12 • GARAGE BUILD • ISSUE 419Time For A Change
and internal engine work, due to the
fact that you have 13 more pounds of
rotating weight to adjust for; it is just
nonsensical and expensive.
Twin Cam “A” engine owners,
however, invest in performance mods
more often due to a lack of heavy
counterweights. I own a 2016 Softail,
have had a series of A motors or bag-
gers, and really respect the compliant
ride of a Softie at all RPMs. I truly
believe in respect, and I enjoy impart-
ing some wisdom to my customers.
Internal engine upgrades: in my
opinion, when a bike owner comes in
and wants to do anything past a Stage
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cleaner, and fuel tuner), I educate them
to cost and the time value of money.
These mods tend to be expensive
(which is, of course, subjective).
A Stage II package retail on a
Twin Cam A, to boost it from 96" to
103"—a lousy 7 cubic inches—costs
about $1,000 for parts, in addition to
10 hours of labor at $90.00/hr. This is
a $1,900 upgrade, or $271 per cubic
inch. The value isn’t there for my
money, if I was the customer.
Harley is coming full circle as the
new Milwaukee-8 has a single counter-
balancer, not two like the Twin Cam B,
but also one unlike Twin Cam A. One
of the FL models is water-cooled, too.
The MoCo is trying like hell to
satisfy their perceived market/rider,
and change, not die. It’s all about
good vibes. GBThe Industry is not dying—it’s
changing. There are many forces at
play here. The industry will settle in
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that is. This is no different than the
technology front, the housing industry,
the economy, or geopolitical forces.
Change or die. When I started my
shop, we did a lot of customizing: cus-
tom builds, paint, powdercoating. Our
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was trike conversions. We performed a
lot of surgery on a multitude of bikes to
convert them to three wheelers.
That industry pulled back along
with the custom work, as we saw peo-
ple keeping their bikes, getting saddled
with larger payments, and just wanting
to maintain their bikes. At the end of
the day, we felt it was time to change,
we saw a decline in all of the “other
work” that we did, and now focus on
running a high-production repair shop.
We service all manufacturers, but
Harley-Davidson is our main source of
revenue. Not by choice, but by design;
that is my market.
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is or was that Harleys are mechani-
cally inferior to metrics. Not true. The
reason that we service so many Harleys
is because of non-maintenance of the
bike. It is just a proven fact that the
air-cooled technology of a 45-degreeV-twin Harley induces more heat and
vibration, in turn it needs more mainte-
nance. I own a Harley and a Triumph,
and I have owned one bike of every of
the big four manufacturers: Kawasaki,
Suzuki, Honda, and Yamaha. They’re
all solid bikes. It still makes me cringe
to hear a Harley owner belittle a metric
owner and vice versa. Harley riders
as a whole ride more and put on more
long-distance miles, yet don’t main-
tain their bikes; again, I’m talking in
generalities.
My opinion of the Twin Cam “A”
vs. the “B” vs the Milwaukee-Eight?
Most people that come to my shop
don’t know the difference between the
A and B motor, but it’s quite simple.
The Twin Cam A motor is a non-
balanced motor. This is the powerplant
in the FL series of bikes, what most
people know as Baggers. They are rub-
ber mounted and shake at low rpms,
though as you throttle past the 1500
rpm range, they smooth out nicely. At
65 mph and on past, they are sweet-
hearts to ride.
The balanced motor or “B” is hard-
mounted and has two internal coun-
terbalancers that weigh in at 12-1/
pounds. The counter rotation negates
most of the vibration. For the perfor-
mance junkies out there, the B motor
is not a great platform for high revvingTIME FOR A CHANGE^ • By Darren OliverioIt still makes me cringe to hear a Harley
owner belittle a metric owner and vice versa
A
s a middle-aged male and motorcycle repair shop owner
for 10 years, I feel that my opinion does count. I’m a
strong voice, an advocate for our everchanging industry,
and I’d like to cover a few topics.