Topic: 750 feels a little sluggish when accelerating.

[dhall57]

My 750 K6 has 18000 miles. It starts and idles good. It runs down the hwy fine and I've even run it up to 90mph several times with no problem and I could tell she would past the century mark and more with little problem if I wanted to push it, but I didn't. But when getting on it and accelerating through the gears she just feels a little slow to me. I don't think the clutch is slipping. I also have a HD Wide Glide and it seems to accelerate quicker than my 750. Is something wrong with my Honda and is there anything I could check out? It's almost like the bike is trying to take off, but something is holding it back.

[mystic_1]

Timing or jetting could be ever-so-slightly-off.

I'd start with a full tune-up procedure.

mystic_1

[ekpent]

Do you have a friend or riding buddy with one also to compare with?. Handy to have more than one bike or friends with one for comparison. See now you HAVE to get another one in the stable-tell your wife its "strictly for testing purposes only"   

[Spanner 1]

Is the front brake sticking even slightly?... take the bike up to 60mph and shut off the throttle while pulling the clutch... the freewheeling should be real quiet and with no 'drag' being apparent..... also your other post about your battery, look and see if the battery cells are low, if so top them up with distilled water and charge it...

[HondaMan]

Did you just get this bike?
First, like they said, above.

Then...
Try using premium fuel (Shell's is the best around these parts, CO) and see how that compares to a lower-octane fuel. This can tell several things...

[dave500]

petrol is a funny thing ,here in oz shell is put down,even by the suzuki dealership that sold my neighbour his new vstrom,and 12 months ago the yammy dealership that sold another mate an r1,they both said to not use shell,forgetting the crap about leaks etc bp ultimate is the fire of choice here ,i always use 98,i have a caltex outlet close by i use all the time,we dont have ethanol in the premium fuels,thats what the drama is i think.

[dhall57]

Do you have a friend or riding buddy with one also to compare with?. Handy to have more than one bike or friends with one for comparison. See now you HAVE to get another one in the stable-tell your wife its "strictly for testing purposes only"   

I like the way you think. I would like to get another 750 to put in the garage beside my K6 and Harley. I kind of favor a K1 or K2.

[dhall57]

I just rebuild the frt. caliber and put new pads on. Seems to be working fine with no drag. But the battery is on the charger right now because it would not start the bike yesterday. I have put new NGK plugs in it. Here's a pic of one of the plugs. The other 3 look identical to this one. I have not touched the carbs since I've had the bike, but did check air filter and it looks brand new. I've been running 87 octane, but next fill up I'll try some 93 and see if that makes a difference. Here also is a pic of one of the carbs. Note the black plastic cap with stop tab on the air mixture screw. I guess this is factory on the K6 because all the carbs are the same with this setup. Other K6 owners do you have same type setup. I know Honda must of put these on this model for a reason. So what's the reason. As you can see only 1 turn of adjustment in either direction because of stop tab.

[ekpent]

Not sure how many miles are on the plug but that almost looks borderline lean.A little tan would not be a bad thing. 76 came with #105 mains fairly lean to begin with. As for the plastic caps on the air screw,they,1976, all came with them and they simply pull right off if you need to remove,clean the pilot.

[dhall57]

The PO had autolite #4163 plugs in it. I've always heard you want to run NGK in these older Honda's so I put some D8EA in. I have about 1000 miles on this set. Whats the reason for the black caps on the air screws. I've read on this forum that the correct adjustment on the air screws are all the way in and than back out a turn and a half. Should I pop off the caps and adjust mine to these spec. Maybe this will help with the leanness of the plug?

[ekpent]

I set my air screws at one turn out. Hondaman swears by Denso plugs I believe,forgot the number.I assume its got a nice clean new air filter in there. I would not get to paranoid though,if it was running to hot you would probably be feeling or hearing some pinging.Better than black,oily and nasty.

[BeSeeingYou]

ND X24ES.  I think the D8EA are a close match but not exact though many use them with no problem.

[TwoTired]

My 750 K6 has 18000 miles. It starts and idles good. It runs down the hwy fine and I've even run it up to 90mph several times with no problem and I could tell she would past the century mark and more with little problem if I wanted to push it, but I didn't. But when getting on it and accelerating through the gears she just feels a little slow to me. I don't think the clutch is slipping. I also have a HD Wide Glide and it seems to accelerate quicker than my 750. Is something wrong with my Honda and is there anything I could check out? It's almost like the bike is trying to take off, but something is holding it back.

The 750 makes power with RPM.  If you are equating the low end torque with that of the HD, the HD will out throttle twist the 750 nearly every time.  If you want the 750 to scoot, you have to use the Higher RPM band nearer red line, which means downshifting.  For the 750, high RPM is your friend and not death like it is on the HD.  Use lower gears, keep the RPMs above 3000 minimum.  Want power and acceleration, downshift a gear or two.  That's when it lives up to its "first superbike" reputation.

Cheers,

[Hush]

All of the below recommendations and check to see if your auto advancer weights are sticking or rusted, these are a mostly forgotten part of the SOHC4 bikes because they usually dwell behind the points but if they are at all dry then top end acceleration will suffer.