To preface the bikes age and condition, she's a 1996 Road King Fuel Injected. Purchased about a year ago w/ 9 miles, at the time of purchase all fluids replaced, and given the once over by dealer. Fluids changed again after break in period. No issues w/ the bike to this point.


I travel a lot for work, so my riding can often be spaced by weeks at a time. After my last trip, I came home and rode into work. It had been about 2 weeks since I last rode. The bike sounded much louder than usual. I almost had myself convinced I just couldn't remember correctly how she sounded, until I was going 55 in 5th gear and trying to accelerate, not getting much power, and again, sounding really loud. At this point my gut told me something was wrong, but I hadn't really accepted it. After riding the bike to work two more times I was convinced something wasn't right.


I talked about it with a buddy at work, and he said it might be a loose clutch, but when I squeeze the clutch lever, there is no play, and it snaps back quickly, and he replied that perhaps the clutch isn't the problem.


I plan on doing clutch adjustment when I get it home today, to go through the motions, but I wanted to see if anyone could suggest what else it might be? No slipped gears, no shifting issues. When I get all the way to 5th gear, it feels like it shifts, but as I said, loud and sluggish.


Thoughts?

 

If there is no play at all in the clutch lever, that suggests something isn't right. There should be around 1/16" free play where the lever butts against the cable mounting point.

 

GRBROWN,


I shouldn't say there is no play, there isn't excessive play. Buddy of mine just took it out real quick for a second opinion. He agrees, clutch feels fine, you can feel it shift, but definitely something with the tranny. Sluggish and loud from 3rd gear up, the higher the gear, the more noticeable the issue.

 

I adjusted mine just a few days ago, so the settings are still emblazoned in my mind!

 

Is this a typo ? A 1996 with 9 miles purchased 1 year ago ??
"To preface the bikes age and condition, she's a 1996 Road King Fuel Injected. Purchased about a year ago w/ 9 miles, at the time of purchase all fluids replaced, and given the once over by dealer."

 

A clutch adjustment should be done stone cold.
After being parked overnight.
Not warm...cold...like when the bike has been asleep for 8 hours.

 

I was wondering this as well!

So, I'm a little confused by some of your terminology.
The thread title says high rpms but your post talks about the bike being loud. Do you mean that in 4th/5th gear the bike revs higher but you get no more speed/pulling/power?
If so then, yes, I agree that you probably have a slipping clutch. I would suggest that you not ride it until you get the clutch adjusted - I speak from experience on that.
Unless the clutch is wildly out of adjustment it won't prevent you from shifting between gears.
As was said, the clutch has to be adjusted with the bike stone cold. The clutch cable has to be completely loose before adjusting the clutch pak. There are good you tube videos that explain the process start to finish. As well as a sticky in the trans tech section of this fourm.
It's not difficult to adjust the clutch but it can be finicky. The last time I did mine it took 3 tries to get it exactly right. Once set properly it wont slip, will shift smoothly and quietly and find neutral easily both cold and hot.

 

Not a typo, bought from a guy who collected bikes, and it just sat on display. I may be wrong about RPMs, but it is definitely louder. After some research, someone said it might be the exhaust pipes loose at the heads. From 3rd gear/35 mph and up the bike becomes much louder, and seems to have much less power. I notice it the most when I'm in 5th gear, 55 mph, it feels the bike really has to work to stay at that speed, and its much louder than it has been in the past.

I'm going to try to adjust the title, because i think its not a matter of RPMs as it is how loud the bike is, with how little power I'm receiving.

Hope that makes more sense and can assist in feedback.

 

Adjust the title? A lot of your terminology makes little sense.

If the RPM's are increasing but the speed isn't, the clutch is slipping. Its as simple as that. If you do not know how to adjust it (and not just the cable only, the clutch itself needs to be adjusted) then take it to a shop that does and get an informed decision of what is wrong.

 

Adjust the title of the thread, this thread, on this forum. I realized after additional research that the issue isn't RPMs, but how loud the engine is. RPMs are not being effected. There is no tach on the bike, so at first I was assuming the increased noise was RPMs, but I do not believe that is the case.