A big part of HD's religious adherence to the 45 degree vee twin was rooted in that fine old American tradition of dirt track racing. The 45 degree vee hooked up like a single without the wheel spin issues of more powerful motors. The rules for "Class C" for a long time were 500cc OHV raced against 750cc side valve motors. On tear down, they'd usually only inspect the forward HD cylinder (pretty easy on a SV) so one could usually get away with cheating and run a much bigger piston on the rear!. Ouch! Think of THOSE balance issues! When the rules changed to 750 OHV, The XR 750 pretty much ruled the roost (with some notable exceptions) and I'm pretty sure is still VERY competitive. An XR 750 with a right side shift and both exhaust ports facing forward is the only HD I've ever really wanted to own. Hmmm...that dirt track thing was also a pretty good argument for the right side shift, all four turns were to the left and if you crashed, there wasn't even a rear brake lever to wipe off the bike! At least in the old days of "no brakes allowed". When a rear brake was finally allowed (almost always a disc) a lot of guys put the rear brake lever on the right, along with the shift lever. They had an external steel shoe for sliding worn over their left boot anyway, so could work both controls with their right foot with relative ease. Stevan Thomas 73 Berlina 83 GTV6 750 RedLine Norton Street tracker 72 750 Norton Commando Special 74 850 Norton Commando Interstate 56 Gold Star BSA In a message dated 7/22/2011 7:51:35 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time, [email protected] writes:
Date: Thu, 21 Jul 2011 17:43:36 -0600 From: "Richard C. Wagner" <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [alfa] Re: Is this an Alfa? Greg: >> Balance always wins. Harley has always been wrong. > > At least H-D is in good company with Ferrari V-8's and Cossy DFV's!!! No, they're not. With their religious adherence to the 45 degree V-twin, they stand nearly alone. Sure, the other motorcycle companies grudgingly gave in and began producing engines of a similar ilk, but only because that's where the money is, not because it's a smart way to build an engine. (See also: "C'mon, dude, first one is free.") Without external balancers, there is just no way to dynamically balance a 45 degree V-twin. Had Harley decided that brains, math and physics matter, they would have been building 90 degree V-twins since the 1930s. A 90 degree V-twin: now THAT engine can be balanced. And there are other companies--Moto Guzzi, Ducati, Honda--that have campaigned that layout successfully for a long time. Ferrari and Cosworth? 90 degrees. Balance always wins. Rich Wagner Montrose, CO Mojave, CA Tehachapi, CA And points elsewhere... '82 GTV6 -- to be removed from alfa, see http://www.digest.net/bin/digest-subs.cgi or email "unsubscribe alfa" to [email protected]
