June 19, 2012 3:01 AM PDT
I'm not saying I dislike the Twin Cam because it is a nice power plant and runs great. But my preference if I have to choose between the 2 I'd pick the Evolution motor every time. There are too many up and coming problems plaguing the Twin Cam vs. the Evolution motor, 1) bottom end components and run out on the crankshaft in the Twin Cam (and it's allowable?) Harley did this as a quicker way to produce, that's my opinion, and it is eventually a fact of life for owners that one day that crank can and WILL fail... just gonna take a few more miles to get there with the newer 2007 and newer Twin Cam redesign. (as a side note: I recommend that all Harley owners with Twin Cams save up your money and pull your crank at some point and have it balanced, plugged and welded) 2) The high revving on the idle of the new Twin Cam just doesn't remind me of the bikes I knew and loved... I realize these are modern times and people have a lot of gadgets connected to their bikes and the high idle is because of the big 45 to 50 Amp Stator those motors have to crank... if you were to bring the idle down on the newer models it would actually start discharging the battery! LOL I prefer the lope of the Evolution and I don't plug stuff into my bike... I might bring a lot with me when I head out but I don't plug none of it into my bike.
This new 103" Switchback I have, OK I have to admit... WOW! This thing is amazing, it's light and fast and smooth as silk at high speed... but power wise, it's just over kill for me and you do have to keep the engine nice and lubricated so I try to keep the RPMs up when I ride and try not to lug it.
Evolution motors, first of all I freely admit I have literally blown up my share of them... and that's something because Evos are mapped and blue printed by the Porsche motor company like the Twin Cam and the VROD engines. I think the downfall of the Evo was too much owner tampering! For example: I have a friend of mine who lives in Colorado and he's a mean ol' Irishman... he had an 92 or 93 Evo Bagger with over 400,000 miles on it, motor had never been rebuilt had all the OEM parts in tach, top end and all. I know I know, it was hard for me to believe myself but it was verified by the MoCo as they offered him a brand new 2007 Road Glide, at NO CHARGE!
Anyway, since 2007 he's had nothing but trouble with the new Road Glide and the engine has been in and out of that bike so he tells me... he's a pretty meticulous feller and rides a lot. As you can tell! He's not at all pleased with the Twin Cam he got for free... he tells me all the time when I see him "I wish I could trade em back!"
The 2 Evos I rode the hardest were on an FXLR and a FXDWG and both motors went over 100,000 miles (with some modification (bored 0.010" over, performance cam, ported and polished heads on the Wide Glide, the FXLR was equipped with an S&S Super E Shorty and the Wide Glide has the .42 mm HSR Mukuni.
The end result with those two motors: after 14 years of ownership of the 87 FXLR and 169,000 miles I cracked the left side engine case when I changed the cam from an EV1 to the Crane .316 Fireball. It was rebuilt, good ol' Delkron!
And the 11 years I put on the Wide Glide was an interesting breakdown. The Wide Glide was sick as a dog one day and I couldn't figure out why: nothing I did made it better or worse but I could tell she was sick so I pulled the motor and completely disassemble it and started checkin the cylinder studs and on the left rear cylinder interior stud came right out into my hand with a big chunk of the case that it was still screwed into! Case solved, mystery over... I was very young and stupid with those bikes and I was very hard them but they always got me home!
Shit I'm trailing off here...
Anyway Evos Rock! LOL
.......... Evo's Rock!!! 
