New to Big dog and Choppers

Energy One
spiderjason

spiderjason

Member
Hey everyone. I am new to Choppers and a big fan of them!!! Been riding motorcycles for 16 years straight. The bikes I've been riding have been sportbikes. Currently I have a yamaha R1 and I want to say I am 35 going on 36 soon. So I am ready for a new riding position!!!! Recently I test drove a 07 K-9 and I have to say I loved the bike. Also I read a lot of the posts on topic Would you buy another BD. Saw a lot of great feedback.

So, my question is reliability of the bike. Because I have to you those Jap bikes last a long time and all you really do is change tires, chains and sprockets. Maybe a valve job which is 27,000 miles on a Yamaha.

So the bike I am looking at is a 07 K-9 also I will add he said it was fuel injected. I could of sworn that a salesperson at the dealership that fuel injection was new for 08 on K-9's. What exactly are some of the problems these bikes are having? I can tell vibration is an issue so what does that typically mess up? As far as the Motor, Trans how do they hold up? My 93 Ninja I had over a 100,000 miles on the bike. What kind of maintance is needed on the bike? Do they need to get in the motor sometimes and do something for example the sportbikes need the valve adjustments. I understand the oil needs to be changed Adjusting the cables as things like that. Can you give me an idea of maybe what you as owners are spending a year on maintance?

Any Info with be helpful, I will most likely not be around a computer the next few days but look forward to coming back and reading your responses.

Thanks in advance!!!
 
C

chaingunner

Guest
First off welcome to the lb. The bike them selves are like any good sexy women, they need attention and they get attention. :eek:

07 K9 my self and no probs yet! Good luck on your venture, you'll hear alot of good shit here.
 
W

woodbutcher

Mr. Old Fart member #145
Staff member
:hi: welcome. :2thumbs:

these are hot rod bikes and generally need to be treated as such. they are not "jump on and go ricers". if you buy one, the pride of ownership will take over and you will tend to spend more time cleaning and polishing than you ever thought about with the jap bikes in your past. yes, the vibration does effect some parts but a lot of it depends on your riding habits, which will change. cost of ownership should be considered before you buy because, again, they are not "jump on and go" bikes.

and yes, EFI was available at the end of '07 as an option. it was an infant at the time and it did still have some bugs in it but they are getting better (or so it seems).
 
barhopper

barhopper

Another round please
Get the carb, EFI has had some issues. Carb is easy to fix if something goes wrong, which they seem to never do, but EFI needs to go to a shop and hopefully they can figure it out.
 
Nomad2day

Nomad2day

Longhair Redneck Geek
The EFI was introduced on the 2007 Bulldog model and has now migrated to other models....
The EFI bikes are designed to be "get on and ride" bikes and not for those who want to be modifying the bike. Not my idea of a custom bike but so be it.
At the moment on the EFI bikes you have no way of checking the codes if it trips the engine light but take it to a dealer unless you are handy with a computer and make a cable.
EFI bikes have smaller springs, non roller rockers and heat sensing detection on the head to cause the bike to skip fire when it See's it it getting hot.
The map in the ECU "fuel module" has a proprietary map that can only be altered by BDM corporate and nothing available to the owner to modify it. It is a single band system designed to function at a 14.7-1 AFR.
If you want to do pipes, cam or other mods, a EFI bike may not be choice you want to make.....Unless you change out the fuel module system to a wide band Thundermax EFI system or other EFI systems and then the world is open to you as well as the ECU and all the diagnostics...Cost about $900 for the conversion..:2thumbs: May not want to do this on a new bike due to waranty but if you have enough trouble it is worth doing.
Best thing I have done to the dog.......Cranks right up and is a beast to boot.
The carb bikes have it going on...650 springs, roller rockers and you can re jet the monster to cover any mechanical changes...
No need for valve adjustments or anything on the big V twins, just re jetting depending on where you live
Neil
 
spiderjason

spiderjason

Member
me again

Everyone thanks for your comments. I am pretty sure I'm going to buy the bike. It is a used bike with 5,000 miles on it and not a bad deal. So we shall see!! I read the comment with all the fuel injection info very helpful. This bike already has an aftermarket exhaust on it Vance and hanes. So not sure if any of those things were done.
 
Chopper Dave

Chopper Dave

SIICK!!!
Welcome :cheers: good luck on getting your dog......look under the how to section....Gas Man has everything with pic's on how to service your dog:up:
 
Tim

Tim

Administrator
Staff member
Founder
Lifetime Supporting Member
Calendar Participant
Troop Supporter
Supporting Member
I have an '07 K-9 and LOVE IT! Only issue I've had was a broken clutch cable right at 5k miles. It was quickly repaired by the dealership here under warranty.

I did ride to Sturgis this year, about 3k miles round trip for me. I can ride sooooo much long on this bike then I could on my Harley.

For me, it has been minimal upkeep. I work off shore so I take my bike in for the service when recommended and just ride. Cleaning is more involved with all the polished aluminum, but damn does it look good clean. :2thumbs:

You biggest thing will be going over all the bolts to check if they are coming loose from time to time. Other then that, it's been a great bike for me.
 
spiderjason

spiderjason

Member
Thanks

Thanks again to everyone. Still deciding I find a used 2007 with burnin ben's paint and exhaust already on it but there are some great deals on new ones out there.
 
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