Harley-Davidson to unveil Milwaukee-Eight engine range this month

The first photo of Harley-Davidson’s new range of engines has been leaked on the internet. Christened Milwaukee-Eight, the new engine will boast of a brand new architecture and will be used in the company’s 2017 Touring range. 

The Milwaukee-Eight derives its name from two sources, Milwaukee, a city which has always had a sentimental attachment to the American brand, and Eight – the number of valves. The latter would be quite an achievement for Harley-Davidson as the engine will continue with a traditional air-cooled and pushrod valve actuation architecture. The decision to provide four valves per cylinder on the Milwaukee-Eight was taken to make the engine meet Euro IV emission norms. The four valves per cylinder arrangement is usually seen in performance-oriented DOHC motorcycles, while pushrod is associated with cruisers and thumpers. So it would be interesting to see how Harley-Davidson has managed to club the best of both worlds for the Milwaukee-Eight. 

Over the past century, Harley-Davidson has been through only seven generations of engines. The first engine among the Milwaukee-Eight range would displace 1753cc, though we can expect higher capacity iterations to be rolled out eventually. The engine will first be used in the Touring range before spreading out to other models. Expect an unveiling during the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally or before the end of this month. The company is also going to debut its new 2017 range of motorcycles around the same time.

Source: MCN