I might be wrong, but I am 90% sure the '16 was my last new Harley. It's got 47k mostly trouble free miles on it.
Next one will likely be another EVO bagger. Get back to a carb and a tool roll that can fix anything.
An EVO FXR is at the top of my want list for the next bike.
Never mind you can get an Evo to keep up with modern bikes to some degree, S&S makes an Evo 124" crate motor that'll fit even in the softails, if you got enough money.
An 80" Evo with the right work can go to 100 HP, maybe more but up to at least 95 HP without reliability issues. And not that there's anything wrong with a TC, but an Evo is so much easier of a platform to work on.
But, I might be a little biased.
That said, I am excited about the Revolution Max engine. Just the general idea, that's the direction to go for more power (over square, OHC, liquid cooled etc). The only way to reach the same power potential with an air-cooled, under-square overhead valve pushrod engine, is to significantly increase it's size and weight. But that's just about power. I imagine it would be a nightmare to work on for your average home mech.
But at the same time, I generally ascribe to a "simple is better" or "only make it as complex as is necessary" type philosophy. More complexity = more points of potential failure. Take my 2009 CRV for example, it's currently down because some redundant safety feature is broken, which renders it completely unusable. There's a transmission position sensor that, if it doesn't detect the transmission in park, it won't let you turn it all the way off and remove the key, and there's no override. So even though it is in park mechanically, the sensor doesn't register it as so, so the only way to turn it off and remove the key, is to disconnect the battery. Now, I haven't looked under it yet, but it is hopefully the sensor itself gone bad rather than a broken arm off of the transmission that activates the sensor.
Or take modern cars in general. A/C compressor seizes up? You don't just lose the A/C, you also potentially ruin the belt, the alternator, the starter, etc. You can't just run the car as a car without A/C. Radio wire shorts out? Well now the car won't run, just stalls and dies at idle, so you can't just run it as a car with no radio. Etc.
But there is an appeal to me in both directions, for different reasons. If you could do all the modern power stuff and modern engines with FI and everything else but make them more simple and easier for your at home mech or road-side fixing, that would be ideal, like if you could work it at home and not need a shop computer with proprietary software, etc.
I can't say about the M8s how they are to work on with regards to the engine, if you have ABS that's something very difficult to do yourself. I have no experience with them and FI stuff.
As far as "touring" bikes, I only have ever been interested in two: an FXRT, or one of the M8 Road King Specials (but not the standard RK). If I was made of money, I would get an M8 RKS with Harley performance upgrades but keeping it mild and using it only for trips, and then using a heavily performance worked Evo (more so than mine is) as my daily rider.
YMMV
