Arlen Ness Big Shot 2 Fuel Controller
These are my settings and findings that I have used for setting up my Arlen Ness Big Shot 2 Fuel Controller on my 2016 Victory Cross Country Tour. My bike is mostly ridden at an elevation of right around 1100 feet. Most of these setting were done in the early spring with temperatures in the low 70's and highs in the mid 90's. Most of my riding is at highway speeds of 65-75 mph, 30 to 60 miles at a time. I don't have to do much in the way of stop and go so my preference is to have a well running bike and good roll on throttle at speed. I'm currently running 87-octane fuel in the bike; I've ran 93-octane in the bike and can't tell any difference. I may switch back after I have the fuel controller all dialed in just to see if it runs any better but I doubt it.
This is a list of the changes that I made to the bike at the same time that I installed the Arlen Ness Big Shot 2 Fuel Controller.
- Vance & Hines Hi-output Slip-ons: Part #68005
- Lloydz Idle Air Valve: Part # HOH-IAV
- Lloydz Cross Bike Air Filter: Part # HOH-XF. Removed the horseshoe and gasket.
At this point in time I will only be making adjustments to Modes 1, 2 & 3.
Mode 1 is your fuel setting during cruise/steady throttle.
Mode 2 is your fuel setting during acceleration.
Mode 3 is your fuel setting during full throttle.
Since my exhaust pipes have a large chrome flange on the end of them I will be using them as an indicator as to what's going on with the engine without pulling plugs every time. My thinking on this is brown tips mean lean fuel, hot engine. Black tips mean rich fuel, loss of power, possibly fouling a spark plug. When I feel that I have the fuel settings close and the tips of the pipes stay fairly clean most of the time I will run the bike with those settings without making any changes for couple of weeks and then pull the spark plugs and actually see what's going on inside the engine.
Stock Stage-1 Settings
These are the stock Stage-1 settings that come preset on the Big Shot 2 Fuel Controller for the 2016 Victory Cross Country.
Mode 1 - 5
Mode 2 - 4
Mode 3 - 3
Mode 4 - 3
Mode 5 - 2
Mode 6 - 4
Bike ran very lean and hot. No popping or back firing while riding, shifting or during de-accelerating. End of exhaust pipes where very brown and dirty after 20 mile trip. Very bad lean exhaust smell. Front cylinder head temperature was 198F, rear was 212F. Stock head temperature was 152F for the front and 175F for the rear.
First adjustment
Mode 1 - 6
Mode 2 - 5
Mode 3 - 4
Mode 4 - 3
Mode 5 - 2
Mode 6 - 4
Bike ran better with less heat. Pipes were still getting brown on the tips after a 60 mile trip. No popping or back firing while riding, shifting or during de-accelerating. Not a very noticeable change in performance or power. Fuel mileage was showing a 2 mpg improvement. (40.2). Front cylinder head temperature was 188F, rear was 201F.
Second Adjustment
Mode 1 - 6
Mode 2 - 7
Mode 3 - 4
Mode 4 - 3
Mode 5 - 2
Mode 6 - 4
Bike ran about the same with the same amount of heat as the second adjustment. A little better power during acceleration and a little better power during take off. Tips of pipes still browning up just a bit after 120 miles. No popping or back firing while riding, shifting or during de-accelerating. Fuel mileage was back to stock (38.8).
Third Adjustment
Mode 1 - 7
Mode 2 - 7
Mode 3 - 4
Mode 4 - 3
Mode 5 - 2
Mode 6 - 4
Bike ran very well and the heat coming off the engine is close to where it was in stock set-up. Front cylinder was 151F, rear cylinder was 174F. Tips of pipes were turning black, most noticeable on the left side pipe due to less restriction on that side. Had to clean soot from pipes four times during 240 miles of riding. No popping or back firing while riding, shifting or during de-accelerating. Fuel mileage was up from stock; saw mileage from 40.2 - 41.8 mpg.
Fourth Adjustment
Mode 1 - 6.5
Mode 2 - 7
Mode 3 - 4
Mode 4 - 3
Mode 5 - 2
Mode 6 - 4
Ran the bike with these settings for 60 miles. No change in mileage and power was still good. Tips of pipes where only slightly tarnished. This is a very good setting for this bike and my riding style. This is a very good baseline to start with.
Fifth Adjustment
Mode 1 - 6.5
Mode 2 - 7
Mode 3 - 5
Mode 4 - 3
Mode 5 - 2
Mode 6 - 4
Put 382 miles on the bike at these settings. Took the bike on a road trip up to 5374 ft and the bike felt slightly down on power at that altitude, which is to be expected and I did notice a little bit of popping when de-accelerating at that altitude as well. Bike still ran very well at that altitude and I had no problems getting around anyone I wanted too. Opened it up to 100mph on a couple of open stretches of highway on the way home and the bike still had more in it and ran fine. Ran 75-80 mph most of the way home in 5th and 6th gear and averaged 42.7 mpg. The tips of the exhaust pipes were noticeably blackened, the left side more than the right but that's because the right side exhaust has a catalytic converter just before the slip-on exhaust pipe. I pulled the spark plugs and the electrodes and porcelain were a light ash gray, slightly light brown. This tells me the bike is running well, but I would like to see them with just a bit more brown tint to them. Some of the soot on the ends of the pipes could be because I had added 2oz of Sea Foam to the fuel before the trip. I noticed the soot on the pipes when I stopped for fuel before returning home and it didn't look any worse by the end of the trip; I rode the bike a lot harder coming home than I did during the first half of the trip. Since I spent a lot of time rolling on the throttle going up and down the mountain roads I may back down Mode 2 half a point and see how it does but right now I'm very happy with the way the bike runs.
Sixth Adjustment
Mode 1 - 6
Mode 2 - 6.5
Mode 3 - 6.5
Mode 4 - 3
Mode 5 - 2
Mode 6 - 4
I've been running the bike around for the last 670 miles making only minor changes to Modes 1, 2 & 3 trying to find that final sweet spot. I switched back to 93-octane for this series of testing trying to get the most from the bike. I've been bouncing around between 6 & 6.5 on Mode 1; I ran the bike at 6.5 for almost 200 miles and started to develop some popping on deceleration. I pulled the spark plugs before making any changes and noticed the plugs tips where becoming slightly darker then before so I bumped Mode 1 back to 6 and the popping has went away. I've had Modes 2 & 3 as low as 5 and as high as 7. At level 5 the bike doesn't feel much better than stock. 6.5 & 7 really wake this bike up. I've also discovered that these two Modes need to be within one full number of each other to get the best acceleration at speed and from a stand still. If these setting are too far apart they kind of cancel each other out. I had them both at 7 for awhile and rode the bike like I stole it for a couple of days and noticed the soot on the tailpipe was becoming quite black so I backed it down half a point and went back to riding it like I normally do which is fast and hard enough to piss off your average brain dead commuter but slow enough to hopefully keep me out of jail if I ever get stopped. I've been running the bike at these settings all week and it seems to be running quite well so I'm going to try and leave it at these settings until the next oil change which is in 1000 miles and see how it does. If the bike keeps running well I going to move on to Modes 4, 5 & 6. Fuel mileage hasn't changed much, the last tank of gas I pulled down 41.7 mpg so not bad for my riding style.
Seventh Adjustment
Mode 1 - 6
Mode 2 - 6
Mode 3 - 6
Mode 4 - 3
Mode 5 - 2
Mode 6 - 4
It's been almost a year now since I've made any adjustment to these settings, I've pretty much forgotten all about the fuel controller, which is a good thing. The bike has been running very well all summer long in 100F plus degree heat without even a hiccup. I've gone back to 87-octane fuel with no additives and the bike runs just fine. The only change to this set up that I may change would be to Mode-1, if the tip of the pipes start to blacken up to much I would bump it back to 5 or 5.5. The bike runs just as well at those settings. If I were planning a trip up into higher elevations I would probably consider running some higher-octane fuel just to be on the safe side. My fuel mileage has dropped into the mid to high 30's, which I'm not crazy about but I am a bit of an aggressive rider and like to listen to the pipes bark on this bike. I would like to still mess around with Modes 4, 5 and 6 at some point in time but honestly the bike runs real well where it is right now and I really don't feel like messing with it right now. When the heat finally goes away I may mess around with it a bit just to see what I can come up with.
I know this was a bit lengthy and some of you are thinking I probably gave out way too much useless information but I wanted anyone using this information to set up their fuel controller to have an idea what it was that I was looking at and how I came to these conclusions. Almost all of these types of fuel controllers are made by the same company and work just about the same. If you are putting one of these on an all stock bike the factory setting out of the box may work just fine but I'm going to suggest that you buy yourself a quality digital thermometer and check the engine temperature near the top of the cylinder heads some where after you have ridden the bike a ways in stock mode and then recheck it in the same location again after the you have installed the fuel controller and ridden it the same distance. Your cylinder head temperatures should be within about 5F to 10F degrees of each other. If they are much hotter than that you need to think about adding more fuel or you could burn up your engine. These fuel controllers are pretty easy to install if you have basic mechanic skills and are very simple to adjust. Just remember to make small adjustments and only do one setting at a time. After making any adjustments you have to take the bike out for a ride; I suggest 10 miles or more unless something is just way off. A trip around the block isn't going to tell you crap. Also ride the bike the same way you normally ride the bike and when you get the settings close to where you want them ride the bike a little harder then you normally would just to make sure everything is going to work fine.
I hope this helps some of you. I don't claim to be a professional motorcycle mechanic or an acclaimed journalist but I have been working on motorcycles for over 30 years and I have been getting paid to twist wrenches professionally just over 30 years. The information I have provided is strictly informational and if you decide to take on this task I am in no way responsible for the outcome of your actions. I am only telling you what worked for me on my bike.
These are my settings and findings that I have used for setting up my Arlen Ness Big Shot 2 Fuel Controller on my 2016 Victory Cross Country Tour. My bike is mostly ridden at an elevation of right around 1100 feet. Most of these setting were done in the early spring with temperatures in the low 70's and highs in the mid 90's. Most of my riding is at highway speeds of 65-75 mph, 30 to 60 miles at a time. I don't have to do much in the way of stop and go so my preference is to have a well running bike and good roll on throttle at speed. I'm currently running 87-octane fuel in the bike; I've ran 93-octane in the bike and can't tell any difference. I may switch back after I have the fuel controller all dialed in just to see if it runs any better but I doubt it.
This is a list of the changes that I made to the bike at the same time that I installed the Arlen Ness Big Shot 2 Fuel Controller.
- Vance & Hines Hi-output Slip-ons: Part #68005
- Lloydz Idle Air Valve: Part # HOH-IAV
- Lloydz Cross Bike Air Filter: Part # HOH-XF. Removed the horseshoe and gasket.
At this point in time I will only be making adjustments to Modes 1, 2 & 3.
Mode 1 is your fuel setting during cruise/steady throttle.
Mode 2 is your fuel setting during acceleration.
Mode 3 is your fuel setting during full throttle.
Since my exhaust pipes have a large chrome flange on the end of them I will be using them as an indicator as to what's going on with the engine without pulling plugs every time. My thinking on this is brown tips mean lean fuel, hot engine. Black tips mean rich fuel, loss of power, possibly fouling a spark plug. When I feel that I have the fuel settings close and the tips of the pipes stay fairly clean most of the time I will run the bike with those settings without making any changes for couple of weeks and then pull the spark plugs and actually see what's going on inside the engine.
Stock Stage-1 Settings
These are the stock Stage-1 settings that come preset on the Big Shot 2 Fuel Controller for the 2016 Victory Cross Country.
Mode 1 - 5
Mode 2 - 4
Mode 3 - 3
Mode 4 - 3
Mode 5 - 2
Mode 6 - 4
Bike ran very lean and hot. No popping or back firing while riding, shifting or during de-accelerating. End of exhaust pipes where very brown and dirty after 20 mile trip. Very bad lean exhaust smell. Front cylinder head temperature was 198F, rear was 212F. Stock head temperature was 152F for the front and 175F for the rear.
First adjustment
Mode 1 - 6
Mode 2 - 5
Mode 3 - 4
Mode 4 - 3
Mode 5 - 2
Mode 6 - 4
Bike ran better with less heat. Pipes were still getting brown on the tips after a 60 mile trip. No popping or back firing while riding, shifting or during de-accelerating. Not a very noticeable change in performance or power. Fuel mileage was showing a 2 mpg improvement. (40.2). Front cylinder head temperature was 188F, rear was 201F.
Second Adjustment
Mode 1 - 6
Mode 2 - 7
Mode 3 - 4
Mode 4 - 3
Mode 5 - 2
Mode 6 - 4
Bike ran about the same with the same amount of heat as the second adjustment. A little better power during acceleration and a little better power during take off. Tips of pipes still browning up just a bit after 120 miles. No popping or back firing while riding, shifting or during de-accelerating. Fuel mileage was back to stock (38.8).
Third Adjustment
Mode 1 - 7
Mode 2 - 7
Mode 3 - 4
Mode 4 - 3
Mode 5 - 2
Mode 6 - 4
Bike ran very well and the heat coming off the engine is close to where it was in stock set-up. Front cylinder was 151F, rear cylinder was 174F. Tips of pipes were turning black, most noticeable on the left side pipe due to less restriction on that side. Had to clean soot from pipes four times during 240 miles of riding. No popping or back firing while riding, shifting or during de-accelerating. Fuel mileage was up from stock; saw mileage from 40.2 - 41.8 mpg.
Fourth Adjustment
Mode 1 - 6.5
Mode 2 - 7
Mode 3 - 4
Mode 4 - 3
Mode 5 - 2
Mode 6 - 4
Ran the bike with these settings for 60 miles. No change in mileage and power was still good. Tips of pipes where only slightly tarnished. This is a very good setting for this bike and my riding style. This is a very good baseline to start with.
Fifth Adjustment
Mode 1 - 6.5
Mode 2 - 7
Mode 3 - 5
Mode 4 - 3
Mode 5 - 2
Mode 6 - 4
Put 382 miles on the bike at these settings. Took the bike on a road trip up to 5374 ft and the bike felt slightly down on power at that altitude, which is to be expected and I did notice a little bit of popping when de-accelerating at that altitude as well. Bike still ran very well at that altitude and I had no problems getting around anyone I wanted too. Opened it up to 100mph on a couple of open stretches of highway on the way home and the bike still had more in it and ran fine. Ran 75-80 mph most of the way home in 5th and 6th gear and averaged 42.7 mpg. The tips of the exhaust pipes were noticeably blackened, the left side more than the right but that's because the right side exhaust has a catalytic converter just before the slip-on exhaust pipe. I pulled the spark plugs and the electrodes and porcelain were a light ash gray, slightly light brown. This tells me the bike is running well, but I would like to see them with just a bit more brown tint to them. Some of the soot on the ends of the pipes could be because I had added 2oz of Sea Foam to the fuel before the trip. I noticed the soot on the pipes when I stopped for fuel before returning home and it didn't look any worse by the end of the trip; I rode the bike a lot harder coming home than I did during the first half of the trip. Since I spent a lot of time rolling on the throttle going up and down the mountain roads I may back down Mode 2 half a point and see how it does but right now I'm very happy with the way the bike runs.
Sixth Adjustment
Mode 1 - 6
Mode 2 - 6.5
Mode 3 - 6.5
Mode 4 - 3
Mode 5 - 2
Mode 6 - 4
I've been running the bike around for the last 670 miles making only minor changes to Modes 1, 2 & 3 trying to find that final sweet spot. I switched back to 93-octane for this series of testing trying to get the most from the bike. I've been bouncing around between 6 & 6.5 on Mode 1; I ran the bike at 6.5 for almost 200 miles and started to develop some popping on deceleration. I pulled the spark plugs before making any changes and noticed the plugs tips where becoming slightly darker then before so I bumped Mode 1 back to 6 and the popping has went away. I've had Modes 2 & 3 as low as 5 and as high as 7. At level 5 the bike doesn't feel much better than stock. 6.5 & 7 really wake this bike up. I've also discovered that these two Modes need to be within one full number of each other to get the best acceleration at speed and from a stand still. If these setting are too far apart they kind of cancel each other out. I had them both at 7 for awhile and rode the bike like I stole it for a couple of days and noticed the soot on the tailpipe was becoming quite black so I backed it down half a point and went back to riding it like I normally do which is fast and hard enough to piss off your average brain dead commuter but slow enough to hopefully keep me out of jail if I ever get stopped. I've been running the bike at these settings all week and it seems to be running quite well so I'm going to try and leave it at these settings until the next oil change which is in 1000 miles and see how it does. If the bike keeps running well I going to move on to Modes 4, 5 & 6. Fuel mileage hasn't changed much, the last tank of gas I pulled down 41.7 mpg so not bad for my riding style.
Seventh Adjustment
Mode 1 - 6
Mode 2 - 6
Mode 3 - 6
Mode 4 - 3
Mode 5 - 2
Mode 6 - 4
It's been almost a year now since I've made any adjustment to these settings, I've pretty much forgotten all about the fuel controller, which is a good thing. The bike has been running very well all summer long in 100F plus degree heat without even a hiccup. I've gone back to 87-octane fuel with no additives and the bike runs just fine. The only change to this set up that I may change would be to Mode-1, if the tip of the pipes start to blacken up to much I would bump it back to 5 or 5.5. The bike runs just as well at those settings. If I were planning a trip up into higher elevations I would probably consider running some higher-octane fuel just to be on the safe side. My fuel mileage has dropped into the mid to high 30's, which I'm not crazy about but I am a bit of an aggressive rider and like to listen to the pipes bark on this bike. I would like to still mess around with Modes 4, 5 and 6 at some point in time but honestly the bike runs real well where it is right now and I really don't feel like messing with it right now. When the heat finally goes away I may mess around with it a bit just to see what I can come up with.
I know this was a bit lengthy and some of you are thinking I probably gave out way too much useless information but I wanted anyone using this information to set up their fuel controller to have an idea what it was that I was looking at and how I came to these conclusions. Almost all of these types of fuel controllers are made by the same company and work just about the same. If you are putting one of these on an all stock bike the factory setting out of the box may work just fine but I'm going to suggest that you buy yourself a quality digital thermometer and check the engine temperature near the top of the cylinder heads some where after you have ridden the bike a ways in stock mode and then recheck it in the same location again after the you have installed the fuel controller and ridden it the same distance. Your cylinder head temperatures should be within about 5F to 10F degrees of each other. If they are much hotter than that you need to think about adding more fuel or you could burn up your engine. These fuel controllers are pretty easy to install if you have basic mechanic skills and are very simple to adjust. Just remember to make small adjustments and only do one setting at a time. After making any adjustments you have to take the bike out for a ride; I suggest 10 miles or more unless something is just way off. A trip around the block isn't going to tell you crap. Also ride the bike the same way you normally ride the bike and when you get the settings close to where you want them ride the bike a little harder then you normally would just to make sure everything is going to work fine.
I hope this helps some of you. I don't claim to be a professional motorcycle mechanic or an acclaimed journalist but I have been working on motorcycles for over 30 years and I have been getting paid to twist wrenches professionally just over 30 years. The information I have provided is strictly informational and if you decide to take on this task I am in no way responsible for the outcome of your actions. I am only telling you what worked for me on my bike.
