Rode the Road Glide more this morning. Couple hours. It's finding its stride now. Sounds REALLY good. I'm sold on the closed end cap on the exhaust. Can hear the engine, can hear the radio, and it's still got a rumble if you twist the throttle.
And the engine sounds nice. Going from gear drive to new hybrid cam plate and the newer style tensioners changed the engine note. That was expected. The roller rockers that went in with this work make for a slightly different sound too. But this thing just hums right now when its on the cam and cruising. Harley is never going to "sound like a sewing machine." But this thing right now is really really smooth.
It's got a engine management/tuning kit installed from Revolution Performance called EMS. I've noticed the system dialing itself in over the first few miles. Over the first few minutes at idle and the first ten miles riding it took big swings. You could hear the changes sometimes. After that whatever is happening is more subtle. Whatever black arts are at work the engine has gotten to a place where it sound good, feels good and even smells good. All the tell tales seem right.
The bike was absolutely fine before doing all the work. No issues, no concerns, no worries, no leaks, and it had been absolutely reliable for years. So for its 20th birthday of course I messed with it. At this point I'm quite pleased I did. The bike seems to be as well.