Since taking ownership I’ve been out in the garage cleaning it up bit by bit. There was grease everywhere in the small corners and it needed a good wipe down. One of the main issues though was spots of tar. The stuff was everywhere from the front suspension struts to the body panels to the exhaust unit. I had to spend an hour outside today with a rag and a bottle of white spirits cleaning all of these small spots off the bike. It looks so much better without them but I tell you now, it was a job and a half…

As they say on in Wales… Tidy!

I’ve mentioned the benifits of ACF-50 before in my blog so I wont harp on about what it does anymore. I do like to use it on my bikes because I don’t want to see the bolt heads and nuts going off. I prefer to keep it looking new What I do is give the bike a good spray over. I then leave it a while to let the spray work its wonder. Next step is to work the spray in to the cracks and Allen bolt heads with an old tooth brush. This really gets a good covering. Then, once soaked in I give the bike a good rub down with a rag to get the excess off. Not wanting to waste any of the ACF-50 I then use the same rag thats now soaked to give the brake line unions a good rub. This procedure really keeps the metal work looking at its best. Even the dreaded Buell exhaust still looks as new even though I only wash the bike down once a week at most. Maybe a couple of times a month…. Thats how good this stuff is.

Now on to the rear tyre swap. As you have probably guessed, 4000 miles out of a rear tyre on such a powerful machine is pretty good going. This obviously shows that I’m not the most aggressive rider in the world. A lot of these miles have been done on the motorway I must admit Mike at UBG is doing the honours for me. I’m sticking with the Pirelli Corsa 111’s that came with the bike. It’s been one of the most predictable tyres I have ever used in the wet and dry so for now I’m staying with them. I will look at other brands when the front needs a swap out. I expect to replace that in approx 3000 miles or so.

Its only been a few days since my visit to Blackbear and I have not actually confirmed for sure what they did to my bike but all of a sudden I’m now getting 50+mpg out of the bike. All I got for the 1st 4000 miles was 41mpg average. Lets hope this high mpg continues because fuel prices are on the up again in the UK.

Right then, enough waffle, time for dinner

Below are a couple of pictures of the pegs before and after…

The solenoid is is a 2kg silver cylinder that can be seen when you remove the front saddle on the 1125 series bike. I’m surprised that its actually allowed to be used because when the solenoid is activated it cuts the power so abruptly that the front forks load up and you’re thrown forward as the bike slows down so rapidly. Anyway, on to the removal process…

1. Remove seat ,2 torx screws under the rear corners of the seat.
2. Remove outer air box cover ,4 torx screws, two along side the fuel filler and two at the rear of the cover that the seat covers.
3. Remove the fuel overflow hose from the air box cover by carefully prising it off of the fuel vent.
4. Remove inner air box cover, several plastic clips around the perimeter.
5. Remove air filter
6. Remove air filter holder, 2 torx screws, two wire connectors, wiring harness, vent hose. The assembly pulls off with a little bit of resistance.
7. Pull cable out of butterfly attach point.
8. Loosen 10MM nut to allow the removal of the cable from the holder.
9. Unplug solenoid at wire harness connector.
10. Insert resistor into plug in wire harness.  Part number Y0248.1AM £5.91
11. Remove two 5/32 allen head bolts from solenoid. This will allow access to the torx screw that holds the solenoid bracket to the frame. Remove torx screw.
12. Remove the solenoid bracket, solenoid and cable and save yourself 2kg in overall weight…

One last thing to talk about is that some people are advising that the now free throttle mechanism should be secured to save it opening accidentally or something getting jammed in it whilst its in the open position. I’d be inclined to tie wrap it in position.

This is only a 15 minute job but makes a massive difference to 3rd gear power.

Now on to the next tweak that I had done today. Blackbear kindly flashed the latest firmware to my ECU today. The calibration ID for the current release as of June 2009 is M3HECO5z. Please note that this is only for 2008 spec 1125r’s. The CR uses a different firmware because the mapping is different due to the different injectors and location of the exhaust sensors. The notable difference to this firmware is that the engine now runs smoother below the 3000rpm mark. I know that its a high revving engine but there are times when you are chugging around town or negotiating a roundabout that you will be running in 2nd gear at 2000 – 3000. Things are a whole lot smoother now so anyone with an 08 spec R should pop down to their dealer and ask them to plug your bike in to the digital technician to get the latest update. Please note that they may not be aware of this update. Blackbear who’s one of the premier Buell dealerships were not aware of it. I had to advise them on the availability of it. Worth doing though and I believe fuel economy will improve slightly too. My current average mpg is 41. This figure takes in commuting and thrashing around the local lanes.

So the moral of this little post is go ahead and de-noid your bike. It’ll make it a whole lot more predictable…

Click on a pic to enlarge it

On the way back I reckon that the engine felt quieter than beforehand at lower revs. Less rattles…

The Buell forum UKBEG was there in force today too. Chris and Jane Jessop, the founders laid on burgers for all which was very kind of them. I could not hang around too long but it was nice to put a face to some of the names I have seen online.

So heres to the next 5000 miles and lets hope the 1125r sails through them easily…

Please feel free to add comments accordingly…

Fitting is easy. All you need to do is remove the air filter cover using a Torx T27. The inner black filter cover then unclips from its base and the filter then pulls off its mounts.  Pop the new filter in its place, stick the black inner cover back down making sure all of the clips are snapped back over their mounts. Refit the outer cover and enjoy…

Does it actually make a difference to the bikes performance I hear you ask. The short answer is yes, My engine seems to spin up quicker and the induction roar is excellent. The first few miles were a bit shaky whilst the ECM learnt that it could allow more air into the mixture but after 30 or so minutes the bikes was cruisin! I feel that the filter swap has helped smooth out some of the lumps around the 3000 rpm mark too.

For £50 I reckon its a worthy purchase for the soundtrack alone when accelerating…

Splash

As you can see from this picture theres alot of condensation and gunk thats built up since last emptying the pipe. The white stuff you can see in the picture is emulsified oil and Im happy thats its not recirculating back into the engine. It can only help the motor run smoother.

As I have said in a previous post, I had my dealer install this modification when i had the bike serviced. It cost £100 but was worth while. Do it…

Over the past couple of weeks I have explored the posibilities of upgrading the lights to H.I.D. This is a new xenon based high output system that many high end cars use. There are many kits available on eBay and the like that will upgrade your lights for well under £100. There are a couple of issues to take into account though. Firstly, upgrading a non H.I.D. light to H.I.D is technically illegal due to the increased spread the light reflector will emit. It’ll fail the UK based MOT for sure. If you are happy to run with illegal lights then go for it and just swap back to the standard bulb system when it’s MOT time. Another issue is where to place the electronics that go with such systems. The CityX does have a small amount of space behind the fly screen so as long as you choose you’re H.I.D. system carefully you should be OK. Some owners have mounted the ballast box down behind the front wheel on one of the oil cooler mounts.

I didnt really want to spend out £100 on a new bulb that’s technically illegal so went down the bulb replacement route. Again I spent some time digging around the Interweb. Buell sell an upgrade kit which consists of 2 x replacement H7 bulbs and costs £60!. Theres nothing special about these bulbs and I reckon you can get better for less money. All you need to do is look for an H7 style bulb of your liking and off you go. I chose the Philips Motovision. This bulb is specifically built for motorbikes and has a safety orientated orange tinge to the outer edges. The actual light is whiter and a lot brighter. I fitted one to my dipped beam light and went out on Wednesday for a ride with my brother in law and his Ulysses. The difference was really noticeable and definitely worth the £10 it cost to buy. Now I know its a good step I’ll swap out the main beam bulb.

You do have to spend a few moments getting the beam height right after fitting these bulbs because you have to remove the whole light assemble to get to the back of the unit to perform the swap. All I did was get it close to what I thought was right and then went out for a night time ride. I then parked up and tweaked it acordingly. Personally I prefer to be legal and not blind on-coming traffic to I have the beam set to actually hit the ground and not light the trees. Some bikers out there have them set so high that they arent actually lighting up the road surface for them to see where they are riding.

Anyway, to round off this load of waffle, checkout the Philips Motovision bulb. It’s a good £10 upgrade…