Harleys are underpowered because their customers don’t care. If they were they would have bought rice rockets to begin with. Harley isn’t selling performance, they’re selling nostalgia on 2 wheels and outlaw biker chic.
If pushrods are bad for performance, the engineers of the mid-engine Corvette didn’t get the memo. Because it makes almost 500 go-ponies on less than 400 cubes.
I had a Honda Magna about 20+ years ago. Rode great on the highway (about 100 lbs lighter than a Fatboy) but I missed the beautiful Harley sound. BTW, the Magna was fast...but so what.
If pushrods are good for performance, the Ford Mustang engineers didn’t get the memo. Because they make *760* ‘go-ponies’ on less than 350 ‘cubes.’
Harley sales are tanking, too.