It was a perfect day for a ride so I decided to head west to Hagerstown which meant some highway and 70+ mph. The only thing I experienced was what I believe was an "engine ping" when I get into 6th gear around 70mph and the engine feels like it is lagging. but when I down shift back to 5th engine sound smooth and the throttle response is great, now in order to maintain 65mph I am high on the rpm around 2500-3000 more toward 3K.

Is it posible to experienced pinging at that speed? what harm am I inducing riding at such high rpm? I almost have to be around 75+ in order to kick it in 6th gear. Is this normal with the 6th gear with several minor MODs on the bike: true dual, custom mufflers, Zipper hi-flow air cleaner and thunder max with auto tune.

 

Is this only as you twist the throttle? Mine does when I do at 65+ MPH.

 

make sure of the grade of gas your using. Had that problem when i first got my buke and discovered you should use high octane fuel. And on my trip to fla recently, filled up with high octane and still had a little pinging, think it was some low grade fuel in the pump.

 

You can ping in any gear if conditions are right.
Even 92 octane gas is crap today because of the ethanol that's been added. You might try using an octane booster. It not only eliminated pinging in my road king but gave me another 2 miles per gallon in mileage. It made the bike run so much better it felt like an upgrade.

What harm can it do? Worst case; your pistons will explode apart. Pinging is pre-ignition and can really f*#$ up you motor.

 

read my post i just did. for the same reasons as you...
gas is NOT the same from pump to pump


https://www.hdforums.com/forum/touri...atch-cure.html

 

thanks for the heads up quikluv .i get some pinging once in a while too and it drives me nuts .i've seen the lucas stuff and wondered how well it worked now i'm going to give it a try

 

I had the same problem with my 07 FLHTC in 6th gear. I fixed it by trading it for an 09 FLHTC and have not had the problem in any gear since.

 

only use quality gas its not worth saving a few pennies for the cheap stuff-ride safe

 

You need to run at least 2800 RPM's = 80MPH for 6th gear. The 09's changed the rear pulley to 68 tooth and run 3000 at 80 MPH. I'm trying to find out if can change to that pulley without doing a new belt which is also different but don't know if it is because of the frame change or the pulley? The sportster pulley is 68 tooth also but haven't got an answer on the belt difference either? Might start a separate thread.

 

Thanks for the heads up on the octane booster. I only use 93 octane since that is all I use in the Bimmers. I figured using 93 octane shouldn't need to use octane booster. I'll try that on my next ride.