ran out of gas!

Yep, Joshbob will have a bagger before ya know it.

NOT!

My bike has "play" everywhere .

55/60 HP, under 400 lb. bike, 140 lb. rider = a quick, nimble bike. To me, it's not worth the expense of an EI when I have all I can handle now. However, if Mac the Wife would get me one for, say, my birthday coming up next month, of course I'd put it in. But pigs will fly before that happens LOL.

Are you sure the guy wasn't exaggerating about 30 HP? That's about 3.7 HP per cylinder. V-Twin might pick up 7.4 HP? Hard to believe . . .

I have sat on a couple while in Tony's shop for repairs. Two Harleys and an Indian. None of them had easy chairs. Thought I was sittin' on buffaloes. Scary!

With a kick start, I don't think it gets any easier if it starts in one or two kicks after two or three cleanout kicks first thing in the morning. After that, it starts almost always on the first kick after warmup. That old style ignition has been around over a hundred years and is reasonably reliable and inexpensive to replace. On a shovelhead, any 6-cylinder Chevy points/condensor set works beautifully. Another advantage is that a set of points can be replaced during a roadside repair. In a half hour you can be on your way - or at least, I know I can .

If the EI module fries, (and they have been known to do just that), it costs a lot of money to replace, and I'd wager a lot more time lost than 30 minutes.

As I've said before, I think we place far too much dependance on electronic gizmos. I'll take points, thank you, and don't mind stopping to ask another human being for directions. Yup, the electronics we have are convenient and reliable, but everything goes ka-plooey sooner or later . . .

I agree. Never ever got stuck with electronic ignition.

Well, since he decided to not bother with hot rodding the spark plugs,ya gotta leave him with something to tinker with...
I've had 2 pick up sensors have the epoxy(or whatever it is) turn to goo and give up the ghost....Points system can be reliable and perform well....They just need more maintenance than electronic...

Shirty epoxy. Probably Chinese. There's no reason for epoxies to breakdown provided they are quality and mixed properly. I sold many thousands of gallons of epoxies.
I've converted a few Japanese bikes including one I routinely toured on and ran up to 160 mph routinely. Never had a failure.

Any auto parts store will have Chevy 6 cylinder points & condensors, which are far superior to the so-called shovelhead points J&P sells. Many shovelhead riders say the Chevy points are the best for that application. I have never had any of those go south, but I did have a set from J&P go bad on the road. They had weak springs and the points didn't line up. They burned out after only 3000 miles. Really cheesy Oriental junk.

Some of the EI modules by Crane have had problems with overheating and failing. Problem for me, being on a limited budget, is that if an EI unit goes bad, I'll have to find somebody to come get me and the bike, as neither my AAA roadside assistance nor my Allstate insurance cover motorcycle towing. I could be stranded until somebody gets off work. Sucks bigtime. Then I'll have to come up with another $300 for another EI, which for me means more down time, most likely 1 or 2 weeks until I can scratch the $$$ together. Then there is time spent waiting for the dang thing to arrive in the mail. Oh, and then I'd have to run the new module wiring through the downtube to the coil. No thank you.

A half hour on the road changing or fiddling with the points is far more preferable to me .

Could have been...First one was the OE unit(5yrs old) on the Heritage,2nd was a Genuine HD pick up(lasted 2 yrs)...I don't think failure on them was too common,I just got lucky...

Testing my memory Josh,but I think "Blue Streak" were good quality....