Rumours of new Harley-Davidson engine continue to swirl

Last month, the first hints of a new Harley-Davidson engine began to surface, and the rumours continue to get stronger.

At that time, there was little information as to the purpose of the new engine, which is supposedly going to be known as the Milwaukee Eight, due to its two four-valve heads. Now, we’re hearing the engine is going to be dropped into Harley-Davidson’s top-line tourer for 2017 (spy photos showed it in the Freewheeler trike), and then work its way down through the lineup in the coming years. That’s not necessarily gospel truth, but Harley-Davidson has certainly followed that pattern in the past with other big-bore engines.

The reason for the move to four-valve heads is changing pollution standards. In combination with oil-cooled or liquid-cooled heads, the new motor should be able to satisfy picky emissions regulations for years to come.

Along with four-valve heads, the bike should have two sparkplugs per head, (four total), and is said to also have valves that are adjusted manually, instead of the hydraulic self-adjusting system found on current Big Twins. The Milwaukee Eight will still retain a pushrod-driven single cam.

The rumour mill says there’s an updated frame coming to fit the engine, which may lack the heavy rubber mounts found on current Harley-Davidsons, since the new engine appears to have a counterbalancer. Tourers and the Dyna lineup will get the new chassis — no word on what will happen to the Softail.

So, all in all, interesting news, if true. If it’s fact, we’ll likely know by the end of the month, as Harley-Davidson typically rolls out this sort of an upgrade in late August.