Hello I've been lurkin' here about six months. I decided to get a HD so I started to bone up on these bikes on this site. Lots of good info here. Still readin' and learnin'.
Any way I just got an 08 Fat Boy and am breaking it in. I went for a ride with a couple of buddies. Now I need some advise. One has a 03 Heritage and the other has a 98 Dyna maybe. I'm not quite sure 'cause he has changed a lot of things.
We were going mostly 50-60mph. I was having trouble deciding which gear to be in 4th or 5th. Seemed to me 4th was the best option most of the time as 5th seemed to lug it a bit. with no tach it was kind of hard to tell where the engine was at other than I could feel it shudder in 5th. That's why I down shifted.I was wondering what others opinions are to try to decide if I'm doing something wrong. I'll prolly ride with these two quite a little and don't want to hurt my bike in the break in. Still less than 200 miles.
Is 4th gear @ 55-60 mph too reving too high? Any idea what rpm the engine is at at 60 mph in 4th gear?
Thanks in advance for the info.

 

4th is ok at 55-60. Harley's like a little more rpm, lugging isn't good for the tranny. If you want to smooth it out though, go to nightrider.com and order yourself a set of IED's. They'll cool you down and smooth out the ride, you'll be able to use 5th a lot more at those speeds. $70 well spent.

 

"MY" rule of thumb has always been if its shaking, downshift. I didn't care what speed I was going. Letting it continue to do it for any real lenght of time does nasty things to the main crank bearings as well as a bunch of other internal components and the rest of the drive train doesn't like it much either.
This winter I installed a tach and have found out that it start that shuddering thing around 1800/1900 rpm. But if I keep the rpms above 2100 or so all's well.
So my advise, for what its worth, is to keep doing exactly what you have been. If it seems to be lugging downshift it cause its better to let it rev a little than it is to try keeping up with them in a higher gear and hammering the guts out of it.

 

This is a great question. I remember when I got my Fatboy, I was having a hard time figuring out what the engine was doing at speed.

I could feel if it was bogging down, but wasn't comfortable.

Citori,
What is the make of the Tach. you have and did you install it yourself, and if so, was it a plug and play?

 

The owners manual tells you what range to drive in. I use 5th about 50 to 65 and then 6th. After the dyno-tune i can use 6th at 55 on flat road but 5th gets me the same gas mileage.

 

+1

He is exactly right on the time to shift. Don't worry about the RPMs, worry about the lugging and shaking. It is very hard on the whole machine. I have found that my 96B motor will not lug like the old EVO 80ci. You need to keep the RPMs up on it. On my FXSTC I have found that you must be in fourth if you areat or above40 mph and not in 5th. Use 5th only above 50 mph and forget 6th unless your running 65 mph or better.

I never worried much about the breakin like some people do. I didn't abuse my new bike but I did ride the thing and did not pamper it. 95% of all the wear on a motor comes in the first 5 minutes of its life. If you think about it much, you know that at thefactory they rev the hell out of it to see if it will stay together before they put it out the door. So don't worry none about a few hundred RPMs one way or the other.

 

Its a HD mini tach on the handlebars, andit was only plug and play if you look atstringing a line to a new pinin the ECM connector that way. It wasn't really hard as I already had the bike ina lot of pieces for winter mods and Ijust tapped intopower and ground lines under the dash for the other two lines.

 

Sounds like you might be babying your motor, lugging is bad. I don't abuse motors new or old but when I get a new vehicle, I will put a good load on the motor and run it up through the gears "briskly" as often as possible for the first 500 miles and include some hi speed freeway miles. Ifyou are too easy on it, might not get a good seal on the rings. Don't take my word for it though,do a search on the internet for new engine breakin and they will explain it better than I can. Congrats on the new bike and welcome to the brotherhood.
Rick

 

welcome and congratulations. cant wait to heal up and break one in.i installed a tach on my flstci and it was well worth it. helped me keep it just off the rev. limiter....

 

Thanks for the replys. I read the chart on the shift speeds. That's partly why I posted this question. The book says one thing. While riding the bike my body says something differant. The book also states to shift to 6th at 55mph. Doesn't feel to me like I'll be shifting in that gear until 65-70 mph.
I'll keep the rpms up and the gears lower.
I was wanting to ride with them and if that's the speed they want to go I'll adjust to them. I may have to go around the block myself and really get it up to speed. lol