Just wondering if anyone else has run into this. I have a 2010 Limited that was purchased in May of this year. The bike now has a little over eight thousand on it. Starting around 500 hundred mile, every time I go up or down a steep hill the engine quites making any real sound and loses a little power. It some times does it on level roads, but it happens every time there is a reasonably quick change in elevation. The more the change is in elevation, the longer it is before the crackle come back in the exhaust. We tool the Limited on our trip to Nova Scotia six weeks ago. Not liking interstates, we rode from Virginia up through the Catskills and Adirondack in New York, then across to New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. When we left Lake Placid and dropped down to Lake Champlain, a drop of 1700 ft., we rode half way across Vermont, (I know, not very far), before the normal exhaust sound came back. With no other large elevation changes going into Nova Scotia and back down the East Coast, the bike ran normal, but as soon as we got back into the mountains of Southwest Virginia, it started doing the same thing.
I've brought this problem to the selling dealers attention three times. The first time I was brushed off, the second time they checked for codes, rode it six miles our the level interstate and back and said they could not duplicate the problem. The third time they kept the bike sixteen days, sent the ECU back to Harley, had it reprogrammed and pronounced it cured. As soon as I hit the first steep hill, it went flat again. The techs simply don't want to take the time ride the 25 or so miles it takes get to the nearest steep hill and see what happens.
At this point I'm pretty frustrated. I don't want a Harley that sounds even quiter than a Honda, I have a perfectly good Goldwing for that. I bought the Harley for the sound and to have something to tinker with. When the sound goes away, it's even quiter that my Wing, not Harley like at all.

 

You bought the Harley for the sound? I admit, they sound great, but I hope that's not the only reason you purchased your bike? You say it loses power. Are you saying that if you have your bike on cruise, and you're going up an incline, that there is a resultant loss in forward speed? What exactly happens? Also, when you're going downhill it ALSO loses power? How can you tell? What is it that is happening that causes you to say the bike is losing power? I'm trying to fully understand the "problem" you're experiencing. I know that H-Ds are very different animals and often times a person who is not used to the harley experience will have these types of complaints. Sounds to me like your scoot is running great.

 

Yes, among other reasons, I bought my Limited for the that distintive single pin V-twin sound that you get with a Harley. That, and that you have lots of things that you can tinker with and modify, sort of like owning a Street Rod. Different bikes affect you in different ways. My Wing is extremly competent at what it does, my wife and I can ride it for 700 miles, day after day, with the only pain after two weeks being the pain of having to finally go home (I have a job for seven more months). I hope, after we get done modifying it, that my Limited will be that comfortable. Once I park the Wing, I have no desire to change it. The Harley on the other hand, I can't look at it without thinking of things that I want to change. That is one of the pleasures of owning it.
As for my proglem, no you can't tell that it's lost power going down hill, but you can when you start up the next hill. But, the sound goes away up hill or down hill or on lever ground. Normally, every time you roll on the throttle you get that rumble that you expect out of a Harley. When it goes flat, all that rumble is gone, completly. When I say that my Limiteds exhaust makes less sound than my Wings after going up or down a steep hill, I'm not exaggerating. Depending on how far the drop or rise in elevation, it might be five miles or fifty miles, then all of a sudden the rumble comes back when you roll on the throttle. Something isn't right.

 

call fuelmoto, ask them.they can help with the loosing power up hill.
roger

 

If your bike is still in stock engine configuration then that may be your problem. Theses machines run lean from the factory so they are EPA compliant...also means they run hot. Most owners change pipes and add a high flow intake...then get the bike re-mapped. That will probably solve your loss of power issues and the bike will sound much better.

 

Little long winded, but I hope the problem gets worked out.