The more things change...

Date: Wed, 6 Mar 96 17:34:35 PST
Subject: RE: obsolete V-Twins?
From: johnw@acuson.com (John Williams)

E-Man writes:
>I thought that they quit making the real ones in '84?  My V-twin
>doesn't look very much like the new ones at all....?

I thought they stopped in '47. ;^)

>...just kidding.....but do you see the point?

Heck no, dude!  If you disassemble a EVO motor, and disassemble  
a Knucklehead motor, and put the two in boxes, and asked a blind 
man to tell you which was which...  Do you see *my* point? ;^)  
HD BT motor topology has not changed since 1936.  Where shall we 
start?

V twin
Air cooled
45 degree included angle
common crank pin on two flywheels
Siamesed connecting rods
Highly undersquare bore/stroke
Roller bearing crank/rods
Single cam driven from crank pinion
oil pump on rear driven by worm gear on crank
pushrod actuated overhead valves
single carburetor (well, except for the new EFI!)
The only things that have really changed are the materials they 
are made from, the head designs, and the alternator/generator 
location, and the types of peripherals i.e. carbs, ignitions.
That's the beauty of HD! That's why we love 'em all!

I can see it now, in 50 years, when were all a bunch of old gray 
limp-dicks, we'll be setting around in the nursing home arguing 
how Blockheads were the last of the true Harleys, and that the new 
[insert catchy name here]-head Harleys are only for Rubs/posers/
wannabes. Funny how the more things change, the more they stay
the same, huh? ;^)

Later,

John Willie
San Jose, Left Coast, USA