In other news

I crossed the 5k mile mark.

It’s been over a year. On the “Ride Love” scale, I’m hovering somewhere between “Pansy” and “Pussy” but it’s been a really crazy summer for me: I was dark for over 7 weeks, and the rest of my obligations got folded into the remaining few weeks. Yada yada yada yada, 5k miles in 1 year is laughable. Do your worst, internet.

Service notes to follow. And yes, those pipes notes will come too.

FDNY: Dream Bike

I saw this film last night.  It’s really powerful.  Interestingly, and surprisingly though I don’t really think it should have been a surprise, I know a fair amount of the guys in that film.  I have a good friend who’s a firefighter, a battalion chief, and I ended up meeting and drinking with a good number of these guys.

Here‘s a link to the film on netflix– ( http://www.netflix.com/Movie/FDNY_Dream_Bike/70036166?trkid=226870 ).

Mike, the retired firefighter whose garage holds the CB750 “dream bike,” was the guy who fixed my Volusia 2 winters ago.  I remember meeting him – it was winter but maybe about 50 degrees that day, and my buddy brought me over and introduced us, and without taking a dime he used his magic knack to fix my bike.  I was so, so grateful.  Then I rode home with my buddy shadowing me in the firetruck … that was an awesome, awesome ride.  He didn’t put the lights on and let me blow through intersections or anything like that, but it was still cool.

Anyway, the film lets you look at a very sensitive world, the world of people with daily reminders of a thing that happened just a few years ago, but a few years too long ago for everyone to still care.  It might seem tacky to some people that a motorcycle should be the talisman by which we keep the torch lit regarding something so big, so serious, so world-ending.  Motorcycles are pretty important to some people, and funnily enough firefighters love bikes (see above).  We all have our own ways of putting things in their places; they were there, I was there, and a bike makes sense to them and it makes sense to me.  I wager plenty who weren’t there and don’t know these guys would be understanding just the same.

I saw another 9/11 bike for a few years.  A few, actually.  One on 6th avenue, though I’m not sure it’s there all year.  And one closer to the site.  The one on 6th had horns on it – literally animal horns – and it was a proud bike that didn’t seem neglected.  It was left there in memorial, obviously, with 9/11 marked on it.  It was a softail.

And I’ll come right out and say a CB750 isn’t so pretty in my eyes.  They way they nurture this bike and make it a show-quality bike is really a miracle.

So I recommend it, because it’s the kind of film that brings you in.  For the detached, it can be thought of as an expose` on the soul of a bike, the way it comes together from different people and becomes a thing unto itself.

Cue the philosophers.

That Harley Sound

Took a vid and finally uploaded it.  It’s Mike on his 2003 Sportster.  He lets it warm up a moment, then lets it run a little rich at idle before taking off for a couple of laps up the street and back.  The tape didn’t come out with the best sound – it’s HD quality image w/ Dolby 5.1 on the camera, but YouTube doesn’t prioritize sound and it was pretty windy anyway.

Still, this is that great sound… And notice how it’s not tooth-cracking loud.  It’s respectable.  I don’t even want to be this loud, I just want the greasy flopping sound quality.  More on that later.

In the meantime, something I think is very funny:  Mike wears no helmet or shoes when HE rides on my block! And no one stopped him !!!

Ha….damnit!!!

2010 SuperTrapp SE Slip-On Mufflers, 2010 Baffles, Cake Mix Wheat Bread Coca-Cola Shaving Cream

Last night I slid the baffles in but didn’t secure them.  Started the engine.

The bike was loud.  The pipes shook a lot and the baffles slid out.  Like a trombone, the sound changed a bit.

Somewhere in there is the timbre I’m looking for, and I’ll get it someday.

Here are the videos I promised yesterday, first of the midway point of removing the right muffler (I’ll never understand how it was stuck on so hard! With under 300 miles, there wasn’t time to rust or wear together well enough to explain it) and second of the home stretch in which I got the muffler off.

The left muffler came off in seconds.  Explain that? Dropped the bolt, loosened the clamp, wiggled it a bit and it slid right off.  Figures…

And then, actually removing it…(caution: LONG and ANNOYING video!):

 

The end result (another video, this one in addition to the one posted yesterday):

 

The big question is what to do about the baffles.  Spoke to SuperTrapp – called them back after the cat procedure and told them the sound wasn’t what I wanted.  They tried to sell me straight baffles – see-through style.  I told them that’s what I had.  The 1995-2009 style baffles have chambers and can be altered to allow more airflow, but the 2010 straights are just one long, fat tube.  They said the Kerker-Mikuni baffles are the same technology, but only 1/2 the length – the rest of the muffler chamber is empty.  Supposed to be “VERY loud” and should require tuning.  That’s not what I want! I don’t need more volume, I need better sound.

 

Not noise, but better quality sound – butter sound, if that makes sense rather than seems a worthless spoonerism.

 

 

2010 FLHRC and the story of the catalytic converter

It seems,

and I will spell this out carefully,

that Harley-Davidson has been putting a catalytic converter (a “cat”) in its California bikes for a while,

in most of its CVO (they have larger engines, you know) bikes,

and ALL of its 2010 bikes.

 

This is something of a problem.

 

The cat forces gasses, the accumulation of which tends to double the temperature of the exhaust*, through a certain screening process that results in loss of performance.

Uh-oh.

The * above is my queue to you that there’s some proper reference I can make, but I just realized there’s no way I’ll find the forum post exactly.  I heard someone measured the temp of the exhaust pipes at the cat at over 400 degrees, and everywhere else at around 200 degrees.  That’s good enough for me.

 

Anyway,

the cat has to go.

 

Drilling out the cat is a violation of EPA requirements.  I believe I’ve mentioned this before.  I may be a very diligent citizen, explaining to you, my good and curious reader, that such a procedure is not something which I can publicaly (like, say, on a BLOG…) advise that you take.

There are “lawful” alternatives such as swapping out the header (where the cat lives) for a pre_uber-emissions-control pipe.  Any non-CA 09 pipe, for example.  Realize that this isn’t legal advice, but a simple lay-inference I draw from the understanding (which is definitely unverifiable) that the MoCo put cats in their 2010 bikes to ‘practice’ the process widescale for the 2011 emissions requirements.  That = cats are required on CVO and 2011 bikes, but not 2010 bikes.  If that’s a misinterpretation, the stakes are federal.  Don’t blame me if you swap the cat pipe for a non cat pipe, I’m just parroting what I’ve heard.

For myself, if it were up to me … and I’m speaking HYPOTHETICALLY … I would just drill out the cat.  I understand there’s no need to retune if the baffles remain intact; the cat does not affect back pressure.  It allows freer flow of exhaust gas and that’s a good thing.  The engine will run a bit cooler, and that’s all.

We can also hope, those of us who put sound in the “comfort” category rather than the “vanity” category (which is where it belongs, so long as we’re talking less-than-the-rapture noise levels), that there’s a little juicy soul to be had by killing the cat.

I can’t say, however, that for-sure the cat removal improves sound or performance.  Some have reported it does, some have reported no change.

It looks like you’d have to be very empirical to bother knocking off your slip-ons to drill out a catalytic converter.  In other words, curiosity is required to kill the cat.

So get curious, if you’re the type, and let’s talk about what happens.  Don’t tell the EPA though ^_^

EFI Management (Part 3) (COUNTDOWN: 1 day!!!!!)

Ok, so!

After I posted yesterday, I spoke with the dealer yet again.  I then called Harley Davidson directly.  The number for their corporate office (customer service line) is (414) 343-4056.  I spoke with a gal named Roxxanne.  Awesome!

I told her the whole story. She said she wouldn’t give me anything in writing, but that she codified our conversation and gave me a reference number to give to any dealer that didn’t believe me.  Here’s the story:

If you get a Stage I kit, you may not use a Screamin Eagle Super [Race] Tuner (“SEST”).  If you get a Stage II kit and do not change the exhaust, you may not use a SEST.  If you get a Stage II kit and you do change the pipes, then you are **REQUIRED** to get a SEST in order to balance the different loads on the engine and to keep the AFR (air-to-fuel ratio) ideal for reliable long-term operation.

Interesting, right?

The “catch” is that the SEST will not be covered under warranty.  The warranty will not be voided by ANY of this.  If you disobey the MoCo and use a SEST in either of the two forbidden cases above, there may be warranty “impact” such as the dealership refusing warranty service on damage they can prove was caused by your use of the SEST.  9 times out of 10, if you know what you’re doing and you aren’t abusing anything, the SEST will just help the bike run right.  Don’t ride like an asshole and you won’t blow anything up, pretty much.  But other than the SEST not being covered itself, I was completely relieved to hear all this.

So I called the dealer and told them.  “Get me a SEST, please!” I said.  Well, not really, I asked and asked politely.  But then the dealer wanted to confirm everything (Big Chris actually, who is really on the ball and hands-down the most reliable person there – he actually calls back!), so I passed on the reference # and he got it confirmed.

He called me back and said he’d verified all of it.  But then he gave me the great news:  I didn’t need a SEST anyway because the SuperTrapp pipes were the exact pipes the Stage II ECM download was made for!  SuperTrapp used to manufacture the screamin eagle pipes for Harley Davidson, and it didn’t count as “different exhaust” for the ECM’s purposes!  Wahoo!  He said to ride it and judge for myself if it seemed hot.

I can still do the SEST, but can keep my options open.  The PCV has that history of failures that the other tuners don’t have. Maybe it’s the PCIII that had failures and they’re imputed to the PCV, but whatever.  I want to look into the MasterTuner as well.

My next three-bills purchase will probably be a custom seat.  And that’ll be a while coming.

And some snowmobile mittens to go with the hand deflectors will get me on the road longer this winter than any winter prior.

I confirmed with Big Chris he’d be there at 9am on Saturday.  Eddy too.  Hoping the signing on the dotted line doesn’t take too long.

If you don’t see any posts tomorrow or Sunday, you’ll know why.

^_^

COUNTDOWN: 3 Days!

Again with the countdown.  Letting myself get a little excited.

I called the service dept to check on the bike, and like always, rather than say 2 words, they took my name and xferred me to sales.  Then, talking to Eddy, I told him I wasn’t driving off without some kind of ECM fix (yes, rip me off for the $120 fuel map switch) but that I’d rather just pick up the parts they couldn’t get installed and that I’d do them myself.

Of course, I said all that after I’d confirmed that I’ll be able to drop by this saturday and ride home.  They open at 9:00.  Guess who will be there at 8:50 am?  My wife!  And me, I hope.

I’m probably going to invest in some wind protection – “rain guards” from Desert Dawgs and possibly “hippo hands” from Hippo Hands.   Both products seem like something I can make myself, and if they look ridiculous when mounted then it makes no difference if they look like hell or not, right?   So long as it doesn’t scratch the paint…

No progress yet on the EFI manager.  A tuner near the house, with a good reputation, wants to sell me a PC III for $350, then charge me $200 for the tuning.  I think I’ll ride the HD upgraded download for a bit.

3 days.  Kind of amazing.  It’s in the high 60’s today.  What I wouldn’t give for more of that …