I dig Evos, and I'm not sure about Twin Cams. I've asked performance builders around the country which they prefer from a performance standpoint. Most recognize the case strength of the twin cam and the alignment between the engine and trans, since they are mated. Then there's the less extreme pushrod angle of the Twin Cam for more accurate cam and valve action.

I'm still in love with the downright fantastic simplicity of the Evo engine, the balance, the beauty, and the history. The Evo is the final refinement of the classic Knucklehead engine.

"But the twin cam oil pump is much improved," said Bob Bennett at Bennett's Performance.

Okay, goddamnit, so Twin Cams have their benefits, but Evos represent even more, the last of the Freedom machine. As of 2009, H-D is becoming Toyotasized, with anti-tampering devices and electronic throttles. Evos will always represent the best in hand-buildable technology, motorcycles that can be fucked with forever. It's the heart of our existence and I want to support that aspect till I die, damn it!

This tech will tinker with some of these freedom-thinking elements, as a long-time brother of mine rolled out of Long Beach, California, toward the desert east of Palm Springs. It's an outlaw area, where thugs and dreamers escape the squalor of Los Angeles to munch on peyote buttons and enjoy the unhindered brilliance of the elevated desert sky. It's a gritty hovel, but still ten degrees cooler than the lower elevation on the other side of the Little San Bernardino Mountains, Palm Springs.

But before I carve any deeper into this grizzly cactus-strewn berg on the edge of nowhere, let me back up. The bike scheduled for this tech was a '89 Evo FLH with almost 200,000 miles on the clock. It belongs to Dr. Hamster, a Hamster for about 20 years. We've ridden to Sturgis several times. It's not fancy, heavily customized, or strewn with performance components. It's mostly worn stock elements, a remanufactured factory engine, with a True-Track for stability and a custom ghosted paint job by another Hamster, Jim Waggaman. It's a simple, long-distance rider.

We rode to the Smoke Out West recently, and the stock '89 didn't bat an eye, except the mileage wasn't terrific, even less than my rough- and-ready, 93-inch Sturgis Shovelhead. He hadn't endured a tune-up in ten years and his exhaust system was rough, so what's a brother to do but hook up a brother with all the right parts to make his Evo sing for another ten years? Does that make Evo motorcycles worth standing beside for the long haul? I reckon.

The formula called for a set of D&D blacked-out performance Fat Cat pipes, 2-into-1. Compu-Fire recently developed the best-of-the-best ignition systems for all cone-motor customs, an all-in-one single-fire ignition system, with one simple coil that will bolt into place of the stock coil, no problem.

The final element was a slightly modified K&N filter system for more enhanced breathing through the S&S Super E carb. They make these systems for all the stock carbs, but not S&S, so we modified it. But we'll get to that.

This process kicked off with a short ride to Bennett's Performance and a dyno run. It's not as if we plan to see a vast horsepower change, but what the hell. Dr. Hamster has a stock Evo 80-inch engine, with no modification aside from the S&S carb, Twin tech ignition, and an Andrews cam. He did change his primary gearing for lower RPMs at high speeds. The Bennett's Dyno pointed out that he had a lean spot in his high-end mixture and still mustered 65 horses and 74 pounds of Torque. We grabbed the information and made a plan. We would deliver the bike to the Chop N Grind Performance Center, in the heart of the desert town of Yucca Valley for performance mods, and then return to Bennett's for another dyno run and perhaps some carb rejetting. Plus, we'll install the latest in D&D muffler technology and see if one simple muffler change makes a difference.

I just scratched my graying beard as I realized that we were working with three hardened Bonneville racing teams. We interrupted Bob and Eric, who were planning for their Bonneville run with their Bennett's Performance bikes. The notorious Chop N Grind Racing team, made up of serious desert escapees, would be our installers, and we were both members of the infamous Bikernet 5-Ball Racing masterminds behind the World's Fastest Panhead. We sharpened our knives before riding into the desert.

The good Dr. Hamster, the master of Golf Performance and the only biker Chiropractor I know, and I made a plan to meet for breakfast at a faded franchise truckstop at the junction of the 15 coming north from San Diego, and the famous 10 that runs from the Santa Monica Pier across the entire country through Houston, Texas, along the southern coastline to New Orleans, Mobile, Alabama, and ends on the beach in Jacksonville, Florida. I believe Route 66 was the historic trailblazer for interstate 10. I'm actually fulla shit. The 40 through Oklahoma City out of Barstow, California stole the thunder from historic Route 66. Ah, the day of the small lingering highways.

We met at the TA truckstop where I was nearly arrested in the '70s, and Camy, our Lower Alabama Bikernet Weather Lady, puked on RW's boots while he repaired his truck in the vast parking lot. This is one of those faded plastic franchise dumps that says so many bad things about our society. It smacks of oil companies taking over, of small towns and family restaurants destroyed by interstate upheaval. For years, there was nothing out in this region, except for this Red Cross station for wayward drunks and truckers.

Hell, this damn joint was mentioned in my first Chance Hogan book. As a biker in the '70s, it was a tool-tottin' oasis for bikers. Now the city is spreading and surrounding it. Strange.

We ate breakfast, gassed up, and got the hell out of there. It was right at 60 miles from the coast. We had another 80 to go, to slip off the 10 outside the Bob Hope luxury of Palm Springs, and slide east on the highway 62 into Marengo Valley, past Hutchinson's Harley-Davidson into Yucca Valley and the home of the Chop N Grind Racing team.

Dr. Petri has a PHD from Harley-Davidson school of wrenching and was recently the top dog of the Palm Springs Harley-Davidson service department. He's always contained a performance itch and owned High Desert Performance for a decade before slipping into the dealership mode. Now, he's back to the Chop N Grind at his own performance center in Yucca Valley.

We rolled in about 10:00 a.m. We immediately went to work on the good doctor's dresser, stripping it down, changing oil, and basically performing his first complete service in ten years. We let the '89 cool, then removed the existing pipes and prepared for the all-black D&D two-into-one system. There was some concern about fitment, since this system comes with oxygen sensor bungs, mounting tabs, and there was a billet True Track strap-mounting tab bolted to the True Track. It was a fine, solid piece designed by the late Wil Phillips.

After some discussion with the crew, we hacksaw-modified the True Track billet piece, and put a hand file to use under the tutelage of Bob T., a member of the Chop N Grind team and a long-time rider. Hell, he rode with Bandit in 1970, when life was boot-tough and rattlesnake-mean. Before I get covered in shop grease and road grime, I need to mention the Code of the West when it comes to any tech.

This is a seemingly simple install of the D&D Fat Cat, a K&N air cleaner system, and a replacement ignition developed by Compu-Fire. Nothin' to it, right? Anytime you take a handful of products built specifically for prosaic stock models and attempt to install them on a modified, slightly older model, you're going to run into obstacles, lumps in the road and brackets you didn't expect. Get use to it, goddamnit, and take it as a mental challenge. Then fix it and pop open a beer to celebrate.

In this case, we immediately ran into the True-Track bracket. Then Dr. Petri manufactured an adapter plate to insure the K&N air cleaner fit. We needed to adjust the carb bracket and choke system. As it turned out, the Compu-Fire system bolted directly into place. So, hang on as we take you on a stroll through the Chop N Grind Performance Center.

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