Can I ask a Harley question here ?
Like,.......what makes up the Harley sound ?
Some guy tryin to tell me that it come from both cylinders coming up on comp and firing at the same time. I say, BS ! I'm not buyin that.
Anyone know how they fire, and/or what really makes up the sound ?

Rich

Actually,  There is no "Harley Sound".  There are lots of different Harley Sounds. If you listen, and pay attention, you will see that every model of Harley has a different sound.  A pan head sounds different from a shovel head, sounds different from an evo, sounds different from a dual cam.  Any long time Harley rider can not only tell you that the bike they are hearing is a Harley, they can tell you what model.  For my own taste, I have always loved the cadence and sound of a shovel. (Wouldn't own one bacause you have to do a top end every 5k or so, but love the sound.)

Routy,
I used to ride Kawasaki Two-Stroke Triples. Ring ding. My riding buddy had a BSA twin 500 or 650, can't remember (This was around 1973.) I don't know what year it was either, but it had the best sound I ever heard. We swapped frequently when riding, and I was always downshifting his without the clutch. His shifter was on the right, so I naturally stomped it when braking.  He was always sliding my rear tire, because my shifter was on the left, and he stomped my brake thinking it was his shifter. Harder to remember than you might think.

I'm going to see if I can find a youtube of the old BSA exhaust. Thanks for reminding me.    Boofer

I saw a show about the Harley plant. How threy build them & all the engineering they would show the public. They hade a room where they analyzed the sound & worked on the sound. It was a big deal to them. & No, they wouldnt show much of what it entailed. Some, but they hid a good bit of that part.

So they programmed the EFI to be inefficient to get the sound back?

Routy wrote on 09/10/09 at 20:35:33:

 What make the Harley sound is because its a v-twin 45 degree The Moto Guzzi is a 90 degree and has a V-8 car sound.

Harleys are so over-rated. Everyone and there brother has one. The bike show I went to last weekend was overpowered with HD's. Far as I know, I was the only S40 there.... I barely got off the bike when a guy came up to check out mine and complimented it over and over and over. He loved the big single.

4carbcorvair wrote on 09/12/09 at 04:35:51:

No joke.  The last time I went to the Rebulic of Texas bike rally, of course it was jam-packed with Harleys.  I putt over there on my 20 year old bone stock Honda Hawk (v-twin, water cooled, dual crankpins) and people are looking at it like I just rolled off a space ship.. ooh so HIGH TECH    I should have punched out the exhaust and made it loud, then they really would have gone nuts.