Tom's Review of the 2014 Harley-Davidson Ultra Limited

By Tom McTamney, Owner, Liberty Harley-Davidson

I thought that I would put pen to paper, or finger to keyboard, and do a review of the Motor Company’s latest touring model, the Ultra Limited Twin-Cooled.  I had the opportunity to do a late winter ride this year to Bike Week in Daytona.  I managed to buzz around town locally ahead of time, to get about 400 miles on the bike so I could get the first service out of the way before I left so I wouldn’t have to worry about the first service on the ride south

Now, this new Limited is the first entry by Harley into the realm of liquid cooling on a large touring bike.  Since it only cools the two exhaust valves in the heads, I wondered if it would really help with the heat put off by Harley’s big twin.  Also, it sported a high-output engine with factory installed cams, and I wondered if just cooling the exhaust valves was worth the effort.  Well, I can say with certainty that it was.  Before I speak about how this new power plant worked, let me first tell everyone about the modifications I made to the bike before I left.

I had an S&S header pipe installed along with a Screamin’ Eagle 4-inch StreetCannons, a high flow breather and a Harley-Davidson Race tuner and a Dyno tune.  Those modifications worked out really well, lost no reliability, and performance for a touring bike was more than adequate.

The day I left for Daytona was rather cool, a balmy 37 degrees, and it stayed under 50 or so till we made Georgia. Georgia was around 65 or 70 degrees which still was really no challenge for Harley’s Twin-Cooled engine.  With just over 1000 miles on the trip, the bike ran flawlessly.  The new seat was adequate, the fairing vent worked as expected and kept most of the wind well above my helmet area, and buffeting was at a minimum.

Photo Courtesy of Joseph Caruso

My wife enjoyed the new passenger seat and back rest; we both were amazed at the new sound system, and even at 85-90 mph we could still hear the radio.  The new LED lighting, standard on the Limited, worked very well, and the new linked brakes took a little getting used to (when you apply the front brake and then apply the rear brake you can feel a slight pushback on the front brake lever…the same applies if you apply the rear and then the front, you will feel a push back on the foot lever.  Under 25 you won’t feel it at all), but with a few miles under my belt it became unnoticeable. So I was well satisfied with the improvements that Harley made on its Rushmore Touring bikes, and would have no problem recommending them to my customers.   The real test would be Main Street.

  

Photo Courtesy of Joseph Caruso

Monday in Daytona the temperature hit a warm 80 degrees.  Felt a lot hotter after our northern winter.  Well, time for the real test -- stop and go Main Street cruising.  I used to avoid Main Street other years because of the heat problem with the bikes, but this year I hit it hard.  I spent well over an hour cruising up and down Main Street and while the new Twin-Cooled engine did get hot, it was nowhere near what my last Limited experienced.  The fans came on and cycled off, (could not hear them at all) and pushed the hot air well away from the rider, the new heat management system cycled on every time the throttle was returned to idle, and I could only tell it was working because the big Street Cannon exhaust note changed from the rather recognizable syncopated beat to a slightly off-key note, as only one cylinder is now firing.  The engine management system controls the system well, raising the idle speed just enough to keep the idle at about a grand, and as soon as you twist the grip it seamlessly returns to normal two cylinder operation.  So, over an hour of stop and go riding and my thigh did not catch fire.

Photo Courtesy of Joseph Caruso

In my opinion, the Twin-Cooled engine works as described, and I expect to see it on a few other touring bikes next year. 
 

I now have almost 4000 miles on my new Limited and I have to say that all of the Motor Companies Rushmore improvements on the touring models work very well.