all good recommendations and thoughts. Let me tell you about this morning....got your helmet strapped on, seatbelt firmly in place.....oops, this is a motorycle, never mind........and hand on the throttle?? if this bike was a car, it would register as a NASCAR this morning. what a beautiful day. 75 degrees, just t-shirt and vest (I know; what about safety??) well I had my helmet on. filled up the bike as the dealer must have forgotten and left me with about 1/8 of a tank. Headed out to work which is about 35 miles and didn't want to run out of gas. This engine has a tiny bit of discernable noise which may be acceptable as it is a frame-mount engine vs rubber mount. But the accelleration from 1000 up thru 2000 and as high up as 3500 was absolutely flawless. As I go into the 3000+ realm, it started that Harley growl (sweetspot I call it) that I love so well but seems to attract the cars with silvers shields on the doors.........Like I said, if this was a car, it could have been a NASCAR. Feels like endless throttle. Never got into 6th gear as I was trying to keep the rpm above 2K and not go over 3500 but keep the rpms up there. Raise it up to 3500 and then go down to 2K on its own power and then back up again slowly. Revvd as smooth as glass. 2800 and up is where I realized the noise and vibration etc on the last engine. This engine seemed like it could have continued up in rpm until it sounded like a scalded cat! But don't want the MoCo to see that in print! I was mucho impressed. Just sad that the first 12,000 miles was spent with an engine that was destined to be sent back to the factory in shame. Now, like Jasray and a few others have testified, I love this bike. It is well balanced and well designed. I still liked the bike before but even more now. What is wierd is that I can go thru 1st gear without the bike feeling like it is ready to stumble and fall. And like I said, seeing that engine in the box ready to be shipped back to Milwaukee.....that is one biggggggggggg motor! Anyway, if the next number of miles works out, I should have this bike for some time.......unless Harley puts out a 2014 bike this year that I just can't live without. Truly I think my wife would send me to the hospital to be examined..........but she does admit that chrome is the "other" precious metal............. ha! Pork.