RPM while cruising at 80mph

Jvheli said:

I owned 2 late model Road Glides and can tell you the rpms are pretty much the same as the rocket at the speeds you mentioned.. What is diferent is the Harley has a rubber mounted engine, floorboards, and handlebars. Also surprising is 6th gear on a Harley is a 1:1 ratio and 5th gear on the rocket actual overdriven!

Ive owned 2 Road Glides. I can tell you by putting around 70,000 miles between the two of them that the rpm at 70-80 is quite close to the Rocket (I have 2 Roadsters). But I agree that the rubber mounted engine, rubber isolated floorboards and handlebars make it arguably a smoother tourer, altho I confess ive never ridden the Rocket Tourer.

6th gear on a Harley Touring has a gear ratio of 1 to 1 in 6th gear, the Rocket in 5th is actual greater than 1;1(overdriven). Im sure like every engineered machine, what you buy is a compromise.

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DodahMan said:

Look, this is just my experience. On my last 1000 mile ride out west, we rode long stretches in the middle of nowhere and ran 80 - 90 for hours at a time. That sixth speed made it more comfortable. Bike was a Road King but just too physically small. Half the time I was sitting on the passenger pillon.
I still may make a move on a tour model because the only real way to know is to buy and ride taking time to evaluate. Only rode the rocket twice and really saw no difference between the tour model and regular one.

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rocketjohn said:

A Harley speedo GOES to 80????????

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Rocket Scientist said:

Patrick, sorry to hear the trans gremlin has followed you. Not really sure what's going on with the later roadster transmissions. They seem to end up with bent shift forks from what I'm reading. Not sure if they're getting knackered during assembly by some ham handed limey() or what. As you may know I had my gears backcut and the shaft grooves widened to accept heavy duty circlips. That should take most of the side loading off the shift forks and circlips. I'm reluctant to advice anyone else of doing this until I have some long term data. There has been talk of removing the surface hardening when backcutting. Whether this shortens the life span of the gears is yet to be seen. When you say knocking, does it feel like the gears are going in and out of mesh ? Like the side engagement dogs are slipping past each other ?

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Bernard Vinet said:

You should install a tach on your Touring. First thing I did to mine and really great to drive with. Tach and speedo put together and you can tell which gear your in.

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DodahMan said:

Thanks for posting. I want to learn more. I traveled to south FL last year intending to a RIII tour but backed off after checking the bike. Really was not the bike I had hoped it was.

You are now an enthusiastic "rocket man" and having ridden many a mile on Harley's, what's your opinion on long hauls?

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scot in exile said:

You can tell by the seat of your pants, sound of engine etc what gear you are in I hate the gear indicator on my Roadster if I knew how to make it go away I would.

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