| Author | Message | ||
     Chainsaw |
Mikep: I've gotten 45 mpg in stop and go city traffic while being abusive with acceleration. I typically get 59-63 mpg at highway speeds through the twisties of the Rocky Mountains. If you're getting 45mpg highway, try a different brand of gas. I got a bad tank of petrol in Wagon Wheel, NM that pushed my Sporty down to 35 mpg (typically gets 57 mpg highway). | ||
| Xb9 |
Best I've gotten is 65 MPG (Shell 93 Octane) with a mixture of interstate and twisties. I attribute 3-5 extra MPG to the Royal Purple Synthetic I'm using. It makes a difference. | ||
| Anonymous |
I was told by a very reliable source that an EFI race tuner "should" be available in September for the Firebolt. It will allow programming the ECM for both ignition and fuel maps. Interfaces with a laptop and software. Price will be somewhere in the $460 range. | ||
| Rick_A |
José...I'm bettin' the guy who made that muffler is the same guy who put the eccentric chain adjuster on the end of that swingarm. All it takes is a little creativity and ingenuity to make what you want of a bike. a little $$ helps too, no doubt | ||
| Peter |
Rd350, They're only getting 95hp from a 98" engine? PPiA | ||
| Xgecko |
Peter, It may be tuned for Lightning series which if I remember has a dyno breakout under 100hp. | ||
| Darthane |
RD, Did your friend have a dealer install it or did he do it himeslf? I installed mine last night/this morning. A little bit more work than I was expecting to get the muffler off/on (removing the idler pulley was an absolute nightmare. Mine isn't machined correctly, I think, and it binds something awful trying to pull it off). The ECM and air filter went in no problem. Of course, now the damned thing won't run for more than a few seconds before dying. I'm hoping it's just because the TPS needs to be reset (which I'm crossing my fingers I can get done tonight). For the few seconds it runs, it does sound impressive. Bryan | ||
| Dynarider |
We stopped in at Suburban Harley after the Buell open house today & a guy just had the full race kit installed on his Lil Bolt. He was bitching up a storm cause the bike wouldnt run right, Said it felt like he lost 10hp. They think the race ecm module might be defective, they were going to reinstall the stock one & reset his TPS to see if it got better. On a side note, the new dual outlet exhaust doesnt sound too bad. Lot better than stock, but still nowhere near as loud as the race kit for the tube frames. | ||
| Darthane |
Got my TPS reset, fixed up everything just fine (thanks, Spidey). The bike pulls a LOT harder a lot earlier, but that dip in the midrange is killer. I think it's just more noticable now that the bike pulls so hard earlier on than before. The race kitted-X1 that my friend rides and my l'il 'bolt are going to be REAL close straight line. All in all, I'm very happy with the performance gain and the sound. Side by side, mine is just as loud as the race kitted tube framers my buddies ride. And at 15% off, it was sure a helluva lot cheaper than the tube framer race kits (yes, I know this one didn't coem with a new header, but still). Dynarider, two things - did he get the TPS reset after installing the kit and (minor compared to that) did he pull the rubber snorkel out of the air intake? Yanking that snorkel looks like it adds between 5-10mm of intake. Bryan | ||
| Dynarider |
Yes he had the TPS reset, & this Dealer is actually one of the few around that knows their Buells. They do good work & stand behind the Buell line. | ||
| Rd350 |
I was wondering does anybody know where I can get a deal on a Firebolt? My local dealer is asking full price and I know someone has to have one for sale for a discount... I would love to fly somewhere and drive it home. Also, on my Blast it is showing corrosion on the wheels and some parts. I am thinking that they forgot to put a clear coat on the wheels from the factory.. I was wondering does anyone have a Firebolt have corrosion on the wheels or parts? | ||
| Peter |
RD350, There's a new one on eBay at the moment with no reserve. PPiA | ||
| Blake |
RD, The wheels are painted. They are also aluminum. What are you talking about?  | ||
| Anonymous |
Just do not look at CYCLETRADER, I saw a couple in there with asking prices over $11k | ||
| Dave |
RD350 (Phil) I spoke with the HD/Buell dealership in Mansfield, OH. The salesman was saying under MSRP (I'm thinking 9 or 9.5) plus $50 doc fees. I opted for a S2 and S1W.... DAve | ||
| Harleybritt |
rd350 try stone mountain harley,atlanta georgia,they have a white xb9r in there,they use it for test rides but its still for sale,it has over 200 miles on it,im sure you could get a good deal on it. darthane, could you explain killer on the mid range dip? do you mean its good or bad? also how come you had to take off the idler pully,is it as low as the muffler?can you please do a sound clip for us to hear.thanks . fyi..just was curious why people are compairing the firebolt to the blast,to my knowlege the only thing on the firebolt the same as the blast is the size of the cylinders,the rest was made from scratch!!!bottom end gear box the lot. | ||
| Blake |
JQ, As to the Canadian, Costa, running an XB9R in the Canadian Thunder series... From what I've seen, he obviously had no clue when it came to enhancing the XB9R's engine performance. He slapped on some homemade larger diameter headers believing the stock one inadequate. Costa himself said... That is the silliest assumption I've heard in a long time. Then he guts the muffler, and removes the intake snorkel, adds a "Techlusion" EFI augmentation module and manages to get an unimpressive 74.3 RWHP with "a hole in the midrange that you could slip the Yukon into." The stock setup was FAR superior. Of course he has no idea what kind of improvement he *might* be getting, since he didn't take the time to perform a baseline dyno test. Then, thinking the engine is still running too lean he gets another wider range EPROM for the Techlusion module. Good grief! How much more fuel demand does he think a simple opened intake and exhaust require? Silly man. So he boosts the fuel delivery even more, only then does he figure out that the mid range dip was not due to leanness but rather over-richness. D'UH!!! He ports his own heads, does some tuning and ends up with 81.6 RWHP. Totally unimpressive. Costa's experience shows that the factory is awfully tough to beat, and that shops like Nallin Racing, Cycle-Rama, and Axtell really do know a thing or two about getting more power from these American V-Twin engines. I cannot imagine a better deal than the $630 factory race kit. The stock headers with the race muffler, filter, and ECM put to shame Costa's much more involved and elaborate modifications. I'd bet that if he had left the headers and heads alone and simply added the EFI augmentation he would have been WAY ahead. I'd bet his homemade pipes are hurting more than helping. Oh well, sounds like he had some fun in the process. And he has a great attitude about the whole deal. I'm routing for him to win the final race of the series. I'll have to send him an email. See if he cares to comment here on the XB9R as a racebike. BTW, where can I get a set of those *unobtainium* headers that Costa is running? :P Anyway, my blathering was in response to your insinuation that Costa was getting factory favoritism and "unobtanium" parts support. If he were, he would have had the entire race kit and programable ECM long ago. His dealer was simply trying to help him out, and Henry Duga sold him a belly pan so he could participate in the FUSA Lightning Series race at Mosport. If you want to point a finger at a factory giving unfair advantage in a grass roots race series, take a look at the new bike and pro rider that the Ducati team suddenly fielded. I think Duc sees the writing on the wall. A few Buells whooping up on a few Duc Monsters and 900SS's and they are afraid of losing the mystique. Cool! Sic'em Buell!  | ||
| Darthane |
Harleybritt,  There is a spot in the midrange from about 4000-4700 RPMS where the torque curve just dies, and dips below stock. When accellerating hard, this sudden dip is very noticable compared to the stock bike, since the race kitted one pulls hard from 2500 RPMS (excepting this nasty dip). The dip actually starts around 3000, but is very shallow. It's noticable because until 4000 RPMS the biks is still pulling harder than stock, but thats about where it crosses the line. It LEAPS up again though and pulls extremely hard from 5000 on. I'm very happy with the performance gain the kit provides. As far as the sound clip, I'll see if I can nab one later tonight. Only thing I've got around that'll record is my digicam, though, so it'll actually be a short movie and not just sound. Maybe I'll get Spidey to flip on his M2 and we can do a comparison for you guys. Bryan | ||
| Darthane |
I'm sorry, I missed a response in that. To get the original muffler off, you (at least according to the Service Manual) have to remove the idler pulley because it is directly in front of the rear muffler clamp nuts. Unfortunately this requires you to remove tension on the belt, which includes jacking the whole rear end (not the easiest thing to do without the proper equipment) and loosening the rear axle. As I said earlier, I think my idler pully is machined wrong, and it caused it to pinch on the two studs that hold it on. Took us a solid half hour of working on it to wiggle it off. Went back on a lot easier. If one of you guys manages to get the clamps off and back on without going through this, I'd greatly like to hear how. Once the pulley is off it's just a matter of loosening the 4 clanps and popping the muffler off. Vice versa going back on. I'd pay attention to the torque specs for the clamps, as you don't want to crimp the muffler. All told, I think the whole job (not including the TPS reset) took me about 2 hours. Could probably get it down to an hour next time around (providing that damned idler pulley doesn't kick my ass again). Bryan | ||
| Darthane |
__________________________________________________ Quote: I cannot imagine a better deal than the $630 factory race kit. __________________________________________________ ::snickers:: How about a $530 factory race kit? Bryan | ||
| Ramon |
Does anyone know the process of buying a Firebolt out of state (THE Ohio dealer has two for 8,995) and bringing it into California? Would I have any problems registering it here? thanks, -ramon | ||
| Archer |
hey Darthane, I only paid $415 for mine. Gotta love working for a dealership!!!! hehehehe Ross | ||
| Al_Lighton |
Ramon, Don't even try. The laws here are real clear...no CA resident can register a new 49-state vehicle in CA. 7500 miles or less = new, 7500 miles or more = used. No new 49 state vehicle can be registered here, except in cases of inheritance, an out of state person moving into the state, or having your vehcicle totalled while out of sate and having to buy a new one there to get back. To get any 49-state vehicle in basically means getting a LEO or DMV person to certify that the bike has >7500 miles. Penalties for getting caught are severe. Bummer, eh? Al | ||
| Firemanjim |
Yeah,but does the Firebolt have a CA only version and a 49 state version,or is it just that silly carbon cannister.How many miles do you put on in a year.Run on dealer paper plates for a year.Or just register out of state--gotta be cheaper than CA reg. | ||
| Ramon |
Thanks for the info., the prices of some out-of-state dealers are very very tempting. If anyone know any loopholes, please post'em... thanks again. ramon | ||
| Blake |
Sheesh, put a charcoal canister on it, run the fuel tank vent to the canister, it's CARB certifiable. You can't get it certified? | ||
| Blake |
Ramon, I'll gently put on the requisite 7500 miles and deliver to your door. You buy the Rensports. Three sets ought to do. I'm serious. | ||
| Al_Lighton |
When I bought my S1W, I tried to bring a basically NOS one in from Minnesota legally. The laws mentioned stood in my way, and conversion from a 49 state model to a CA model was explored. No go, it's in the VIN somehow, and you can't convert it legitimately. Even if the difference is only a carbon canister (which I'm not saying it is). Meeting the CARB limits and having the right "pedigree" are not the same thing, and the ROK (republic of Kalifornia) isn't exactly the most flexible on such things. Heck, I was even considering driving my old GPz750 to Minnesota and wreck it so I could drive the S1W back under that loophole. But then I posted my tale of woe here on badweb, and someone turned up the equivalent bike here in CA les than 2 hours from home for only a little more $$. Al | ||
| José_Quiñones |
Blake,
I did not insinuate anything, all I did was post what he wrote himself:
He's obviously being sarcastic, but nobody other than a race team can order the race pan or the programable ECM at this point. He didn't even mention BUYING either one of them, they showed up, just like that! In my book, that's factory support, small that it is, but it's FACTORY SUPPORT. He did not get FACTORY SUPPORT until Mosport, the fifth race in the series. Before that they had to create their own chain conversion, modifiy the header, the muffler and add the techillusion box as previously described because they had no other option. He did race the bike in completely stock condition in the first race. He did not mention if they did a baseline stock dyno run. Keep in mind that he only got the bike on April 26th, one week before the first race! | ||
| Blake |
JQ, "...nobody other than a race team can order the race pan or the programable ECM at this point" That is inaccurate information. Call Henry Duga, tell him you are planning to race your Buell, he'll send you the belly pan you need, and at a decent price. And as I understand it, it was Costa's dealer who brought the ECM. And to say that "before they had to create their own chain conversion, modifiy the header, the muffler and add the techillusion box as previously described because they had no other option." is also inaccurate information. Like I said above, if he Costa had simply left the headers and muffler stock, and added the Techlusion box, he would have been WAY ahead compared to where he is now. He had plenty of other options compared to the path he chose. How do you know if he ever tried to get help from Buell's Racing support staff. He certainly never mentioned that he did. As to the time frame involved in getting the bike... he got his as soon as it was released for sale to the public. Would you expect Ducati to send you a pre-release 999 just so you could keep on schedule for your local club racing effort? I don't understand how, when Buell is sponsoring the Lightning Series, it's a bad thing that they lend a helping hand to a local club racer who is wanting to participate when the series visits his area. JQ, Name any major motorcycle manufacturer that will sell developmental racing parts and software to any Joe Schmo off the street. Why do you think Buell should? |
