I must be one of the lucky ones. Don't seem to have much if any noise in 5th gear. I find that 5th is lugging at anything under 55-60 and 6th lugs at 65-70. That's been my experience anyway.

HDBIKER.....on interstates at 70 your getting passed like an old lady in a wheel chair in the New York Marathon. BTW, a good friend of mine moved from NJ to Lebanon a few years ago. He rides a Norton.

 

Maybe back East your way. In a number of western states, it's 70+, especially in those long stretches across Montana--where you can really crank it.I mean--you may ride for an hour and not see anyone.You can pretty much exceed the posted limit by 5 mph, although some say 9 mph before you're asking for it in Western Washington. I won't hit 6th before I'm over 70+. It just doesn't run as sweetly. 6th for me is an overdrive gear for cruisin' at speed. My 07 likes 70+--period. I do a lot of riding in 5th gear because I don't gain anything dropping it into 6th with some of the hills we have.

 

Mine runs just fine on flat roads @ 65 in 6th.

 

the clatter sound i am just going to have to get use to it. harley aint going to do a thing about it. it will be up to us to figure it out and what to do. there are time i have been in 6th at 70 or so and had to slow down to 50 and it still ran fine hardly any "clattering" but i do change it to a lower gear right away though.
i hear the clattering at a constant speed in 5th gear. i just deal with it now. as far as i can see and from what i have read nothing is going to help. i do have 85-140 in the trannie though. i do like the heavier oil

 

My bike can run happily in 6th at 60 mph, so it all depends on who's riding and what they think the bike should sound like. Having been a mechanic for over 25 years I know what lugging is and my bike's not lugging at this speed.

Ignore the comments that you have to be above "X" speed or you're lugging it [sm=bs.gif]
Each bike is different and if a particular bike sounds happy at "X" speed in 6th, it probably is...

 

Don't believe I've seen his bike. What's he do here?

 

He is a sign painter by trade. Mostly lettering and graphics on cars, trucks, boats, ETC. He was also working for a friend that owns a Stair Manufacturing Company somewhere in or near Lebanon. His name is Howard.

 

Trust me, dude, it don't matter what gear I'm in, I'm running at least 3000 rpm (that includes 6th). I heard all that "yer luggin it crap" when I first brought it to the dealers attention on Aug 23, 2006 right after the first time I shifted into 5th gear. I came straight home and called them about it. Got a call back a few days later from a tech, told me "its the nature of the beast". Emailed the VP of quality and customer service about it. Got a callback from John who took a lot of notes. Told me if there was a fix I was on the list to get it.
You want me to ride it like a 125cc two stroke motocross bike? I got no problem doing that. But realize when you put a heavy load on the bike (me + wife+gear) you get a gawdaful noise. Even running it at 5000 rpms.

 

Thank you , Texas Ranger. it appears that not everybody is experiencing the same noises. I'm sorry but if I can't cruise at 2200-2500 rpms on level ground or down grade in any gear without causing mechanical distress somethings just not right. I bought another Harley because I love the way they sound. If I've constantly got to have it wound up just to keep it from clattering it takes all the fun out of riding a Harley. Yeah, I love to wind'er up, but not constantly.These are TOURING bikes aren't they?I rode by buddy's 2000 Dyna the other night. THAT'S WHAT I LOVE!!! No noise in any gear, at all. Just a healthy clunk into gear and a little valve clatter...beautiful. This '07 noise can't, simply cannot, be a hard thing to fix. It's either the primary chain slapping or the trans itself. And whywon't it clatter in the first 4 gears, at all, not a sound, at ANY rpm? There has to be a good answer. And if Winchester Harley can't make it go away, I'll throw money at it myself to fix it. I just need to know what to look at first. I still love this bike! But admit that as a Harley customer I will definitely have a hard time going back if this issue isn't handled properly. It is a $20,000 investment. I trade in/update about every 5 years, I'm 43. Hmmm, I count about 5 more bikes in this run. Not to mention all the parts and accessories. Oh and what about word of mouth advertising. Sounds like the profitable thing would be for the MOCO to just step up and fix what needs fixin'!

 

I do agree with Steetglide007 that HD should fix it. I called another dealer today and he said that it might be the automatic primary chain tensionermechanism that might be defective. He said they have had 2 other bikes that needed to have this replaced and it solved the clattering issue. I have an appointment set up for Wed. next week and will let you know what they find. He seemed to actually care that I had a problem with the noise(clatter) and that it wasn't normal. He did say the whine is normal but the clattering is not. I'm still going to ride it as I did today although today the clatter seemed louder than before...could be my hearing but it sure seemed louder. Anyway good luck to all on getting this issue solved.