Installed !!
Unfortunately, Dyno was not avaliable.
My dealer thought I was interested about engine power and no speed limiter and as I told him I wanted smooth low revs only, after installation he said he was going to take it for 1st spin. OK.
He didn't have much time so he came back after 15 minutes and said: WOW!!
He's taken it up to 242 km/h (indicated) and went out of the road (his words, not mine). My god, I don't need that speed. I was after low revs improvement. I don't want that speed and I've never gone over 170 km/h, I don't agree owning adventure bike for a speed. If I wanted speed, I'd go for Busa or GSXR. Anyway, he said, now you take it for a spin and check low revs behaviour.
So, here it comes:
1st, to get it out of his workshop, I have to go through the gate and make sharp right turn between two buildings, I mean, very sharp. I've done that 100 times already with this bike. So, I did it with same ammount of the clutch and accelerator as I've done it always. And, I almost crashed into opposite wall.
WTF?
The power is so much bigger then expected. Next few streets, and It's confirmed, more power. But it was not more BHP, it was like having much bigger torque.
Next, few faster streets and I realised I was going much faster then I normaly do in that area. Slowed down a bit and found out the bike has lot less vibrations then before on any revs. I say that because I've done close to 10.000 km's and I know my bike.
But my primary goal was to get to the area with lot of roundabouts that I mainly had to negotiate by slipping the clutch.
The first roundabout done by slipping the clutch, again. I forgot that I need to try it without slipping the clutch. So, I went again through the same one. 2nd gear, 2500 rpm, no clutch and the bike was as smooth as silk. Tried again, and yes, no clutch slipping needed. Next, much smaller roundabout and I went in very slow, just to see what hapens. 2000 rpm, 2nd gear, no problems without clutch. Just for fun, I tried again, this time even slower. 2nd gear, 1800 rpm. Smooth again, no clutch needed. Again. 2nd gear 1500 rpm, no clutch and I felt my bike surging. So, that one was NO NO. Tried again, 2nd gear 1800 rpm, smooth again.
WOW, I was like a child in candy shop. Next hour was at all kind of roundabouts on very low revs, to take final conclusion. And it's, everything down to 1800 rpm and bike was happy. Less than that and surging would show up. So, it's much better then I expected. For me, down to 2500 rpm in 2nd or 1st gear was what I needed but I certanly didn't expect it to smootly go down to 1800 rpm without surging. All done without clutch slipping.
Next test was engine braking. In all gears, when I close the throttle fully, there is engine braking but lot less then before. Before, in slow moving traffic, I'd usualy cut the throttle and if done without a clutch it was like hitting the brakes. Opening the throttle just a bit and bike would jump forward a lot. I could observe in those situation if I had a pillion, the person would have to hold tight to grab rails. It was very uncomfortable for both of us. Once, I even closed the throttle fully inside a roundabout (very polished surface) and didn't use the clutch, and rear wheel slipped a lot. I didn't fall down as the rear wheel recovered the traction but it was hairy situation. Now, it's all gone. I can play with throttle and ON/OFF effect is gone. It's very smoooth and wouldn't need the clutch at all. Tested on the same roundabout with very slippery (polished) surface and no problems at all.
As the last test, I tried to stall the bike by flipping the throttle, the way we shoudn't do it. I've done it like 30-40 times. Every time I could hear the butterfly's "clonk", just as before, but the engine didn't stall. Whatever I tried, I coudn't make it stall (still to try with cold engine). And yes, 5th gear map gave the best results so it'll stay there.
Then I came back to my dealer, as I promised to report what I've found out. It was like a deal between two of us, he'd install it free of charge and I'd share my experience.
On the way home, I noticed my riding changed a lot. MPG was worse because I rode faster as usual and used higher rpm's then usual. Now it's down to training to get back to my usual riding style and rpm's.
I love this piece of kit. I paid 90 euros for it.
When I got home, my dealer called me just to say that he orderd two more kits, as two of other owners of Vee2 were waiting for my experience and they both already said they wanted it badly after he informed them about my findings.
One thing my dealer told me, was that bike will take some time to measure CO2, air and fuel so the ECU can learn them and make some changes. He said it shoudn't make things worse but let's wait and see.
