Can't get the speed right in traffic .
#21
10-08-2019, 04:38 AM
Club Member
Does anyone else feel this way about their Sportster ? I love my bike , it accelerates well , it slows down well and it gets down the road in a most pleasing fashion . On the open road I can ride all day long with a stupid grin on my face . BUT there is one thing that my bike just won't do and that's to exactly match and maintain the speed of another vehicle . If I'm stuck in moving traffic or behind a car on a narrow road , my bike just doesn't seem to know whether it's speeding up or slowing down . I try experimenting with different gears but in the end I find myself slipping the clutch in order to perfectly match the speed of the vehicle in front . How you guys manage to ride in groups is a mystery to me . Years ago I rode a couple of TL 1000's and it was exactly the same . I could accelerate like a rocket and stand the thing on its nose but try to behave myself in traffic and it was all over the place . So is this just a big V Twin thing or is there anything I can do to fine tune my bike ? I've got a carb version ( XL 1200 R ) which allegedly has a " Thunder Slide " in it . Any views most welcome .
Does your bike have a tacho? Do you have the owners manual? That spells out riding speeds, which will serve as a useful starting point.
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JimmyL (10-10-2019)
#22
10-08-2019, 04:46 AM
Seasoned HDF Member
#23
10-08-2019, 05:11 AM
Sounds like idles too high and throttle cables aren't adjusted properly as in too tight no play as well as wrong gear.
Also if you're in stop and go traffic, just because the car in front of you moves a foot doesn't mean you have to move up a foot.
Plus you guys talk funny. Kind of uppity like you should be riding Ducati's and BMW's and wearing a really tight spandex jumpsuit..
Also if you're in stop and go traffic, just because the car in front of you moves a foot doesn't mean you have to move up a foot.
Plus you guys talk funny. Kind of uppity like you should be riding Ducati's and BMW's and wearing a really tight spandex jumpsuit..
#24
10-08-2019, 05:22 AM
Club Member
Plus you guys talk funny.
Kind of uppity like you should be riding Ducati's and BMW's
and wearing a really tight spandex jumpsuit..
#27
10-08-2019, 07:56 AM
HDF Community Team
John
#28
10-08-2019, 08:58 AM
Road Warrior
I would also agree on the point of making sure the throttle cables are adjusted correctly. I sued to have mine set with little-to-no freeplay and it was definitely more difficult to hold at an RPM. That and practice. I came from Honda parallel twins and the grunt of a V-twin took some getting used to.
#29
10-08-2019, 09:08 AM
Club Member
Some basics of a harley for those having low speed handling issues, first being these things are geared for low vibrations at higher speeds which means HD deliberately geared them to keep RPM's low.
Around town in traffic this will cause the surging a lot of you seem to be struggling with. You got 2 options first and simplest is learn to drop down a gear lower and get the rpm's up. Most don't like that because they think they are racing or revving the engine too much. Couldn't be further from the truth, these bikes like being in the power band up over 2800 rpms.
Second is change the trans sprocket to one tooth smaller, that will move your shifting points to a more comfortable zone for those who can't get their heads around using the gear box more. Down side is you will lose some of that comfortable highway speed, you'll pick up more RPM's and more vibration at higher speeds.
Here's your choices, pick one.
Around town in traffic this will cause the surging a lot of you seem to be struggling with. You got 2 options first and simplest is learn to drop down a gear lower and get the rpm's up. Most don't like that because they think they are racing or revving the engine too much. Couldn't be further from the truth, these bikes like being in the power band up over 2800 rpms.
Second is change the trans sprocket to one tooth smaller, that will move your shifting points to a more comfortable zone for those who can't get their heads around using the gear box more. Down side is you will lose some of that comfortable highway speed, you'll pick up more RPM's and more vibration at higher speeds.
Here's your choices, pick one.
#30
10-08-2019, 09:38 AM
Elite HDF Member
I think this issue needs some clarification from the OP. At first I read this as trying to keep up in slow traffic like 25 mph or so. Slipping the clutch under these circumstances would be weird. But after reading further if you're talking about the 0-15mph stop n go type traffic,...then yeah, you're going to be working the clutch as 1st gear in the rpm range where you need to do this speed is outside of the Sporties happy range. Even manual cars require a lot of clutch work in super slow traffic.