crowd, i mean i saw a group riding the other day and there was a guy on a dualsport and some crotchrockets in the group. as it sez in another post here, the times they are a changin. but the banter between h.d. and Triumph is what it is. we all know that Triumph is a better bike and those that ride h.d. will say there's is better, always have, always will!!! who gave us electric start as standard equip, and who used alloy wheels as standard equip and, and, and, i get what your saying but i wasnt going there. as i said, we were talking about the banter between h.d. and Triumph is all.

Its yamahondakawasuki to be rice burner correct.

Thank goodness for Mr. Honda. Had he not lived they would still be shoving push rods and oil leaks on us.

But you are right about Triumph and H.D. BSA and Norton really were not part of that club, it was just Triumph. At least in middle 60s when I started to ride.

Over here in good ol'blighty with ahve a tradition of nodding to all bikers whatever they ride when passing them,but some of the harley chapters and individual harley riders take it upon themselves to look down their noses at all of us riding other bikes. This is what grates me, but then I think, those people are only riding a harley as they think of the bike as an accessory and not part of the biking community.
I tried a Fat Bob before buying my speedmaster and didn't like the ride, where as someone will try a AM or SM and feel that the fit isn't right for them.
I agree with the banter and can quietly think to myself I am the more astute biker as I am riding the better bike . But the bigger picture is we all are part of a great community of two wheelers that have a love for flies in our teeth and beards that hang to our nadgers...rock on