so i'm heading into work this morning and as i pulled out of the neighborhood, i switch to second gear and start to give it gas. it felt very sluggish. but i got it up to third gear and then there was no response. every time i would give it throttle, it would bog down like i was at a stop and had it in sixth gear. i turned on my hazards and cut the bike off (while rolling with the clutch in), turned it back on, dropped it down to 1st and took off. everything was fine after that. but that was the strangest thing i've ever seen on a bike. it's only a month or two old (2014 ultra limited). any idea what could have caused something like that??

 

I had this EXACT same thing happen to me Sunday while on the highway in a construction zone with no place to pull off. Happened while going 60mph. I want to think that I somehow hit the kill switch but with nowhere to pull off and traffic around it was a bit unnerving and I can't quite remember all the details. But the throttle still acted like it was responding but with each twist the bike would bog down hard. I was able to stop, get the hazards on, get the run/start switch in the right position (no idea where I started from as I was in a bit of panic mode) and then it fired right up.

Bike is about 2 months old with 2100 miles. Scared the hell out of me for sure.....

 

ok, well, i guess it's good that it wasn't just me...but it's bad because i agree...it was a bit unnerving. i was on a main road, but there was no traffic that early in the morning. if that was on the freeway i would have probably **** a brick.

 

Thanks for posting. Did you guys get a verdict on what was causing this?

I ran into this same thing over the last day or two on my 2014.5 FXDL. It started yesterday with a very brief hesitation / bogged down reaction when I was shifting up into 2 gear.

Then this morning it happened as I was leaving home. When I would get into the throttle going into 2nd or 3rd the bike would bog down hard. When I let off the throttle it almost acted like it was dead but when I let off the throttle and coasted for a little bit it would start again. I decided to head back for home. I basically just took it really easy on the throttle so that I could make it back home.

 

With no codes thrown...my first guess would be bad gas


My older bike did that 3 times in one day, straight up dies like you hit the kill switch, popped clutch nothing, coasted to a stop, cycled the key fired right up, did it 2 more times in about an hour. Thought the fuel pump may be going out, HAS NEVER repeated it again, that was 2 yrs ago still have the bike. Caulked it up to bad gas

 

On another (Japanese) bike this very similar thing happened from time to time. It turned out to need a new fuel pump. Though a different type of pump (the old bike had carbs, not FI), the fuel pump had become intermittent, especially with a cold engine.

 

Thanks for following up. It turned out that the bike threw a B2201, ignition switch problem. I was ready to go into air and fuel. I checked the recalls at HD and sure enough she has an ignition switch recall issue. The ignition switches from Kansas City were not good and eventually shook something to its breaking point.