He said it had something to do with EPA rules or something.
From seaching this sight and the web it would seem like the 2005 and a few 2006 Sportys are having this problem.. Didn't see much about any older ones, so I would think you are ok.

 

Mine doesn't run completely smooth, but I don't know that it runs as bad as what you guys are describing.
I don't know what the difference might be... - btw, I use 93 Octane.

Don't know how old anyone is...., but if you are old enough to remember "Pre- 1972" cars, they had some *****. Then the EPA got in the middle of it and a new Vette had under 200HP. It took how many years for the auto industry to come back around. Now they have their sights on the motorcycle industry.


The EPA has put both emission and sound level restrictions all vehicles, but bikes have never been as high on the EPA "Radar", as they are today.

- a lot of '06 bike have catalytic converters

V-twins, sportbikes and dirtbikes are all getting a lot of attention, these days. It's only going to get worse. The Motor Company will have to keep up with the regs, or stop selling certain models.

If I were to guess, I bet that would be why the '04, '05 and '06 have high flow heads and some other mods..., because without those upgrades and the EPA crap would have choked the $h!t out of the old motors, even more than they do now !

If you do a STAGE I, it is "your" mod, as far as the EPA is concerned, if the Motor Company sold it that way (so that it sounds like a Harley and breathes like a Harley), it would either be a lot more money or they would be paying fines and legal fees. I'm not an employee, just understand a little bit about corporate America.

If the manufacturers (all bikes), don't tweak the motors, HP and overall performance, will just get worse as the years progress.

Check out http://www.ama-cycle.org/
also check out some of the V-twin magazines, like American Iron or V-twin

 

I was talking to the manager at my local dealership and he told me something interesting. When buying a Harley new, they are setup all loose and off. But when you bring it in for the 1000 mile tune up, they straighten everything out. I don't know if this has any relivence to whats happening to you, but it may help.

 

Well, I got my bike back on Tuesday....it only took a couple of minutes to fix it, apparently. They said they bumped up the idle RPM's....as I have been riding it and things wore in, it didn't like the low idle and effect it as on the idle circuit (like in an old VW, for instance) which was making it not want to kick in the low speed jet enough. That was what I was told....long story short....my 1200Low now runs absolutely perfect....I'm not sure why it took them so long to admit it wasn't running right and then fix it. The guy at the service counter said that he thinks that whichever mechanic did the dealer prep didn't bother to put a dwell on the idle and left it too slow.

Either way, it seems to run good so far.....*crossing fingers*

George
Chattanooga, TN

 

The 1200's do like to run at a pretty high idle speed.

When I purchased my "new used" 2005 1200C I thought the idle speed seemed high, so I lowered it to 750 RPM's, and the bike was not that happy....

Didn't have a service manual, so I experimented a little bit, and found that my 1200 ran best with the idle speed set right at 1,000 RPM.

After I got a manual for the 2005 Sportster I checked and found that Harley does recommend an idle speed of 950 - 1,050 RPM.

 

Hi everyone, I'm a newbie as well. I've had my 2005 XL1200c for about 2 weeks now. It is acting the same way. I thought it was just mine! Whew! When I'm at a stop, and rev it a little (thinking it might die) it kind of cuts out and then comes back. I guess I need to adjust the idle screw first? Question: If it's too lean, can I adjust the mixture screw? And make it more rich? (I don't have a mnaual as of yet, just reading on here as much as possible.)
When I bought it, the dealer just did the 1k mile service. It has a stage 1 upgrade. w/ SEII's.
The sales manager told me I should bring it in because she thought that it seemed cold too. If I can't do a quick fix (w/o screwing it up worse) then I will take it in.

 

George The dealer is blowing smoke. . I would take the bike back and make them make it right. If all of the sportsters ran like you say that yours does guess what, The dealership service department would be full of bikes with angry owners. My 04 1200C has about 5700 miles on it and has run like a dream from day one. I bought my bike from Thunder Creeks sister dealership Killer Creek Harley Davidison in Roswell Ga.

I would recommend getting a service manual and at least get idea of what is going on. Most of the manuals have execellent trouble shooting guides that will help most ownes with some basic skills work things out.

It is very disturbing and frustrating that a dealership will take your money and not want to help you resolve your problem. I have a friend that had a big issue with a bike a while back, He took his bike back to the dealership and told the owner that he would be contacting Harleys Finance department and let them know that they would be getting the bike back.

Long story made short, His bike was repaired and running as it should have in the first place.

Good luck

Mark

 

My advice...

Find you a local shop. Interview the guys there until you feel you are comfortable with what they say. Not every local shop has competant wrenches. Sporties are a totally different animal, and so are the guys who wrench them...

In Texas, I trust only one shop to wrench my sporty. He's got 15 years of drag racing, built 3 record breaking sporty motors for other folks--one is the fastest 883 on the gulf coast.

The only thing I buy from HD are things I need--bling bling, or replacement parts that would otherwise take to long for my local guy to get himself.

I DO NOT TRUST THE WRENCHES AT ANY HD DEALER. My sporty had similar problems that HD told me were normal--but when I bought mine it has 2 years old and had 4k miles on it.

The guy that will tune it right will be your new best friend. Any wrench that is willing to talk to you and understand your frustration is worth paying.

Two Cents!!! Maybe all it's worth.

 

I have an 06 Sportster XL1200C with almost 700 miles on it and it runs like crap, especially when cold. It stalled on me two times this morning on the way to work. It also spits and sputters at higher speeds when cold or hot. The only way I know how to combat it (at slower sppeds) is to ride with the enricher **** out for a longer period of time than the owners manual says, which in turn fouls the plugs. This bike is getting on my nerves. I have not had it into the shop yet but I will be taking it in shortly for the routine 1000 mile maintenance. I will voice my displeasure at that time and post my findings. For my first HD I am not 100% satisfied.

 

Well, they finally got my bike working....I had to finally take it down there and make someone ride it while I stood there and watch them go. They adjusted the idle up some, it wasn't set right and when I wasn't accelerating, it was kicking on the idle jets or something....either way, it's running good now. =-) It only took a month. sheesh!

George.....Chattanooga, tn