HARLEY-DAVIDSON MILWAUKEE EIGHT
FIRST RIDE
P96
(almost) a Japanese twin feel at
the twist grip. It still retains that
H-D personality, with the right
amount of thump dialed in as
Bozmoski describes, but com-
pared to the 103 of last year it's
an astounding difference.
The second thing that springs
into mind is the first gear. We're
all familiar with the traditional
Harley "clunk" when selecting
first gear from neutral, right?
This is all but eradicated on the
Milwaukee Eight, delivering an
even bigger surprise to me than
the initial feel of the engine.
The Milwaukee Eight's throttle
response is also improved
over the former 103 ci engine.
Bosmoski noted that one area
Harley couldn't sacrifice was
the engine's slow-speed man-
ners due to the amount of bikes
that are used in parades, so
navigating the drenched Tacoma
roads in peak traffic showed his
team had got this pretty spot
on. There's not the jolt from a
closed throttle you used to get
with the former engine, instead
the drive is nicely metered when
transferring the extra torque to
the ground.
Harley-Davidson claims the
new "Milwaukee-Eight 107 accel-
erates 11 percent quicker 0-60
mph, equal to a two to three
bike-length improvement, and
11 percent quicker from 60-80
mph in top gear, equal to a one
to two bike-length improvement,
compared to the Twin Cam High
Output 103." I can't comment on
the overall acceleration improve-
ments because A: the road was
soaking wet and B: because
saying "one to two bike-length"
as a form of exact measurement
is completely inaccurate and
therefore pointless. Why not just
quote quarter-mile times?
What I can say is by the seat
of the pants, the engine does
have more pep from the mo-
ment you crack the throttle and
up through the midrange. Top
end was not ventured into due to
road conditions, so I won't com-
ment on that.
On the Road Glide, the big-
The 114c.i kit has torque to burn.
