Both of my bikes are 2005's,(Dyna , Sportster) so 14 years on the carbs. My question is, what are symptoms its time to disassemble and clean/rebuild a CV carburetor? is it responsiveness?, Miles per gallon?. I don't really notice any performance issues, but my 883 seemed to have a bit more responsiveness years back, it seems like a not really noticeable "performance" issue has crept up, in terms of responsiveness. By responsiveness, I mean 0-60 time , acceleration etc, seems slower. I know, its an 883, but it has a defined 0-60 time, and now it seems to be a dog. Maybe I am used to the 883 power? is that possible?

 

well, a #1 killer of performance is loss of compression, even a few pounds can make a diff.
my 01 sport still kicking on the same carb.
even if only one cylinder is off a tad will bring it down.
anything mechanical is subject to wear.

 

Ill have to check it out, I have the compression tester, if it was to need a top end, i would do the 1200 swap Im thinking.

 

Man, isn't much going ion on the "tech' side of this forum, at least not in the carburetor dept. To the fella who said "compression" thanks, but I know the bike has compression by listening to it crank over, that and it has relatively low 15 thousand miles. Also, one would approach the "easy " thing first, not go after engine internals when they can clean the gunk out of the carb easily and affordably, now, I am going to consider tuning the bike myself, ( most likely the CV performance carb upgrades) as I have the equipment to work carburetors, vacuum guages etc, only thing I am seeing that I can't do is ajust timing, which I think the 2003 models were the last year for that. I may (or may not ) keep ya posted. No promises...P.S. I do have a service manual

 

yep, i can do a wheelie on my schwin because i know i got power in my legs. but hummm, age does affect how far i can go.
butt dyno is good but the numbers are always skewed.
carb issues can creep up but there are signs. i never hurts to freshen up anything so rebuild it.
sportsters can be temperamental, one day run like a scalded dog and the next a three year old on a tricycle will out run it as atmospheric conditions effect power.
my 01 will turn 60 mph in first, pull the wheel up with a slam to second and when i drop 3rd, no speedo left. carb never touched other than jetting, many more miles than yours.

 

Yeah, Yeah, Yeah.....

 

too bad you cannot put this in the sportster, a real hoot
http://www.twistgear.net/page%20html/sportgear.html

shift points are higher on mine, rev limit 7.5k
surprises a lot of rice, not on take off but sailing down the road. running 5k is the speedo limit 120mph. sometimes i will make a 50 mile run so done in short order!
stock, hardly!