Best year Dyna to buy?

[TeeJayE]

So I’m looking to buy a Dyna after a gnarly T-bone from an Uber totalled my 1200 Evo Sporty and most of my lower leg/ankle bones last Summer.

I do a mix of city mileage and out of town riding and a lot of two-up so the Dyna seems to make a lot of sense. Whilst I’m not a ground-up builder by any means I like to work on my own bikes so I’m kinda reluctant to go for anything post-carb.

What’s the best year Dyna to look at? I thought I read something about problems with twin cams but they’re a lot more readily available where I am.

Thanks

[JBinNC]

If you are considering the evo Dynas, I think the '94 - '98 models are the overall best. I'm not a twin cam fan, but if not beat on too hard, they do pretty good.

Jim

[TeeJayE]

Nice, thanks.

I’ve just found a 95 Lowrider nearby to go see. Looks pretty good, 12K miles on the clock.

Did they change the rake/fork length on later models. I really dig the early 90s models and I can’t put my finger on what it is that I like more than the later ones.

[farmall]

I doubt they changed the rake (if you check frame part numbers using online parts lookup that may be a clue) when fork length is so easy to change.

Visible fork length is easy to play with. Trackerdie extended damper tubes (I just bought a pair for my FXR) add travel therefore "visible length" and every 39mm narrow glide benefits from more travel when comfort matters. The Sportsterpedia front end page covers 39mm parts well and you can fill in the less common big twin narrow glide differences with minor searching to figure out what you have and what you might want. Find the part numbers for fork tubes and damper rods for bikes ya like then compare. If I installed longer tubes I'd definitely swap damper rods for more travel while I was in there anyway, but on such a low mileage bike I'd wait until it actually needed fork seals unless you want more ground clearance. (Piss on slammed rides, the roads suck where I live and I don't care to have my kidneys fly out my asshole.

12K miles is barely past breakin for an Evo which routinely go over 100K without much fuss. 95 is a good year so if it's in nice shape for the right price go for it. Then buy the factory service manual and parts catalog, change all fluids (everyone forgets fork oil but that shit goes bad too), inspect all hoses and wiring and ride it a while before modification. I do a charging system test with a volt meter (takes mere minutes) so I know what I'm working with.

CV carbs are great and I've never been stranded by carb problems on any vehicle. OTOH I've had to replace many worn out EFI pumps on cars and trucks (I worked at a used car lot) and the HD design is generic like the rest. EFI is fine to replace multiple carbs which was great forfour bangers but not great on a Harley ya want to keep especially because tuning is expensive while carb tuning is dirt cheap.

I add a push button solenoid end cover to every bike I own with a Denso starter. They are great backup. I inspect the starter contacts while cover is removed since they are often burnt when owners crank with a weak battery but they're dirt cheap to replace so no big deal.

TCs usually work fine but the design was made overly complex for production convenience. (Time is money and more CNC machined parts are cheaper than higher labor cost per engine.) Early TCs have no HP advantage and have the shit cam chain tensioner which is more money to correct (if crank runout permits) with gears. I consider all that a waste of my time. They aren't horrible but I want a scoot I can fix anywhere with minimum tools that isn't even a slight hassle as a daily rider. Evos qualify.

The stock crossover downpipe works very well. Do not replace with drag pipes which exist to strangle engines (unless HP loss is your thing, I don't judge too harshly). 2-into-1s don't sound like a Harley and for the gobs of money they cost there's not a great payoff. I pressed out the baffles from my stock mufflers using a hydraulic press and a hunk of rod that's a sloppy fit and a hunk of wood under the aft end of the muffler for protection. Not too loud and works fine.

[Hoghead]

If you buy the 95 , yep it's a good choice, but with mine I changed the inner cam bearing a.s.a.p. -it's about the only weak point .

[farmall]

Fucking INA must have been bribing HD to use those, but since most owners do a cam swap that's a good time to install a Timken. The cam swap is standard big twin "Harley tax" anyway.

BTW it's a good idea to buy the correct bearing extractor because if the lips on the one you use are too wide they snag on the crankcase and if they're too small you can spray needle bearings all over your shop which you then get to retrieve and count along with race fragments to make sure none went into the engine. I got away with it until I didn't then I became quite intimate with my floor, flashlight and magnet...

Also BTW the Evo and Twin Cam extractor are not quite a match. My bro borrowed an extractor from an indy friend who handed him an Evo extractor which promptly scattered his TC bearing. I didn't get into that adventure but measuring the differences would be interesting.

[TeeJayE]

Thanks so much, that’s a huge help.

I’m just gonna ride it for a bit and see what I wanna change before I do. Probably just taller risers and switch out the stock turn signals for something less conspicuous. I ran the Sporty without mirrors and signals, but this is the first time back on a bike since the crash and... well, being stuck in a hospital bed having to take a leak in a bottle and a dump in a bedpan makes you reeavaluate the cool looks vs safety factor ratio a little!

Also hear you on the stock pipes and CV carb. I just ran slip-on mufflers on the Sporty as none of the aftermarket systems I tried ran as tight.

Guessing it’s the same carb as the CV on the Sportster but with different jetting?

I’m pretty excited about it, first time back on a bike after almost a year, which has been weird since I rode daily before that. Missed it like crazy. Also the Dyna had just come out when I was a kid and I remember seeing it advertised. I know it ain’t exactly vintage but There’s a nostalgia around getting a 90s bike for sure.

[vonhelmet]

Dyna Wide Glide and I think Low Rider have 32* neck, and I think all others have 28*. My 1998 FXDS-Convertable has 28* stamped on the frame backbone under the gas tank. Mid to late 90s EVO Dynas are real nice bikes that can be had for great prices.

[brooklynbomber]

Would you consider an FXR too? I bought one after my accident and loved it. I looked at dynas as well, that 95 sounds ideal. If it’s stock, it’ll need a few upgrades but all easy. I ended up doing the bearing swap and an EV27 cam upgrade at the same time.

[TeeJayE]

Thanks everyone.

FXR's are an option for sure if I see one in good shape and relatively stock.

I think I'm gonna go for the 95 I found. It's pretty much stock other than some upgraded factory options, and the previous owner taking the baffles out of the mufflers which I'll rectify.

[farmall]

The stock baffles do strangle the engine but if you prefer quiet do as ya see fit.

Since no one can see hand signals at night it's no loss to run turn signals. Kool is kool but a lot of kool is basically demonstrating one is too badass for safety or comfort. Traffic today is usually denser and moves faster than in the 1960s.

[TeeJayE]

The stock baffles do strangle the engine but if you prefer quiet do as ya see fit.

Ah I didn't realise that was the case. I'd tried my Sporty without baffles and the lack of backpressure just killed the low range torque and sounded horrendous on de-throttling.

The Dyna sounds good, I just assumed the lack of baffles was a performance hit rather than gain!

[farmall]

I'd tried my Sporty without baffles and the lack of backpressure just killed the low range torque and sounded horrendous on de-throttling.

Did you retune the carb to suit? Lean mixture killed da torque. Tuning will improve it over stock. Stock carbs are leaned out for EPA reasons which are also why cams were neutered. The standard "Harley tax" for Evos involves curing as much of that as you prefer, but uncorking a lean engine just costs HP. The stock crossover downpipes work well (crossovers are an old and still current V8 car trick) and unlike a 2-into-1 sound like a Harley.

The CV need not be replaced and if they'd come out earlier would have seriously impacted aftermarket carb sales. (I suspect most S&S buyers were sold by the air filter housing, but that style is available for CVs too.) Since I ran S&S long before those CVs came out I standardized on them but I would certainly not replace a good condition CV on a non-radical engine. Many Ironhead and Shovel owners like them too.

[JBinNC]

^^^+++ Plus one for the CV. I like my S&S carbs, but the CVs are so flexible and easy to live with that I wouldn't change away from one unless big HP was the goal.

Jim

[Hoghead]

Thanks everyone.

FXR's are an option for sure if I see one in good shape and relatively stock.

I think I'm gonna go for the 95 I found. It's pretty much stock other than some upgraded factory options, and the previous owner taking the baffles out of the mufflers which I'll rectify.

That Dyna is newer and will no doubt be cheaper than an FXR. I love my FXR , but it is 35 years old now.