Getting confused...

I think you will find an overwhelming majority of people in this forum will recommend going to gear cams. The additional expense of the gears (about 300 bucks or so, give or take) will more than off set any expense down the road of changing out tensioners and chains. How many miles do you ride each year? Do you plan on keeping this bike for a long time? If you are a 3000 or 4000 mile a year rider, save your dough and keep it stock. If you pile on the miles, go with gears. If your dealer hasn't seen any problems with tensioners, then they haven't worked on any bikes with miles in the 20K + range. I have gears in mine. I have over 20K on the gears, and there are no problems. The way I ride, I would have been into my cam chest for repairs if I didn't have gear drive. Just my -2$en#e- You'll get other opinions too.

I sent you a PM:banana:

I think your indy is giving you sound advice. Make the most of what you have by letting it breathe espeacially if you are going for max HP/Cube. If you are mainly going for the extra torque, there is no replacement for displacement.

I'd do the math on the total cost of doing just a 95 kit (include labor) and compare that to having the heads worked over(be sure to get someone who is real good at it)and switching cams (include labor).

Eventually the HP bug will get you and you will probably want both done. If that is at all likely and you can't afford to git 'er done all at once, I'd go with the 95 kit first.

There ya go, another FREE OPINION

Geezer makes a good point on the gear drive it's kind of a pay me now or pay me later deal.

Untill the MoCo stops fix'n my bike for free I will stay with the chains. After that gears look like the way to go. I have never bought into the MoCo's reason for the chains. The way I see it if they can sneak the Sporty with four gear driven cams past the noise cops the TC should have been a piece of cake.

I look at it like a gambler mentality. I can't stand to gamble because every time I lose, I think of how many hours at work I need to make up for the loss.:spank:

I changed to gears at 32,000 miles. Since whether or not the tensioner shoes are going to go south on you is a crapshoot (some make it 70,000, some make it 7,000) I couldn't live with the uneasiness I felt whenever I got 100 miles or more from home. A catostrophic engine failure, would put me off the bike for a lot longer than it took me to save up the additional $300.00 to go to gears.

Like Geezer said though, if you only put a few thousand miles on a year, you're probably safe putting chains in for a while....then just keep an eye on them.

I try to push for 10,000 miles per year, and with the failed pads I've seen around 20,000 miles, I'd be wanting to put new ones in every other winter....No thankyou.

I don't understand the indy's recommendation to stay at 88' when you are going to be taking the heads off. You might as well bore the jugs and fit new pistons.

wvwayne said:

Untill the MoCo stops fix'n my bike for free I will stay with the chains. After that gears look like the way to go. I have never bought into the MoCo's reason for the chains. The way I see it if they can sneak the Sporty with four gear driven cams past the noise cops the TC should have been a piece of cake.

Click to expand...

great point!