Sportster ESPFI and 6th gear
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Novice
Joined: Feb 2007
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Sportster ESPFI and 6th gear
Hello,
I am considering buying and new Sportster either an 883 or 1200. I wanted to know peoples opinions on how big an upgrade the fuel injection is? reason I ask is that I can get a real nice deal on a left over 06. Also will the new 6th gear in the Dyna and Softail etclines will filter down to the sportster in the 08 model year?Anyone know?
I am considering buying and new Sportster either an 883 or 1200. I wanted to know peoples opinions on how big an upgrade the fuel injection is? reason I ask is that I can get a real nice deal on a left over 06. Also will the new 6th gear in the Dyna and Softail etclines will filter down to the sportster in the 08 model year?Anyone know?
Extreme HDF Member
Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 11,317
Likes: 11
From: Tucson, Az
RE: Sportster ESPFI and 6th gear
I have an 05. Personally I prefer FI as you turn on the key and hit the button just as you do in your car and go. To me the Spacing of the gears is so near perfect I can see no need for MoCo to even consider adding a 6 speed to the line up but I'm sure nobody knows. Those kind of things are usually kept quite secret.
Intermediate
Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 32
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From:
RE: Sportster ESPFI and 6th gear
Dunno about the 6th gear...
But the fuel injection is reeeeallly nice. No more fuel petcock to forget to switch off, no more choke -- Call me lazy but I've messed around with jets and needles and gunk plenty and I'm happy not to have to mess with carburetors anymore. My bike runs great all the time. I do miss the kick starter though :-)
-JP
Oh, I have an 07 1200C.
But the fuel injection is reeeeallly nice. No more fuel petcock to forget to switch off, no more choke -- Call me lazy but I've messed around with jets and needles and gunk plenty and I'm happy not to have to mess with carburetors anymore. My bike runs great all the time. I do miss the kick starter though :-)
-JP
Oh, I have an 07 1200C.
Ultimate HDF Member
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 8,438
Likes: 6
From: Gulf Coast of Mississippi
RE: Sportster ESPFI and 6th gear
I don't know about the sixth gear... harley has been getting a lot of complaints on the six speeds they already have...
EFI... Carb... think its a matter of preference anymore...
Charlie D.
EFI... Carb... think its a matter of preference anymore...
Charlie D.
Road Master
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 770
Likes: 2
From: East NM
RE: Sportster ESPFI and 6th gear
The fuel injection is great unless you enjoy fiddling with your engine to see what you can get out of it. You can fine tune your injection, but it's expensive to buy the equipment to do that.
The injection system uses fuel more efficiently (more power on less gas) and is very easy to get along with.
The only downside is that, if it breaks, you aren't likely to be able to fix it on the side of the road.
I don't think there will be a factory 6'th gear on Sportsters for a while. There's not enough room in the gearbox and, being a unit design, it's a major redesign to enbine cases and all to make room. Now that they seem to have sorted out the problems in the big twin 6 speed maybe they will start working on one for the Sportster but, since the gearboxes are completely different, it will have to be a totally new design.
The injection system uses fuel more efficiently (more power on less gas) and is very easy to get along with.
The only downside is that, if it breaks, you aren't likely to be able to fix it on the side of the road.
I don't think there will be a factory 6'th gear on Sportsters for a while. There's not enough room in the gearbox and, being a unit design, it's a major redesign to enbine cases and all to make room. Now that they seem to have sorted out the problems in the big twin 6 speed maybe they will start working on one for the Sportster but, since the gearboxes are completely different, it will have to be a totally new design.
Ultimate HDF Member
Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 6,478
Likes: 12
From: Nashville, TN
RE: Sportster ESPFI and 6th gear
I think the carb verses Fuel Injection is totally an individual choice. Personally, I think I would prefer the EFI. But it was certainly easier to just rejet my carb, instead of getting a download for the EFI when I did the Stage 1 conversion.
As for a 6 speed, that would be a HUGE improvement in my opinion. I keep trying to shift mine into 6th gear. Haven't been successful yet. [sm=headbang.gif] But I haven't heard any rumors about that, and I highly doubt that we would.
Back in the summer, I was told by the Sales & Business manager of the Oldest HD dealership in TN, that he didn't even know about the changes for 07 until the dealer's meeting, just a few days before the 07's were unveiled to the public.
As for a 6 speed, that would be a HUGE improvement in my opinion. I keep trying to shift mine into 6th gear. Haven't been successful yet. [sm=headbang.gif] But I haven't heard any rumors about that, and I highly doubt that we would.
Back in the summer, I was told by the Sales & Business manager of the Oldest HD dealership in TN, that he didn't even know about the changes for 07 until the dealer's meeting, just a few days before the 07's were unveiled to the public.
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Road Warrior
Joined: Feb 2006
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From:
RE: Sportster ESPFI and 6th gear
ORIGINAL: SportyPig
As for a 6 speed, that would be a HUGE improvement in my opinion. I keep trying to shift mine into 6th gear. Haven't been successful yet. [sm=headbang.gif]
As for a 6 speed, that would be a HUGE improvement in my opinion. I keep trying to shift mine into 6th gear. Haven't been successful yet. [sm=headbang.gif]
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Ultimate HDF Member
Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 6,478
Likes: 12
From: Nashville, TN
RE: Sportster ESPFI and 6th gear
[sm=funnypostabove.gif]
Not really the post, but your new signature!!
I'm hoping he brings her along on the trip he's planning down in my part of the country later this year.
Not really the post, but your new signature!!
I'm hoping he brings her along on the trip he's planning down in my part of the country later this year.
Road Warrior
Joined: Jun 2005
Posts: 1,334
Likes: 2
RE: Sportster ESPFI and 6th gear
I'm a carb guy and that's what I personally prefer. I'm not someone afraid of technology as I write computer code for a living. However, I think the benefits of a carb suit my needs a lot better.
I don't mess with anything of mine that is EFI because of the expense associated with changing the maps. A remapping is $150 and if you want to change and fine tune maps frequently, then you are better off buying a $400 piece of equipment. That doesn't make it cost effective to move beyond stage 1.
As for long time reliability, I think carbs are much better. Whenever you see an older vechicle common failures are fuel-pumps and sensors associated with EFI. The carb has less sensors to fail or none at all and it tends to use gravity over a fuel pump (excludes vaccum petcocks that can be converted to gravity fed). I have never seen gravity fail. To top it off any failures of carbs are usually significantly less expensive to fix than EFI failures.
That's one of those in theory this is how it should work things but in practice the result is actually different. On paper the EFI sportsters have gained fuel economy on the highway, but lost it in the city. When you average those figures the gain is only 1 mpg. In practice, people are reporting poorer fuel economy o the EFI bikes than on the carbed ones. That may be due to most of their miles being in the city where the EFI bike is less efficient than the carbed bike.
Overall, pick the one that you like. My carbed bike will start in any temperature and I have no problem fiddling with a choke. If that's the only thing that bothers you, then they actually sell automatic chokes.
To top it off the dyno sheets of the carbbed bikes have shown better numbers than the dyno sheets of the EFI bikes (overall). This of course is not a fact yet as the sampling of the EFI bikes has been so small. Time will tell.
I don't mess with anything of mine that is EFI because of the expense associated with changing the maps. A remapping is $150 and if you want to change and fine tune maps frequently, then you are better off buying a $400 piece of equipment. That doesn't make it cost effective to move beyond stage 1.
As for long time reliability, I think carbs are much better. Whenever you see an older vechicle common failures are fuel-pumps and sensors associated with EFI. The carb has less sensors to fail or none at all and it tends to use gravity over a fuel pump (excludes vaccum petcocks that can be converted to gravity fed). I have never seen gravity fail. To top it off any failures of carbs are usually significantly less expensive to fix than EFI failures.
The injection system uses fuel more efficiently (more power on less gas) and is very easy to get along with.
Overall, pick the one that you like. My carbed bike will start in any temperature and I have no problem fiddling with a choke. If that's the only thing that bothers you, then they actually sell automatic chokes.
To top it off the dyno sheets of the carbbed bikes have shown better numbers than the dyno sheets of the EFI bikes (overall). This of course is not a fact yet as the sampling of the EFI bikes has been so small. Time will tell.