Janusz

Maybe true, but according to my math abilities 60% of 160 mm is always less then 60% of 170 mm .

Theoretically by switching to 160/60 from 170/60 your tire circumference should decrease by less then 2%, therefore adding so much to your speedo error. Who cares!? My speedo is off at least 10 % anyway and 2 more % makes no difference. And also the real dimensions of the tire are never precise and one manufacturer's 160/60 will measure differently then the other's. Luckily I stick with Bridgestone B010. But handling seems to be better by virtue of the bike being more tossable, easier turning. Also the tire seems to be wearing better, more evenly and it look like it will last LONGER then 170/60. The only explanation I can think of is the fact that 4,5 rim width is better suited for 160 wide tire.

I found that the best suited rear tire size (I use B010 by the way) for me is 160/60. The handling is markedly better then stock size 170/60. I wouldn't use 160/70 for a fear of too tall sidewall IMO.

I am in desparate need of higher rated fork springs since my weight is 230 lbs. I did check evoluzione page and they show a rear shock but no fork springs for our bike. What exactly springs did you have installed and where can I find them? Do you know their rate? Thanks, John.

In my opinion Stucchi X-over works the best and certainly looks the best. Definitely gets rid of 4000 RPM dip. You'd be better off with PClll then PCll. Stock cans respond great to drilling holes in the back under the finishing plates. Then you adjust your sound and response by drilling two or three small holes in the finishing plates inside and around a central hole. Then you can add some holes one by one until you have enough to your liking. I have only 3 small holes in each finishing plates and it seems enough. With the finishing plates removed completely (for testing purposes only) the sound is too much and resembles Harley too much. Performance seems to be improved if anything.

You do not need to take out the starter to disassemble shifting linkage. All you need is to disconnect gearbox control lever from shifting shaft going into transmission first. Then you unscrew and remove the whole pivot bolt which head you see on your side plate jut beside the peg paying attention to the opposite end nut with the washer. Then remove THE WHOLE shifting assembly with pedal etc. from the bike. Then you can clean and grease if you want and install back. All that procedure is well described in your Shop Manual Chapter 2 Section G. Takes no more then 15 min if you did it before.

What is wrong with an original fuel filter from MG? I never saw any complaints against this one. I have one waiting to be replaced at my 20k km service - paid $18 Canadian last time i saw my dealer. He never mentioned there were any problems with fuel filters.

So is it still OK to say what one thinks in one sentence and without silly disclaimers etc?

No useful function and ugly the same, installed or not IMO. I have yet to see any of these vanity modifications adding anything to the esthetic appeal of the bike.

For all these who almost gave up to desperation: not all is lost yet and there is hope. My forks have very little stiction (less then 3/4 cm) and work very smooth and also respond well to damping adjustments. It was like that from the beginning and all I ever had to do is set rear sag for my weight and fine tune dampings to my liking. So what I mean by all of that is that it cannot be some inherent flaw in bikes from factory. The engineering is fine and maybe indyvidual variations between particular bikes are just too big. I am so glad i was lucky.

The whole swingarm is also uneven - it's just the nature of the beast since the rear drive has to be accomodated. What you gonna do about that then?

This is a popular misconception that increasing preload makes suspension harder; in reality the spring rate is the spring rate always the same. By changing your preload all you do is varying where your suspension sits between extremities of its travel. That is all. The suspension is all the same otherwise no matter how much preload you set in.

Rich; Stop using this rear brake so much. It's not a Harley!

Some shops are better then others. The dealer I bought my bike from (in Chilliwack) replaced relays on his own doing PDI. He also did not charge for PDI and did the first service for free.

The PRIMARY function of PC is not to increase horsepower but to improve fueling. If the bike runs as it should from the factory then the proper fueling will hardly increase the horsepower.

OK then, let me rephrase it: It does not increase horsepower unless you had your bike very badly fuelled to begin with. Is that better now?

You do not NEED Power Commander but, on the other hand even on a totally stock bike a PC with a stock bike map will definitely greatly improve your fuelling. Power Commander, no matter the bike configuration, is a single most useful and most bang for a dollar mode you can do. It does NOT increase horsepower but it greatly improves driveability. That's my statement and I stick to it.

Carl, could you name a few engine connections which you would advise to clean? Other then oil pressure sensor, maybe air temp sensor and neutral sensor connections is there anything more to clean ?

I switched to 160/60 and got better handling AND wear as a reward. As far as rear/front height balance my experience is this: from the factory the rear preload is (at least on my bike was) set very low and under normal weight man the sag is way too much. Under my 140 lbs son the sag was 34 mm - just about right. Before any tire/handling decisions my advice would be to set the available suspension to the possible optimum. It makes the hell of a difference on our bikes.

Thanks dlaing. Very useful info. I wish I could get more from you like what is your bike set up as far as hardware goes and how your map looks. If you are not too busy sometimes could you E-mail me some? Yeah, I've read this "Defence of Jim" thread on the other board - quite interesting and confirms my general rule - "Stay Away From All Professionals As Much As Possible".

I agree with your latest post fully dlaing. Since I've studied the whole manufacturer tutorial diligently let me say here what they explain: They say that a factory maps tend to utilize the bike's full potential to approx. 65-70% because the factory has to comply with noise and pollution requirements. Then, the Dynojet piggyback corrective map if properly matched to what you have ( for instance stock or stock with Mistrals or european stock etc.) will bring you up to approx 90% of optimum. That may and probably will be good enough for mostly everybody. If you want to go up to 100% fully THEN you will have to indyvidually tuned on the dyno. My question is: this is a nice theory, but how good and diligent this dyno operator is? If he will fiddle with your setup but you will end up with say 93% or 96% or maybe 88% even will you know it? If your bike runs almost perfect now why take a risk ? I see that you can experiment with all the throttle/rev positions freely on your own. If you are careful and slow will you not do a better job yourself? I could and did set my suspension perfectly by a multitude of small changes/test rides myself. How did you modify your 001 (stock) map yourself dlaing? Could you describe the process and how big changes you introduced? I know of some serious tuners who rather do it "manually" then on dyno, I know that is long and tedious but results are really satisfying, so they say.

Al; Your bike has exactly same ECU as mine or any other LeMans, Naked, Rosso Mandello, Sport, Scura or whatever. The factory programs ECU differently for different markets as far as mapping is concerned but I tried to explain this to the best of my abilities in your other thread. The conclusion is: PC is just a hardware which, if the plug fits to your harness (which it will), can be installed on any of the bikes V11S family. Since $145 is such an amazing deal (less then half of what others want) I just grabbed it while it lasted and I am a happy camper ever since. I just hope you will do the same.

I do not agree with that. IMO Stucci crossover alone by itself does not need modifying of your map. My own experience confirms that.

Rich, I think you got it wrong with Power Commander story. The money you paid for a "full service" PC has been wasted. Let me explain why: Power Commander lll is a Power Commander lll - always the same no matter where you bought it and for what price. As you surely know it comes with a software on a disc and once you loaded it on your computer then you have a FREE access to any map available directly from powercommander.com Dynojet site. You just download whatever you want from there and then stuff it in your PC with one stroke of a key. You said :"The K&N maps may be old ones." and it does not make any sense. There is no such thing as a K&N map. The PC lll I bought from K&N came preloaded with a Dynojet developed stock map for our bikes, but that did not matter since as I said you can easily load whatever you want directly from their site, be it a stock map, european stock map, Mistral and stock filter, Mistral and K&N filters - whatever is currently available. To summarize: Power Commander is just a hardware which you should purchase wherever it's available at the lowest possible cost. You learn the application software and all the tricks from an excellent tutorial on your disc which comes with PC or directly from powercommander site. If you do not want to learn (why?) and bother your PC lll comes preloaded with an excellent improved stock map anyway. Just plug and ride. And also Rich, Al does not yet have his PC installed, so our discussion does not help him a bit anyways.

I just cannot imagine how some muffler drilling combined with Stucci X-over would change your bike running so dramatically. And for worse not better. Are you sure that you did not do anything else without maybe knowing, like knocking TPS a little or introducing false air into an intake or something similar? Anyways, here is my experience: First, maybe a little out of proper order, I installed my PClll since that what what I managed to buy for almost peanuts from K&N ($140 US). The map was, and still is, a modified by Dynojet stock map for V11S. That alone smoothed out the throttle response nicely. Next I installed Stucci X-over which got rid of this nasty 4000 RPM dip and made the whole engine even more smooth and responsive. I am planning now to drill back plates on my mufflers but not 100% sure yet.