My bike pings with not so fresh gas in it or Non "Big Oil" company gas bought at a local or traveling out of the way Mom and Pop that goes through one tanker every 6 months. I found that out on a recent trip where I was on a hilly winding out of the way road after a fill up on a hot day and could hear it pinging away which just caused me to shift more. Biggest difference was startup as it would burp out intake or backfire and send everyone running for cover, next tank of fuel all better. I am stuck running 91 non ethanol most of the time and occasionally 93. I can feel the difference with the 93, much better response and easier starts.

 

My 2014 Ultra Limited with the 103 twin cooled does the same. Like yours, it only seems to occur after the engine is warmed up. My guess is that once the engine reaches operating temp, the ECM leans out the fuel mixture.

 

Just for reference what sort of performance mods have you done? I wonder if slightly retarding the timing in the affected rpm and throttle range would eliminate it? I never had a 103 but have an 88 carbureted and used to have a 96 both at stage one and never had any pinging from either one even when hot.

 

Mine was all stock except for RCX slip-ons when I got it,. I have since added Vance & Hines Dresser Duals, Stage 1 air cleaner and still it pings exactly the same as it did stock. I have a Power Commander V and I've tried a few different tunes but it still pings. I just completed a cam swap, new lifters, Rocker Arms and Rocker Lockers so we'll see if there is any changes for the Ping this spring.

 

Gotcha. My pinging didn't start until I went to stage two. When I ran autotune it ran a little better but it didn't help the pinging at all. When I backed off the timing advance a couple of clicks in the affected areas (throttle position and RPM range) with the help of folks on this forum it did away with the pinging.

 

So finally got to put a few miles on the bike this past weekend to try a few tunes out after all my winter projects. I think I finally found one that I like and is real close to all my upgrades. Had a few days in the 70s so not super hot yet but so far I haven't noticed the ping! Im really starting to think it may have been running a bit too lean when the engine gets hot. Once I get a chance to really get the motor hot, I'll confirm if its actually gone or not.