1. The Fundamentals

An Excerpt From The Attached Document :

"Livin’ Dreams and Making’ Memories"

Brian "Uptown" Basinger 1944-2011

1. Brian (right) and I at Daytona one year.

The Street Power series is dedicated to my Brother Brian. It was he who introduced me to Harleys and convinced me to get my first one.

We rode together many thousands of miles over the years. We had talked about maybe getting one more Daytona in before he got too bad, but it didn’t work out that way.

The world does not feel "right" to me anymore…

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Introductory Stuff

Forward

This document is intended primarily for the newer Harley owner who rides one of the larger bikes; either the Touring models or the Softail Classics (okay, perhaps a Fatboy too). This person has gotten past the "Harleys Rule!" stage of ownership, and is now interested in just making the damn thing perform a little better than it did while remaining reliable. It is about modifications to your bike, for the way that you ride.

The idea is that most newer people need a good bit of help in the fundamentals of power, but everywhere they look, they find half-truths, well-meaning but incorrect friends, and mis-used technical jargon—all of which is useless in the end. This is frustrating, and expensive.

These people have seen the advertisements, read the articles in motorcycle magazines, and they've seen the TV shows, but they remain confused. They don't understand the fundamentals. They don't understand how to select the proper components. They don't know where to go next.

They’ve seen pictures of an engine with a big carb on it, or read about someone who put a big cam in an engine, or heard about such-and-such ignition, or know someone who has particular air filter housing on a bike, or have heard good things on the internet about some fancy exhaust. If they just put those things on their scoot, then surely it'll go like hell too, right? Of course not, but when it doesn't, many of them will still tell everyone it does, perhaps because they don't want people to think they were foolish for spending all that money on stuff that didn't work?i Sound like anyone you know? You, maybe? I can relate to that. We all can, for we all started the same way. I've written this thing for that person1. I hope I can bring some light to the subject, thereby reducing the frustration and expense a little.

1 …so don't write me telling me how your 131-inch FXR will go 10s, or how your nitrous Dyna blew off a crotch-rocket the other day. Congratulations, and I'm real happy for you, but this thing ain't about guys like you or bikes like yours.

In it, we'll try to get a grip on what power is, what sort of power is best for us as an individual, and what sort of power we can realistically expect.

We'll discuss a goal, based on an honest assessment of our needs. (Perhaps the most difficult thing of all). We'll discuss engine components and what I consider to be some of the common misconceptions about them. We'll talk about horsepower, and how much you can reasonably expect for the amount of money you're willing to spend and the compromises you're willing to make.

What we won't do is put together a recipe for building a particular engine. Hopefully, you'll have gotten enough information to make some of your own decisions though.

Know that I'm a bagger guy, through and through. Performance bagger to be sure, but bagger, and I know fuel-injected Evos better than any other engine type. The document shows that bias, understandably, since that is where my interest and experience are.

Regarding the way I write: Because I don’t have the mental discipline it takes to write simple statements and easily followed thoughts, I have developed the habit of using footnotes (indicated by small numbers beside the word, i.e. 12)) and end-notes (indicated by small letters beside the word, i.e. m). These are usually just "asides", or added thoughts I had on the topic. If I think they are of relevance to the text, I make them footnotes. If they are a further explanation or added information, I make them end-notes. Footnotes should be read along with the text. End-notes may be read later, on their own.

Lastly, everything you read here is just my opinion, based almost entirely on my own education, lots of study and research, and experimenting on my own bikes. I don't claim to be the final authority on any of this, but this is the way I understand it. I think I'm right. You may not. That's okay too.

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