HD owners educate me

[Buckeye Bleau]

I never owned a Harley and most likely neve will. I have always enjoyed visiting the dealerships and viewing the lovely steel sculptures and the other items for sale. My wife has bought a helmet and some jackets there, but that is about the extent of it.

I have two two neighbors that own them with the accompanying loud pipes. My question has to do with their preride habits. They will pull the bike out of the garage, two different owners, two different houses, then start the bikes up. They will allow them to idle for 10 to 15 minutes, then sit there throttling them up and down a few times. Is this practice necessary or just a demonstration of testosterone and machismo?

Joe

[Grandpot]

I never owned a Harley and most likely neve will. I have always enjoyed visiting the dealerships and viewing the lovely stell sculptures and the items for sale. My wife has bought a helmet and some jackets there, but that is about the extent of it.

I have two two neighbors that own them with the accompanying loud pipes. My question ha s to do with their preside habits. They will pull the bike out of the garage, two different owners, two different houses, then start the bikes up. They will allow them to idle for 10 to 15 minutes, then sit there throttling them up and down a few times. Is this practice necessary or just a demonstration of testosterone and machismo?

Joe

Joe, that would be the latter or just not knowing what else to do with them.

[Bob Denman]

[HankD]

I never owned a Harley and most likely neve will. I have always enjoyed visiting the dealerships and viewing the lovely stell sculptures and the items for sale. My wife has bought a helmet and some jackets there, but that is about the extent of it.

I have two two neighbors that own them with the accompanying loud pipes. My question ha s to do with their preside habits. They will pull the bike out of the garage, two different owners, two different houses, then start the bikes up. They will allow them to idle for 10 to 15 minutes, then sit there throttling them up and down a few times. Is this practice necessary or just a demonstration of testosterone and machismo?

Joe

Idling and revving is what Harley-Davidson's do best (and yes, I owned one for a long time)

On another note, I had a group of sport-bikers go near my house last night. They had pipes so loud that they sounded like a hive of mutant bumble-bees from a Japanese monster movie.....revving and shifting just to make noise.....so it's not just HD owners that do it.

[boomerman]

I am a current owner of a few HD myself and I don't even understand why they do that.
I always used to say if that thing needs you to keep blipping the throttle to keep it idling give it to me and I will fix it with a screwdriver and adjust your idle and fuel mixture.

[Bob Denman]

Having to blip the throttle, is a sign of a poorly-running chainsaw...

[Chupaca]

Others don't....I think it's in the manual.. had a old indian but usually did that and things fell off. but they do sound better than the sport bikers needing to hit the rev limiter as often as possible....

[trikermutha]

NOT Needed. Some like to warm up there bikes. Now to blip the throttle another story.

Sounds more like Machismo to me

[cmbspyderrss]

Funny stuff. I think it may be that blue arrow on google maps or your GPS that is the locate me now symbol. They are just letting the neighbors know where they are just Incase you forget from week to week like a locating beacon.

its no different than blipping the throttle when you come to a stop light. Days of carbs needed that to not load up but with FI in 99% of everything there is no need but just one of those cool old habits to have.

[asp125]

Old HDs with carbs might need some blipping to clear its throat. Those with EFI just like the noise. Just like those sport bikers who don't know when to shift; hitting the rev limiter in each gear. But seriously guys, how many of you pull these out of the drawer and give these a squeeze or two before using?

[Bob Denman]

Perhaps it's just the Mating Call of morons...

[UtahPete]

Its no different than blipping the throttle when you come to a stop light. Days of carbs needed that to not load up but with FI in 99% of everything there is no need but just one of those cool old habits to have.

Hmmm. You're right. On my carbureted VStar I do blip the throttle at lights and other stops. But, it's not to hear the engine roar because mine is pretty quiet.

[RinconRyder]

Hardley-Davidson: Turning gasoline into noise for over 100 years.

[Bob Denman]

Hmmm. You're right. On my carbureted VStar I do blip the throttle at lights and other stops. But, it's not to hear the engine roar because mine is pretty quiet.

Which one do you have?
I had a pair of 650 Classics: a 2000, and a 2002. Revving them up doesn't seem tp produce anything other than some exercise for the right wrist!

[mxz600]

I have two two neighbors that own them with the accompanying loud pipes. My question ha s to do with their preside habits. They will pull the bike out of the garage, two different owners, two different houses, then start the bikes up. They will allow them to idle for 10 to 15 minutes, then sit there throttling them up and down a few times. Is this practice necessary or just a demonstration of testosterone and machismo?

Joe

Not sure why they let them idle for 15 minutes, but this is why they throttle them up and down.

Perhaps it's just the Mating Call of morons...

Well color me a moron. Everything I have has an aftermarket exhaust (except my sleds. That pipe dumps out down by my right foot, the noise can be excruciating). I love the sound of unbridled HP and it just is not the same with a quiet exhaust. In fact I just love loud stuff. I watch my movies loud, listen to loud music, love to shoot my guns and blow stuff up (boom boom, exploding targets anyone). I am the neighbor from hell.

[Bob Denman]

I'm not talking about loud pipes: that's an entirely different discussion... for another time!
I was referring to the mindless blipping of the throttle for no good reason.
Two-strokes never seem to sound as good as a properly designed four-stroke exhaust system!

But I used to have a set of HPE twins on my XCR 520: they were LOUD, but they gave an amazing boost to the sled's performance!

[SteveLaoyster]

The way I understand it is a HD with a carb doesn't pull quite enough air/fuel mixture at idle and that gives it the potato noise with an occasional miss.

Blipping the throttle before taking off insures that the bike doesn't stall. Yes, I did experience this with both my HD's.

Once HD put the EFI on the bikes, this problem disappeared. No need to blip the gas anymore. Just a macho thing IMO.

[ARtraveler]

Now that you folks mention it....

I have some HD's in my quiet woodsy neighborhood. They do start them, run them for about 10 minutes, and frequently blip the throttle to impress the neighborhood with their "potatoe, potatoe (copywrited by HD)" sound. Never thought about it--but like the answers so far.

Same with the packs of sport bikes. They whizz by on the Glenn Highway (about two miles as the crow flies) sounding like a pack of attacking Zeros or Messerschmidt dive bombers--and sometimes at 1:00 AM. Once in awhile they get caught by the police and a ticket party takes place. Most of these guys are military--so I let them have their fun.

Driving through my neighborhood--I get polite waves and nods from most of the neighbors. Even the Vulcan has a quiet pleasant sound--to me anyway. I think I like that better.

[RinconRyder]

The way I understand it is a HD with a carb doesn't pull quite enough air/fuel mixture at idle and that gives it the potato noise with an occasional miss.

Blipping the throttle before taking off insures that the bike doesn't stall. Yes, I did experience this with both my HD's.

Once HD put the EFI on the bikes, this problem disappeared. No need to blip the gas anymore. Just a macho thing IMO.

Nope, not the carbs. If you listen to EFI'd HD's they still have that potato-potato exhaust note. It is the crankshaft degree that fires one cylinder shortly after the first then the ensuing longer pause before the next stroke that makes that sound. Honda tried copying it some years ago with one of their twins and Hardley sued claiming that the sound was copyrighted.

However, some older carburetor HD owners would purposely set their idle speeds very low so that throttle blipping was required to keep the bikes running.

[SteveLaoyster]

Nope, not the carbs. If you listen to EFI'd HD's they still have that potato-potato exhaust note. It is the crankshaft degree that fires one cylinder shortly after the first then the ensuing longer pause before the next stroke that makes that sound. Honda tried copying it some years ago with one of their twins and Hardley sued claiming that the sound was copyrighted.

However, some older carburetor HD owners would purposely set their idle speeds very low so that throttle blipping was required to keep the bikes running.

Sorry if I wasn't clear but I meant that the miss & stalling problem is gone since putting EFI on but the potato sound is still there.

[Buckeye Bleau]

So if I inderstand this correctly, my neighbor with a relatively recent model HD does not need to start his bike right beside my sunroom and let it idle for 15 minutes. Correct?

The other take regarding rolling on the throttle before launching, is just his adrenal glands emptying out into his blood stream?

Joe

[Bob Denman]

Yup... next time he does it: walk up, shut it off, pull the key, and give it a toss across his yard!

[IdahoMtnSpyder]

But seriously guys, how many of you pull these out of the drawer and give these a squeeze or two before using?

YOU NAILED IT!!!!!

[SteveLaoyster]

But seriously guys, how many of you pull these out of the drawer and give these a squeeze or two before using?

Yup, been there, done that!

EFI was a great improvement to the internal combustion engine. So long as the engine has oil & coolant, you can drive off shortly after starting. Revving a cold engine to high rpm's is a bad idea thou.

[Yazz]

I have a carby HD. The blip is done before taking off from a stop so it doesn't stall. That has already been discussed here.

In the carburetor days, you had to warm the engine up before riding or you'll have a cranky, stuttering ride. At least that's how my Evo acts.

Why someone with an EFI feels the need to warm his HD up? He has carburetor envy!