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[porthole]

I would be concerned with starter or battery would be the first places I would look, from there I would also try and gather data about the hardware in the bike.
I would do a compression test which should help enlighten the person to what this motor is doing provided they do the compression test correctly.
Hold throttle wide open and turn motor over till the the gauge doesn't move any further.

Harry - the OP is not the first to complain about 05's being hard to start after a quick hot soak, liking getting fuel on a hot summer day.

"Hold throttle wide open and turn motor over till the the gauge doesn't move any further."

Almost, still need to make sure battery is fully charged and a battery charger on (Although with only 2 cylinders to check the charger is not quite as critical as in checking a V-8.)

Engine warmed up
Pump pump fuse out

Wide open and a "set" number of compression cycles. 5-7 is usually sufficient. Whatever number it has to be the same for all cylinders.
Cranking it 4 cycles on one cylinder and 10 on the other is not going to give you accurate information, even if that is what it takes to max out the gauge.

A good tech will also be listening and watching how much increase with each stroke.

A bit of oil in the cylinders after a dry test can hope separate rings from the valves.


My bike has been hard starting almost since the beginning.The hotter it gets the harder to start. Give it 20-30 minutes after a hot soak and it starts just fine. Not the battery, cables or starter.
It got a little easier after changing the ring and pinion gears and then I lost the gain by changing the crank sprocket.

[NH Bulldog]

Just thought I would add a personal experience from my 2007 Ultra (96ci).  I began having hot start issues and found two problems.  First was that starter would click but not engage when really hot.  Added a manual push-button starter cap and that solved that problem.  Then second issue developed where it seemed to REALLY labor to restart when hot, slow cranking, not fully turning over, back-firing, etc.  One trick seemed to help, and that was to have run switch to OFF, turn ignition to ON, flip run switch to RUN and immediately fire the bike (without waiting for fuel pump or engine light to go off).  Then one day on a fall ride, bike wouldn't turn over, barely cranked, then nothing at all.  I didn't have my tool kit, but with a small Swiss Army pocket knife, I was able to pull the seat and checked the battery connections.  Found a loose positive, tightened it and bike fire right up.  Got home, used proper tools and rechecked everything.  Never had a hot start problem again after that.  At that point bike was 3 years old, and I had never pulled the seat and had never touched the battery until that day (I use a tender).  Kept bike until 2012 and put on another 16,000 miles with no hot start issues again.   

[bear tracks]

Had the same problem with my 2004 SEEG.  Went to a battery with more CCA's than H-D OEM.  Solved problem.  If you're willing to spend $200 for a battery, go online to find Oddessy Batteries.  They make one that produces about 600 CCA.  That will keep your engine spinning over at a high rate until it cranks.  Alternative is expensive compression releases.  Good luck.

[grc]

Had the same problem with my 2004 SEEG.  Went to a battery with more CCA's than H-D OEM.  Solved problem.  If you're willing to spend $200 for a battery, go online to find Oddessy Batteries.  They make one that produces about 600 CCA.  That will keep your engine spinning over at a high rate until it cranks.  Alternative is expensive compression releases.  Good luck.

You need to compare apples to apples.  Odyssey is famous for listing bogus cranking amps ratings, rather than just the industry standard CCA.  That PC925 battery they recommend for a Touring Harley has 330 CCA, which is about the same as the OEM battery.  The other inflated numbers they show, like the "pulse cranking amps" are numbers they made up and aren't valid for comparison purposes.  And the Amp Hour rating is actually slightly lower than what Harley claims for the stock battery.

They may be a fine battery, but their misleading sales pitches keep me from considering their product.  That and the inflated price.

Jerry

[bear tracks]

My mistake, grc.  I made the mistake of listening to another cvo forum member whom I thought had checked out the Oddessy performance figures.  The fact still remains that a better CCA battery will most likely correct a hot start problem with the SEEG in lieu of pursuing more expensive options.  The one I actually have on my 2004 SEEG is a Big Crank battery (400 CCA) from Battery Mart.  It costs much less than the Harley OEM battery and I can tell you from experience that it is far superior to the OEM product.  My hot cranking problems went away.  The OEM battery, after using it from new for one year is sitting in my garage.  It lost its oomph after about 6 months. Hope this helps you Jessee.

[grc]

.......................................................................
The one I actually have on my 2004 SEEG is a Big Crank battery (400 CCA) from Battery Mart.  It costs much less than the Harley OEM battery and I can tell you from experience that it is far superior to the OEM product.  My hot cranking problems went away.  The OEM battery, after using it from new for one year is sitting in my garage.  It lost its oomph after about 6 months. Hope this helps you Jessee.

    Made in the USA by East Penn Manufacturing (Deka Batteries).  I've been recommending this in lieu of the OEM from Harley for a few years now as a less expensive alternative.  They can often be purchased online for less than $100, versus Harley's $180 price last time I looked.  I'd buy this one in a heartbeat, as opposed to the Odyssey.

Jerry

[Unbalanced]

Another choice to throw into the mix might be http://antigravitybatteries.com/ytx12-24/

Pricey, but a few friends are using them without issue and great results.

[grc]

Another choice to throw into the mix might be http://antigravitybatteries.com/ytx12-24/

Pricey, but a few friends are using them without issue and great results.

Basically an overpriced gimmick Harry.  Lithium ion batteries have plenty of their own issues (ask Boeing how they like them), and once you sort through all the hype in the promotional info they don't have much if any advantage in a heavy weight motorcycle.  They might be fine for a small racing bike where every ounce of weight saved is relevant, but not so much in a 900 pound Harley.

Jerry

[Unbalanced]

Havent bought one myself, but I know Ed from the DynoDifference is one of the guys having fantastic luck with his, especially in a big motor.   Used to wear on the starter now it just pops right over.   Gimmick or not it solved his issues of hard to crank.

[Jessee]

Sorry for the delay in responding, work, work and more work. But let's not forget about my little cherry CVO going boom. Cam chain tensioner crapped out on me and my wife. I think that and possibly crankshaft gear bolt was loose and was allowing my crankshaft gear to rotate back and forth on the crankshaft and rounded the end of my crankshaft which was causing timing issues to be part of the issues that lead to hard starting. But I have also been researching as well and alot of people have been changing out the starter jackshaft and their ring gears to a different set up which has allowed their engines to turn over faster which has helped their starting problems.