Yes. Absolutely. I have the mental image clearly in view:

Harley Davidson department heads file into the conference room to meet and discuss design goals for the 105th anniversary 2008 touring line-up. They seat around the table, with their engineering support types sitting in chairs along the walls of the conference room behind them.

The meeting is called to order, and the head guy says, "OK guys, who has some ideas on what we ought to do with the 2008 models?"

Several of the department heads offer some ideas and suggestions, some of which are very innovative. One such idea is, "We need to take this occasion, with the 2008 line, to introduce the "fly-by-wire" throttle our R&D people have perfected. And the best thing about it is that it'll limit engine output to 80% of what's possible. Whatdya think, boss?"

Head guy replies, "Yeah, man, that sounds exactly like my vision of what the 105th Anniversary touring bikes should look like. Go for it! Great thinking!"

Yeah. Just right.

C'mon, gimme' a break. I OWN an '08 UC. It's box-stock, and it runs just fine. I don't go around looking for '07s to race and see if my '08 can beat 'em or not; I passed that maturity-point decades ago.

This BS is a ripe candidate for one more internet myth.

 

That's exactly what my indy tuner said when I asked him about this. It's all about the velocity of the air. The throttle opens all the way when the rpms of the motor can pull the volume in with the same velocity. By preventing it from opening all the way at lower rpm's islike putting your thumb over the end of a garden hose to get it to spray stronger.

It's a good thing!

 

You hot the nail right on the head there B88!!
There are quite a few Dullards on here that I see in numerous posts that have absoloutly nothing positive to add to the topic. So they just dump on the poster or say some thing really intelligent like "Hell, just ride it" I wish some of these smarta$$es would develop a new skill, like STFU!

I have the exact same problem with my 08 ultra, which BTW is the biggest POS Harley I have ever owned. Its a shame that you have to spend 25K on a bike and another 3K to make it run decent. If you figure out a fix please let those of us that are intersted know.

 

Either mine is a freek or they changed something in the recent production '08's. Mine doesn't lag on the highway when I twist the grip. Acceleration from 60 mph to 100 mph in 6th gear is continuous, seamless pullingevent without cutting out 20% of the avail. HP. Acceleration in any of the gears isthe same-flawless. No cut back of power that I can tell.I get it all when I twist the grip, and it works and no pinging.. And that is stock out of the crate. I admit, though, I have never turned the grip to the wall when it was parkedon it's kick stand and see if the rev limiter was working. Why would I do that?

I wonder if you don't have other issues going on with your bike. Maybe a faulty ecm, or something else with the tuner you use and it's interface with the fuel/air mixture. It shouldn't bog at 70 mph when you turn it on. Why would you expect it to ping upon acceleration? I think there is probablyan anti predetonation sensor in there to prevent that. Something sure isn't jake here.

 

I recognize the very subtle throttle lag, but I'm talking subtle. You simply have to roll on it a bit more in first gear than with the cable set-up. It took me 5 minutes to get used to it. My 08 103" is without question the smoothest, quickest, nicest running HD I've owned and seriously one of the nicest overall motorcycles I've ridden. Still..if it's a problem for you, it's a problem. I'm picky too and there are lots of things that bug me that others don't find to be a problem.

 

Skip your right about maybe helping out performance when you think it through. My first fuler always have had carbs. Now Racket you enjoy your box stock UC and hope its forat least for another decade.

 

Man, this is confusing. My '08 FLHTCU runs like a scalded dog and did so before the SERT, intake and dyno. Never any lag, nothing whatsoever but smooth as silk ***** to the wall power.

Is there a possibility that some model runs have the problem and others don't?

 

There seems to be two different conditions being mixed together in this thread. One being the noticeable lag in throttle response on some of the 08 touring bikes. I've experienced this myself on a SG that I took for a test ride. It did go away after several miles though. I don't know why it was there in the first place. Let alone what made it go away.

The second "condition" if you will is the throttle being limited to 80% under a certain rpm. As some before have posted. This will actually help throttle response by improving velocity of the incoming air. It should give us the best of both worlds by being able to have a slightly bigger throttle body for more cfm potential as well as keeping it from being a dog on the bottom end. Sort of the electronic equivalent of a vacuum operated secondary on a 4 barrel. It won't open if properly set up until the engine can handle the additional airflow.

 

I ride an 08 ugc also, and have noticed the lag when I give the throttle a quik "blip" when I down shift. I hope it goes away with time, or when the weather finally warms up. Not sure if I like the whole Idea of "fly by wire" yet.