I hadn't ridden my 98 evo Road King through the hills of Austin since last summer and I noticed that after about 2 hours of hard riding non stop it started to run a bit sluggish up the hills and on take off. My bro rides an 09 Road King and he said his felt a bit sluggish too. Is this common for harleys to run sluggish when ridden hard in 80 degree weather or is my King loosing pressure. Just wondering.

 

Don't know if it had fresh gas or old stuff in it, but even if it was new you may have gotten a tank of regular instead of super duper. Maybe the oil is due for a change, might be gettin thin in the heat.What weight you runnin?.,,

 

Is it fuel injected or carb? Maybe carb or injectors need cleaning if its set for a long time.

 

Carburator. Mikuni carb stock. I guess it is due for an oil change and i run synthetic harley oil. Maybe the plugs need replacing?

 

Do you have a fuel filter on it? It may have gotten some dirt in the carb if you don't. How long did it sit? It is not common for it to get sluggish imho. Mine has just over 40k and still runs great. Drop the oil and see how the plugs look while you are at it.

 

Just a thought. Perhaps the umbrella valves have begun to harden/fail and the air filter is getting oil soaked?
Of course, that doesn't explain your buddy's bike.

 

They've been cramming ethanol down our throats. Its likely that last summer, you hadnt experienced the lack of power it provides... If your buddy is having the same issues, its not just your bike.. Take a look at the plugs to see how they are burning and you could need the carb adjusted to compensate..

 

Hmm. I put in new plugs. They were black. Changed out the plug cables to the screaming eagle ones. Running like a champ now. Hardly any backfiring when i gun it. The occasional fart, but not like before. Also changed to Amsoil 20w 50 oil. I'll check the plugs again after a few hundred miles to see if they are black. Hopefully not. All is good for now. Thanks for the replies.

 

Don't start feeling all warm and fuzzy yet. Something fouled those plugs. How's the air filter? I know how sluggish I feel when I need MY pipes cleaned.
Might still have a carb issue too.

 

Don't go ginksing it now... 3 weeks later and still doing good. Although I am thinking about going with the stage 1 and having it dino tuned while I'm at it, cause the filter does need replacing anyways. I figure I'll have to fork out some bones. That's gonna hurt.