My 2006C needs time to warm up. I bought it used from Williamsport H-D after the woman who originally bought it there, added the pipes and stage 1, lots of chrome at the dealership, rode for 2,000 miles and wanted bigger . When I went to test the bike the dealer even told Me it would need a few minutes to warm up. After My bike warms up 5 minutes she runs great . It starts right up and I only choke for 10-15 seconds on start-up as not to foul the plugs. I figured its the nature of the beast of My ride ..........WVleo

 

before i redid my neighbor's carb on his '97 883 it's take about 5 minutes to get her runnin' right and warmed up,no after the rebuild ya can just start her with the choke out a little and it runs fine after almost a minute...these CV carbs are EASY and CHEAP to rebuild.

 

People just love to say that it is normal... "that's a Harley for ya." To an extent it is... Not to the extreme people make it out to be. Old bikes that havn't been taken care of right... Now that is different. I'm sure you could have it running right with a little work. Lots of help on here if you have questions.

 

Most of the time the Dealer says " It's Normal " That way they don't have to work on it.. With 01 Evo stock CV other than rejetting for Stage 1.. Full choke Start, 10 seconds later, Half choke 2 mins later no choke ... Runs perfect after 2 min warm up and Cranks right up like that in about 1-2 seconds, except if below 50 degrees then might take up to 5 seconds to kick over..

 

My step dad's 02 883 is like that too and it just had a full service not too long ago. It's fine once it's been warmed up, but hat first start of the days is hell.

My 2000 Honda CBR 600F4 was a 4 carb bike and it has to warm up or it would run like crap.

 

I called a local indy this morning. He is a very well respected old school Harley mechanic who has been wrenching bikes for over 30 years. I explained to him my exact problem and that I wanted to bring the bike to him to look at. He told me what I am experiencing is completely normal. He told me that if the bike runs good after its warmed up then the carb doesn't need tuning providing all the intake seals are good (they are all new). He told me that its an enrichener problem. He told me that most guys with this problem don't use the enrichener correctly. He told me to pull it fully out to start, bump it in a little after a little while and keep bumping it in until the bike is fully warmed up.
I told him that my bike starts instantly without having to touch the enrichener. He told me it doesn't matter if it starts instantly or not.

I told him it takes at least 10 minutes for the bike to warm up and again.. he said thats totally normal. Thats funny... I had a 1988 Sportster last year with a Mikuni HSR42 on it and it didn't need any warm up at all unless it was 30 degrees out. I guess its more of a 40mm CV thing rather than and EVO thing. I may have to start looking for a used Mikuni!!

 

Pry the cap off the idle mixture screw tower and turn it counter-clockwise a 1/4 turn. Put a thin (.030 - .040) washer under the slide needle. That should cure it.

 

Sounds like it needs re-jetted which is quite common and MANY people just run there bikes without the proper jetting cause they are lazy and it's easier than fixing it correctly.

 

Apparently you didn't grow up on metrics. My Honda's of the 60'and early 70's were fiercely cold blooded. I put them on the center stand start it up and go do something for 10 minutes or so.

You do what you have to do as in anything. If it bothers you that much go get a proper fuel injected model.

 

The "everybodys" you are talking to don't know what they are talking about, your problem is the bike isn't jetted right. I have a 2000 and a 2003 which are almost the same bike and by the time you get your gloves and helmet on they are ready to go.
You know your bike is 20 years old you might want to throw a set of plugs, plug wires and a new coil on while you are rejetting it.