Plug-And-Play Power

PLUG-AND-PLAY POWER

BOLT-ON

EVALUATION

TESTING A SCREAMIN’ EAGLE BOLT-ON 117 CUBIC INCH STREET PERFORMANCE KIT

Bradley Adams

Motorcycling is an emotional thing—an experience intensified by horsepower, torque, and an engine's raw, deep-seated character. Harley-Davidson and Screamin’ Eagle understand this and for 2016 hope to add to that experience with the Screamin’ Eagle Bolt-On 117 Cubic Inch Street Performance Kit.

The largest bolt-on kit Harley has ever offered, the 117CÍ kit includes 4.125-inch cylinders that slip easily into a lioci motor’s crankcase, pistons that bring the compression ratio up to 9.9:1, and piston rings. Additional pieces include a 58mm throttle body, high-flow fuel injectors, SE-259E cams, Perfect-Fit pushrods, highcapacity roller tappets, an inner cam bearing kit, and all necessary gaskets.

The return on those parts is nothing to scoff at, as the 117CÍ engine-equipped CVO Street Glide tested here now makes 100.2 hp at 5,600 rpm and an even more impressive 111.2 pound-feet of torque at 3,890 rpm. More cubic inches means the engine can ingest more air on the intake stroke, and the torque numbers are a clear indicator of the dividends that come from that added air.

Harley and Screamin' Eagle bill those gains as something that helps you get by cars more easily on the interstate, and indeed that’s true, with the extra power making lane changes and runs down a freeway on-ramp all the more enjoyable. Past 3,000 rpm the advantage seems even bigger with the larger bore design adding more power at higher rpm.

I’m not sold on the idea that you install a kit like this for those gains alone though. Every Harley-Davidson motorcycle has a certain attitude built into it, something cultivated by the way the engine barks to life when you thumb the starter, the sound it makes on the road, and the way it rumbles even at a stoplight. Performance-minded updates help build on that attitude, and it’s hard to think of any bolt-on, warranty-equipped (!) kit that does a better job at adding to that persona than this 117CÍ kit. This is about building on a bike's character.

Fortunately, fueling remains smooth in stop-and-go traffic, and while some heat emanates from the right side of the bike in traffic, there’s no more than a bike with a stock Twin-Cooled 110 motor.

The $2,095.95 kh (plus install and ECM recalibration) may be a starting point or may not. Knowing Harley-Davidson owners, I doubt this kit would be the first and last thing they pluck from the Screamin’ Eagle catalog. Regardless, after having ridden this CVO Street Glide with one, I’m pretty certain it’d be an update that they won’t regret.