I just recently this past December, bought my first Victory. It’s a 2006 Victory Kingpin Deluxe, 100cid with only 10k miles and I love it to death but I’ve been having some issues and don’t know what to do or where to go. When I bought it, it had the pipes on it that are shown in this picture. I know they’re not stock pipes and they don’t have Vance and Hines on them, or any kind of other name that I can detect, but they have the little seam around the tips like V&H pipes. They still have the baffles in them too. Anyway, I could smell gas pretty strong and I think it was running too rich. Since we don’t have a Victory dealer anywhere close to Tallahassee, Florida, no dynos, etc. The place where I bought the bike is a good shop and since we don’t have a dealer anywhere close by, they recommended that I buy a Power Commander and they could set the fuel mapping here. I purchased the DynoJet Power Commander III USB. According to the bike shop, they used the PCIII USB mapping available for custom pipes and stock air filter. I still don’t think it’s right and I wish I could get just a mapping file that would at least put me in the ball park.
Right now, with whatever mapping I have, this is how it’s been acting….left work (2-10-13) at 11:00pm…49 degrees. I let my bike warm up in the parking lot with a co-worker’s Suzuki 800 (carbureted) until his was warm enough to leave….I’d say longer than 5 minutes, less than 10 minutes. A couple of miles from work, at 35mph leveling out in 3rd. gear…it felt like it was missing….shifted to 4th. gear at 45mph leveled out….felt like it was missing…sped up, smoothed right out. The rest of the trip I was doing anywhere from 60-80mph…ran like a champ. It takes a while to warm this beast up…in my opinion…too long for being fuel injected.
I have ordered a K&N air filter to help it breathe a bit better, but it didn’t do any good. I love this bike and would dearly love to get it running like I know it can but at the moment it has not been as pleasant an experience as I’d like for it to be.
Well, I heard bad things about the Victory dealerships in Dothan and Tifton, but good things from a few people, about the Victory dealership in Gainesville. So, I called down there this morning and got patched through to their technician, and I told him of the issues I was having, especially about it being so cold natured. He asked me about what had been done and what it had on it so far. I told him that you had just cleaned the throttle body, check those rubber components contained therein, about the pipes it currently has, the K&N air filter and the finally, the Power Commander. I wanted to make an appointment to bring it down to get it straightened out and he said he guaranteed he could fix it…in an out the same day. I made the appointment to trailer it down on 3-28-13 at 8:00am.
Here’s his plan…he said first he’s taking off the Power Commander…that is probably the biggest issue of it being so cold blooded and is notorious for it on these Victories. Second, he said we’re running the wrong mapping…needed to order that ahead of time…cost $170.00. Then he said for that particular model, pipes, etc….he’d pull the baffle and the converter, then apply the correct mapping. All total…between $400-500.00, but he guaranteed it would be running right when I left. I already have too much wrapped up in that bike for it not to just look good, but run good too. I love the bike, I just want it to run right like it should…especially before I take it to Thunder Beach this year. I just wish I’d have known that the Power Commander wasn’t going to work.
I’m just really confused at what to do at this point. People say take it to a dyno, which the nearest one is about 100 miles away and I’ve heard that they mostly do ATV’s and charge about $100 per throttle position, of which there are 9! Others say, keep trying to work with the Power Commander…it’s trial and error, but should be able to finally get it adjusted. Nobody around here seems to know how to use it! Other people are telling me to just go ahead and take it to Gainesville and let the Victory mechanic do his thing. This is frustrating and I’ve got to stop the bleeding!!
Right now, with whatever mapping I have, this is how it’s been acting….left work (2-10-13) at 11:00pm…49 degrees. I let my bike warm up in the parking lot with a co-worker’s Suzuki 800 (carbureted) until his was warm enough to leave….I’d say longer than 5 minutes, less than 10 minutes. A couple of miles from work, at 35mph leveling out in 3rd. gear…it felt like it was missing….shifted to 4th. gear at 45mph leveled out….felt like it was missing…sped up, smoothed right out. The rest of the trip I was doing anywhere from 60-80mph…ran like a champ. It takes a while to warm this beast up…in my opinion…too long for being fuel injected.
I have ordered a K&N air filter to help it breathe a bit better, but it didn’t do any good. I love this bike and would dearly love to get it running like I know it can but at the moment it has not been as pleasant an experience as I’d like for it to be.
Well, I heard bad things about the Victory dealerships in Dothan and Tifton, but good things from a few people, about the Victory dealership in Gainesville. So, I called down there this morning and got patched through to their technician, and I told him of the issues I was having, especially about it being so cold natured. He asked me about what had been done and what it had on it so far. I told him that you had just cleaned the throttle body, check those rubber components contained therein, about the pipes it currently has, the K&N air filter and the finally, the Power Commander. I wanted to make an appointment to bring it down to get it straightened out and he said he guaranteed he could fix it…in an out the same day. I made the appointment to trailer it down on 3-28-13 at 8:00am.
Here’s his plan…he said first he’s taking off the Power Commander…that is probably the biggest issue of it being so cold blooded and is notorious for it on these Victories. Second, he said we’re running the wrong mapping…needed to order that ahead of time…cost $170.00. Then he said for that particular model, pipes, etc….he’d pull the baffle and the converter, then apply the correct mapping. All total…between $400-500.00, but he guaranteed it would be running right when I left. I already have too much wrapped up in that bike for it not to just look good, but run good too. I love the bike, I just want it to run right like it should…especially before I take it to Thunder Beach this year. I just wish I’d have known that the Power Commander wasn’t going to work.
I’m just really confused at what to do at this point. People say take it to a dyno, which the nearest one is about 100 miles away and I’ve heard that they mostly do ATV’s and charge about $100 per throttle position, of which there are 9! Others say, keep trying to work with the Power Commander…it’s trial and error, but should be able to finally get it adjusted. Nobody around here seems to know how to use it! Other people are telling me to just go ahead and take it to Gainesville and let the Victory mechanic do his thing. This is frustrating and I’ve got to stop the bleeding!!