| Author | Message | ||
     Björne666 |
I have a XB12S 2004 with the Race muffler and race ECM. Trying do the "little things" to fill the stable with some more ponies. Have done; Modified inner airbox with plenty of openings KN filter Breathing holes in outer airbox Heat reflecting material under inner airbox De-snorkeled Re-routed breather hoses Indexed spark plugs Wrapped exhaust (yes i know this one is up for debate) Using the ECM spy for re-mapping What I am missing? Any benefits from wrapping fuel rail in heat reflecting material? Any other "magic" mods? :-) /Björn, Sweden | ||
| 147db |
...now try to go back to the stock filter... the power feel is almost the same but with MUCH MORE safety! Don't forget what an air filter must to do. K&N sucks. | ||
| Björne666 |
147db, thnx for the concern, but I trust the KN. Have had them on bikes and cars forever. Keeping it clean and cleaning it the correct way does the trick. I am not mature enough to trade safety for performance :-) | ||
| Trojan |
K&N sucks. On what basis do you form that opinion? The K&N flows more air and will filter as well if not better than paper type filters such as the stock item. So long as they are kept clean and oiled they are a vast improvement over stock. What I am missing? Any benefits from wrapping fuel rail in heat reflecting material? Any other "magic" mods? :-) There are no 'magic' mods or free horsepower I'm afraid. Both exhaust wrapping and heat reflective material have theoretical benefits, but to be honest they will be almost imperceptible and certainly not measureable. They are the sort of mods that you do once everything else is done and are really scraping the barrel for that extra 0.005 bhp. Likewise the breather re-routing, despite popular opinion. I put our race bike on the dyno last year with both stock breathers and modified re-routed breathers, and there was absolutely no difference whatsoever in power between the two setups. There was also no difference in fuel mixture, despite the old wives tail that the breathers will increase pinking etc. On the older Buells and Harleys it made a difference, but the airbox design of the XB is so much better and has so much better airflow (especially when modified) that it is no longer a huge issue, and certainly not enough to affect performance. There are lots of ways to increase horsepower, including big bore kits, high compression pistons, head work etc, but none are cheap and most will reduce reliability of your engine over the long term. If you want to make the bike faster, as opposed to more powerful, then spend money on the suspension rather than the engine. This will make the biggest single difference you can possibly make to your XB and has the added benefit of keeping the motor reliable and as close to stock as possible. A 5mm ride height increase at the rear of the bike transforms the handling from good to excellent, and aids turn in without making the bike too unstable or twitchy. A properly set up and fully adjustable rear shock built to suit your weight and riding style is a revelation compared to the stock setup on most bikes, and the XB is no exception. Front forks will also benefit from an upgrade, whether in the form of budget Hyperpro/Ohlins/K-Tech spring kits or even complete Traxxion Dynamics cartidges depending on budget. | ||
| 147db |
On what basis do you form that opinion? Real use only, no web-tales for me, thanks! ;) The filtering ability is NOT the same. And too much airflow is not always so good, I don't like pinging (all my 4 XB pinged with K&N installed). At last I prefer to keep the K&N red oil away from my throttle body and valves: my combustion chambers need gasoline and clean air, nothing more! | ||
| Glitch |
If you want to make the bike faster, as opposed to more powerful, then spend money on the suspension rather than the engine. This will make the biggest single difference you can possibly make to your XB and has the added benefit of keeping the motor reliable and as close to stock as possible.  | ||
| Gentleman_jon |
I agree with Glitch and Matt. As usual.  I might add, to state the obvious, that a tire upgrade to the best sport tires from Pirelli, Michelin, Metzler or Dunlop's Qualifier will help too. | ||
| Björne666 |
Oh I know there is no magic :-) I have had the strokers, big bores, bikes on nitrous and so on. And this I have decided not to give the engine a complete work over. (Might change my mind later on... Nitrous is always fun...) But I also know that doing all the small things that the factory cannot do, for economical or environmental or whatever reasons, will make a difference when you add them all up. I am not a track racer and being used to rigid frame Shovels or silly-low Dynas the stock suspension and handeling is fine with me. I am more of a speed junkie/street racer. Thanks for all the input :-) | ||
| The_new_guy |
Hey Gentleman_jon, Check out Bjorne666's profile for the inverted Dyna forks we were talking about. Is that a Buell front end. Cool looking ride. Gregg (Message edited by the_new_guy on December 10, 2007) | ||
| Björne666 |
The_new_guy; yes it is fork, triple trees, front brake and fender and rear wheel from a '98 S1 on a '00 Dyna glide. :-) I made the fork tubes a bit longer and stiffened the springs. | ||
| Murraebueller |
suspension and tires- and don't forget the cucumbers and yogurt- it's much cheaper to pick up power by dropping some weight. | ||
| Xb9er |
you need a special ops pipe | ||
| Firebolteric_ma |
N2O....Push button Power!!!! The suspension is the single best performance Item on my bike....And there are plenty of items on it..... | ||
| Gentleman_jon |
Gregg - Thanks for the heads up! Very nice install, I will have to find out more about it. Bjorn - The Buell comes in a state of tune that would probably be called stage three in Harley land, so there is no low hanging fruit as there is in a Harley, where the motor is just an entry way into the Steaming Eagle or S&S engine parts catalogue. Several of our sponsors can help you spend your money and get more power. The steps will sound very familiar to you. I am VERY interested in your front end mod. How did you extend the fork tubes? What size front wheel and tire are you using? Did the triple clamps just bolt on, or did you need to custom fit them? What about ground clearance? I would like to do something similar to my HD Dyna Sport. Thanks  | ||
| Björne666 |
Gentleman Jon How did you extend the fork tubes? By extending the inner hydraul, thus making the overlap between inner and outer tube shorter = sacrificing some rigidity of the fork. And also by putting a distance in the wheel axel fitting, making the inner tube screw not as far into the axel fitting. What size front wheel and tire are you using? OEM buell size. Did the triple clamps just bolt on, or did you need to custom fit them? Bolt on. Milled away the handlebar clamps and welded in some aluminium bushings to accomodate the normal HD handle bar rubber mounts. Had to lose the locking mechanism. What about ground clearance? Bike was very very low! :-) The S1 fork is SHORT. I used 11,5" shocks with the 17" Buell wheel in the rear. Had to combine the original FXD springs with Progressive Suspension bodies to make find a 11,5" solution. Before making the fork longer ground clearance problem was a serious issue. After; not to bad. More pix on the bike here; http://www.garaget.org/mypage/gallery.php?user=Bjo rne666&cat=4438} |
