I have a 2000 Sportster that was an 883 bored out to the 1200. I ride it daily unless its pouring buckets (light rain no problem). I tried to start it this morning and it made an awful noise....almost like the noise when you start a car that is already started.....it could be heard from under the seat. I am not sure if these issues might all be tied together so I am going to explain all these things that recently happened. Before the noise thing this morning I was having issues with my speedo- every once in a while I would notice it wouldn't go above 25 mph even though I was going at least 40. I swear the bike was running funny when that happened too. I would usually pull over, shut completly down and restart and it would be fine. Though it would continue to happen every few days. Shutting down and restarting always fixed it temporarily anyway. Then one morning I started the bike up and there was a little poof of smoke that seemed to come from behind the air filter....I assumed it was just a bit of oil burning off. I am not sure if all these symptoms are linked or not.....but something definitely happened cause when I tried to start it this morning it scared the crap outta me it sounded so horrible!!!! Any ideas??? I was hoping for something easy.....but most likely I will have to drop off and have a pro check it out........which means its gonna have to wait Guess I'll just have to "steal" hubbys bike for the time being

I'd love to know if anyone had any similar issues and may know what the problem could be (and hopefully easy fix we could do ourselves).

Thanks!

~Cheryl

 

The screeching noise may be a bad starter or starter clutch. The puff of smoke is nothing, it happens occasionally on most carbed Harleys.