Ok so my bike is a 07 883 and is totally stock except for the belland hasunder 600miles on it. Normally I let it idle while I am gearing up. A couple of times while doing that the engine skipped and acted like it was gonna die for a split second. I first thought that it might just have been a bad tank of gas since I did buy it used from one of the local HD dealers and had no idea how old the gas was. But it has done this a couple of more times since I have gone though that tank. Is this just a normal thing for them? Is it just due to the poor tuning from the factory? Is it something else?

 

You could start by putting in some fresh gas and taking it for a nice long ride on some of your favorite roads. Make sure you get in some good highway miles and vary your speed because your bike is still in the break-in period. Try to find some nice long hills and a bunch of good twisty roads where you can really work the throttle to get a feel of how the motor behaves through the rpm range.

I have an '07 1200 with just under 1K miles and it will do the same thing if I let it sit and idle. My rule of thumb is to start bike, zip jacket, helmet and gloves and off we go. Roll it easy until I can feel it's warmed up. I was always taught that the best way to warm the bike was to ride it gently, no lugging. I was always taught, and learned, that letting the bike sit and idle to warm up, unless it's exceptionally cold, just loaded up the cylinders with unburnt fuel mixture until you ride it long enough to get it up to peak operating temps and burn off the excess.

Who knows, I may be out in left field...

 

+1, I agree my 07 1200 does the same thing if i let it sit and idle, it isnt doing the bike anygood. Its best just to fire it up and start riding it gently for 5 miles or so till the engine is warmed up then give it the gas.

 

It is normal, someone here posted a while back that it is when the FIswitches from open loop to closed loop but I have no idea what that means or even if it's true, but mine has done the "single stumble" thing since new.
I must disagree with some though, I don't think it's better to put any engine under load until itis warmed up, no professionally operated piece of equipment is operated under load while still cold. I let mine warm up till it's uncomfortable to hold my palm flat against the cooling fins.

 

My 07 will stumble once in a while before it warms up, I usually go a few block then hammer it.If it skips a beat I just get on it.

 

just be glad you didn't buy a single-spark BMW oilhead.....

 

I finally figured out the problem.. It also happens in OBDII cars from 96 to present. You just don't notice it as much with your car. When you start it up, the PCM is monitoring and adjusting the fuel/air ratio. At one point, the mechanical part of the engine is working faster than the computer and has a kinda hick-up. The PCM quickly tries to recover, but sometimes isn't fast enough and you either get a misfire or the engine dies. This won't happen on a car, because it's firing on more that 2 cylinders. The PCM's programming allows for this and thinks it's normal and no MIL light(Check Engine) light stays on. One of these days when the PCM's are faster than the mechanical counterpart, this problem will be resolved.

D

 

Always helps to let the bike warm up, carb model or EFI. It's a Harley, two cylinders, not a car. You will get the hang of itand it will not be a problem.

 

Basically it will start and run fine. Within a few minutes of idlingit will lug a few times then pick up. That's normal.

 

If this is true, why don't the other FI bikes do this. It seems to be a 1200 sportster thing. Many seem to be resolved to accept this issue which I find very frustrating. C'mon Harley Davidson, step up to the plate with some tech assistance to fix this. I don't want my bike at the dealer's troubleshooting the riding season away when this appears to be happening on many of the new FI sportsters and there should be a known fix for it.