Hey everyone, I’m having a weird problem with my 05 sportster 883; any ideas as to what might be going on would be appreciated. I installed Slip Ons (Vance and Hines slash cut) Saturday night and took it for a test ride around the neighborhood, everything seemed to run fine. Sunday morning I tried to take it out for a longer ride and got maybe half a mile down the road before I started encountering engine trouble. The bike runs fine when I’m accelerating, but when I’m cruising along at a steady speed (doesn’t matter if it’s 35 or 60) the motor cuts out. It starts back up just fine with the clutch in or in neutral but won’t cruise at speed. My first thought was that it was a carb problem unrelated to the slip on installation, but when I took it apart everything seemed clean. I’ve been wracking my brain about this but am pretty much at a loss here.

When I installed the slip ons I didn’t loosen or remove the head pipe (only the stock mufflers and heat shields) and was able to manage getting the old mufflers off and the new ones on, so I don’t know what condition the gasket between the head pipe and the motor might be, but I doubt this would be caused by an exhaust leak if there is one. I’m honestly having trouble seeing how this could be related to the slip on install since it seems to run fine at idle and while accelerating just not when maintaining a speed, but that’s the only thing that’s changed (though the bike did sit for about a month and a half before this due to an illness, which was another reason I initially suspected a clogged carb). It seems to work better with the choke pulled partially out, which makes me think it might just need the next size larger slow jet, but I didn’t think rejetting was normally necessary with Slip Ons. Does anybody have any ideas what could be going on?