Hello, I'm new to the forum. Absolutely love hitting the road with my wife on our '05 FLHRI. After twelve years together we found a single passion that we both love. I'm the fortunate one since I get to ride it to work.

I have a question which I haven't been able answer using the search function.

I experience an acceleration lag in 3rd & 4th gears, have since about 5000 miles (11500 on the RK now). The best way to describe it is the lag I remember from driving a turbocharged car once. I roll on the throttle pretty quick, I hear the engine rev up, but the accompanying physical acceleration takes a second or two. It happens almost all the time in 3-4 gear when I go to jump ahead of traffic or pass. It has become so pronounced that my brother made a comment about it when we switched bikes for an afternoon.BAsically like trying to accelerate through molasses.

Any suggestions? I do the usual maintenance and checked the primary chain tension when I first noticed it. I hesitate to take it into the dealership, that $300 minimum charge everytime is an annoying tax that bites into the kid's college fund and I'm not proficient enough with engines to start taking things apart without a pretty good idea of what I am looking for.

Thanks for any help

Cruisin in MD in December oh ya!

 

Sounds like maybe a clutch problem. Does this happen as the bike is warming up (early in a ride) or only after it is warm or even hot?

 

RPM's are more important than actual gear selection. If you are at low rpms, then acceleration will be sluggish until you get closer to the meat of the bike's power band. Not as pronounced on a big twin as it is on a smaller inline four but it is there regardless. You mention gears but you don't mention speeds or revs. Did it just start happening or did it simply become more noticeable after you logged 5K miles? Bikes tend to slow down a bit it seems as new owners become used to the power and speed. Sorry, not really much help but keep an eye on your rpms when you are attmepting to acclerate like that the next time. If you are seeing the revs below 2K then that may explain your problem. Or it could be your clutch is slipping and may need to be either replaced or adjusted.

 

Thanks for the replies, the problem shows up after the engine is warmed up. I thought about the clutch adjustment, but I had a HD EZ Clutch kit installed (by the dealer) about 2k miles ago, at which time they adjusted the clutch. Of course its possible they didn't or did not do it correctly. It was happening before the install.

As far as rpms go, I am not sure where I am in the power band. I haven't yet bought the tach addon. It just 'seems' like the bike isn't as responsive as when I bought it. It very well could be a perception problem, familiarity and all, although my brother, who owns a softtail, did comment on the behavior the one time we switched up.
With winter here it may be worth it to check the clutch again while I have the down time. I have to pull and replace the rear tire now anyway. The pervading attitude I've read here is spending $300 for a dealership to swap tires is HWY robbery.
How often does a clutch need replacing? If its every 11500 on an HD I may be looking to trade out, the maintenance cost is getting ridiculous.

 

Clutch replacement varies due to the type of riding done by the rider. Some of us are harder on them than others. If this is your 1st bike that could play a role(if in fact it is a clutch problem). New riders tend to be harder on the clutch than more experienced riders. New riders like to slip the clutch more for some reason. That and drag racing

 

My StreetGlide was the same untill the re-map, now it's perfect, as far as the whine, I rarely hear it...
I noticed the other day I was crusing along at 55mph and it was just purring along no noise, no pinging
and I was in 6th..

The re-map adjusted the base timing, and fuel was fattened..
I noticed the rich black smoke, when I had the baffles out of the SE Slips...
Sounded bad asz, but a bit loud, so I but them back...

I'll wait till the 09's are doing mods to there radiator and water pump, then I'll do some up's..
That would be a FLHTR (touring revolution engine) Ohh... It's comming...