Hello, I have a 2012 street glide with stage 2 mods . In my opinion the idle is way to high.... it slams into gear and im getting tired of it. when its cold it will still idle at stop signs even if I have been riding for hours... the mechanics here in Bend say thats just the way it is... I do not except that.... what have you guys done to remedy? I have the Vance&Hines tuner and all that.... there must be a way.
Thanks for the help...

 

define too high


mike

 

when its warm out its just below 1k which is normal i here... but if its cold it can run as high as 1500... and on warm up its so high that I usually turn the bike off and put it in gear, then restart... I would love to get it to about 800 or so...

 

sounds normal-ish

the reason for the high idle is:

reduced emissions

and the oil volume and pressure are rpm dependant so 1000 rpms is about the lowest.

mine will sometimes shoot up to 1500 or more when cold cold...and soon settle.

I tend to let the motor warm until the heads are warm to the touch...by then the idle has settled and there is less shock when moving into gear

some aftermarket tuners can be used to reduce idle speeds


I know the high(er) idle doesn't "sound right" I keep threatening to sell CD's of my Panhead idling for the guys with big stereos.

the old bikes had hemi motors, coarse fuel mixtures and early models had manually controlled spark timing ( left grip) which made for a much different idle...they also made less than 40 HP from a 74" motor

mike

 

Also... it just doesnt have that lope that my other bikes had.... really miss that

 

Good luck getting it. Closest you can likely get is an SE204 cam.

Outside of that, find a good used Evo or earlier.

Normal idle is about 1K. Any lower and you risk damaging your engine.

 

Cold starts will idle higher until the engine warms up. Then it will settle at 950-1050 rpm.

 

Under the 950 - 1050 range, you cause undue wear on the lower end ( a cast crankshaft with a cheap roller bearing,) which hasn't been much to write about for the last 6 or 7 years anyway. Forget the lope (or buy a shovel.)

 

Some guys were talking about using 85/140 wt synthetic oil in the trans. I have been using 15/40 wt oil in the primary. Shifts like butter.,,

 

With powervision you can adjust the hot idle and idle steps during the warm up cycle. So you could drop the warm up idle as well.