I'm a new Harley owner and new to hdforums. I've put on about 1400 miles of light cruising in my first 2 months. Stored for the winter now, 12F for a high in Minnesota yesterday. My ride is a 2006 RKC, purchased in Sept with 6800 miles. It was improved by the former owner who gave me all the paperwork. It has Bassani dual exhaust, Screaming Eagle slip-on slash down pipes, stage 1 upgrades with an EFI race tuner kit, and was dyno tuned by the dealer. The before and after dyno run sheets show about a 9% increase in HP and torque. It runs great and is a thrill to ride, but being new to HD, I have a question: during deceration it really cackels and pops and even backfires on occasion. Is this normal? Also, in that 1400 miles fuel economy has been steady at about 33-35mpg. Most of this has been city driving and slow cruising, about 1/2 the time 2up with the wife along. I wasn't looking for economy when getting into a HD but I guess I was expecting better than this.
Thanks in advance for your replies.

 

Sounds like it is lean at 0% throttle. You can take it to another dyno tuner and have them baseline the bike and they can tell you if they can tweek the tune to make it run better but should be able to get rid of the popping regardless. Before doing that, however, check all your exhaust connections and make sure they are snugged up good. If its sucking air in, that can cause the popping too.

 

Not normal. Your tune is probably off. Have it tuned by a reputable tuner that knows what they are doing. The only other thing that can cause noises are exhaust and/or intake leaks.

 

Gurgling is normal, especially if you're downshifting. Backfire....not normal. An occasional pop, maybe. Also what kind of fuel are you using? Run 93 octane. Like mentioned above. Check exhaust gaskets and exhaust connections before going to a tuner. Might save you a few bucks. Just caught the "Dynoed by a dealer".....Might want to go to a reputable tuner.

 

Should be getting closer to 40 and no back-firing.

Like Dawg said.. and others.. reputable tuner. Lot's of fancy parts won't make it go if it isn't tuned correctly, and many aren't.

 

I've mostly run 92 octane non-oxy gas. Gurgling and popping as you describe it might fit. Actual backfire popping only happens occasionally after getting on it hard and letting off or downnshifting rapidly. I likely don't have a problem but am a tech college instructor in the heavy diesel industry and backfire there normally indicates a problem.
thanks

 

Just hit about 1K on mine and I'm getting 37mpg combined with a 103 and a canned map. Getting it tuned next week.
Ask around and find a good tuner in your area. Preferrably one trained by Doc. It'll be worth it. Just because you got an HP increase, doesn't mean it's running right.