Q: I own a Harley-Davidson XR1200, which is now standing very quietly in my garage, which is a little sad to say the least.
I was out the other day and revving it hard when there was a sudden jolt and a ‘pop’ came out of the air box and the XR came to a holt. It did fire up again but sounds very rough as if a cylinder had gone missing.
Before I take it to my local, and very expensive dealer, I thought I’d run it by you guys so I can tell them what the problem is and not what they say it is and hopefully keep the repair bill to a minimum?
Thanks for your time and waiting urgently for a reply?
Gert
A: First of all I would say someone has fitted a H-D race tuner and increased the rpm rev-limiter at some stage, because this is a common practice with this particular bike. On the camshaft is a key that holds the cam onto the cam drive shaft, which I would suggest has sheared. This will throw out the cam timing and bend one of the valves, or even more!
So, it will mean the ‘heads have to come off and the camshaft drive needs to be repaired as well. Unfortunately it’s not going to be a cheap repair job to say the least – sorry man…
