Texican gets a Vegas

Thanks Steve
The octane values are defined differently in the US and EU. Your 93 octane corresponds to approx. 98 octane in the EU. I drive 95 octane. That would be about 90 octane in the US.

 

That would be cool and interesting. I'm not exactly a hobby electronics hobbyist guru.

I think the injector cut off is basically good and necessary. I think Victory has not built this into the Visteon ECU optimally or Dynojet didn't find the tricks.The sudden restart of the injection after a deceleration phase in the low-end range (1200-1800) is rather difficult. A smoother transition would be desirable here.

 

If it were possible, I'd like to raise the "injector cut-out" function to 2,500 rpms and above...

 

Ok, after riding around with this "Injector cut-out disabler" mod for over a week, found no downsides, and totally satisfied with its results, I've written up a thread on the mod...

A fix for the throttle tip-in stumble/hesitation

 

Got the Vegas all tuned up with the Maximus.
Stock bike, stock exhaust, stock intake/filter.
Adjusted the AFR tables slightly, sort of a blend of stock and stage 1.
Running my version 02 ignition timing tables.
I let Maximus do all the tuning to all the cells.
I did *no* math interpolation/smoothing to the Maximus values.
Only corrected a few outlier cells that had unreasonable values.
After about a dozen tuning runs, reflashed the ECM to closed-loop mode.
The Vegas runs great.

Then, I went and done it.
Installed an RPW Thor exhaust and K&N airfilter.

RPW Thor on a 2016 Vegas, Installation tidbits

Did more tuning sessions using the Maximus.
No change to the AFR tables, using the same timing tables.
An apples-to-apples comparison.

Studying and comparing the new fueling tables, I think I can see a pattern.
I believe that changes to the fueling tables imply a direct and proportional change to the VE (Volumetric Efficiency).
So, I hashed the fueling tables into an averaged report, showing the general rpm differences for 3 driving regimes.

Cruise region - About 5% to 15% throttle.
Mild acceleration - About 15% to 40% throttle.
Hard acceleration - About 40% throttle to WOT



Some significant improvements, especially above 3,000 rpm.
The 2,500 - 3,000 rpm region took a mild loss, but I don't really feel that.
Nice boost in the low rpms, up to 2,500 rpms.

The new pipe sounds great.
Youtube soundclips don't do it justice.

Crusing at 70 mph in 5th, turning about 3,000 rpms, it's in the beginning of the boost zone.
Crusing at 70 mph in 6th, turning about 2,500 rpms, seems less strained, holding a tad less throttle, about 10%.
There's a bit of boost in the cruise region there.

A fuel burn factor table, showing before and after, for 70 MPH cruise in both 5th and 6th gears.
(A lower factor is better)
Straight, level road, no winds.



According to this, 6th gear should now tie with 5th gear for fuel mileage.

Really happy with this...

 

Please keeps this journalling, with details of changes and responses up!

 

Ok.

Then, justa FYI, this is the modified AFR table that I tuned to.


The grey area is where the ECM runs in closed-loop mode.
I narrowed it down so that it would richen-up at MP of 55.
I found that 50 MP and below was just fine for normal cruise, mild throttle adjustments for maintaining speed up/down hills, simple passing.
At MP of 55 is the beginning of more aggressive acceleration, and I didn't want any EPA strangulation/stifling there.
Full throttle not as rich as the Base map, but a little richer than the Stage 1 map.
Totally satisfied with the performance, but sometimes I'm easy to please.
It has an awful lot of romp (coming from vintage-land here).

After a mix of in-town, backroad cruising, highway cruising, and a couple of blasts,
My last fillup showed getting 51 mpg...

 

My Vegas seat is quite comfortable, until after about an hour of riding.
Then, I feel the butt ache, right on the "sitting bones".

This pressure point distribution diagram illustrates just what I'm dealing with.


Ordered another seat, a Drag Specialties solo Vegas low.

No guarantee that a replacement seat will solve this, so been researching various foam materials and seat mods. Been a very long time since I've made a seat, but reworking my stock seat may be necessary. While waiting on the new seat, made a testing pan to evaluate some of the new-fangled seat foams and gels.


Now I have an idea of what these new materials feel like, in various layered combinations.
But, not sure of their long-term effects.

The replacement seat arrived, and mounted it.


Now I can experiment on the stock seat.
Made a fixture to hold and level the seat base.


With the seat cover peeled-back, and its pan bolted on, I can measure foam heights and shapes.


There's 2.5" of foam in the middle of the seat, and the foam profile is convex.
Supposedly that's wrong, it's upside-down, the seat should be somewhat concave for a touring/cruiser.
It'll take removing 1/2" just to get the seat flat, and another at least 1/2" to get the concave shape.
Leaving 1.5" of foam in the middle.

This'll take a while.
Gonna do this in baby steps, a little at a time...

 

The Drag Specialties solo seat is a bit firmer than the stock seat, but has a slightly different shape. Sets you just a bit higher, and more forward. Got *no* butt ache after about 2-3 hours ridin'. It's a keeper, may modify it sometime anyway.

Continuing with the mods on the stock seat.

Built a fixture to hang a Dremel (with a 1/2" sanding drum), centered over the targeted pressure points. The idea is to cut/grind (2) 16" radius sphericals, centered on the pressure points. Only 3/8" needs be removed to get the shapes. A minimalist mod, starting small, leaving room for more aggressive mods later, if necessary.


Studying the seat and markings, something looked familiar.
Ahhh, there it is...

 

Adjusted the Dremel's power cord so that the dangling sanding drum would grind-away about 3/8".
The first spheroid cut.


Good enuff. Removed the pressure point and left the side as-is.
Now do the other side.


Perfect. I love symmetry.
Now, using a rough sanding sponge, fair-in the seat front to the new depressions.


Nice and smooth. Too bad my camera skills don't show the true 3-D shape.
*Gads*, there's foam dust everywhere.
Should've done this outdoors...

 

In the past, I'd put a seat on a thick padding, and put my knee on the seat pan to compress the seat foam enuff to pull the covering tight around the edges. Too old for those gymnastics nowadays. Used a long board, braced to the ceiling, to press the seat base down and compress the seat foam.


Works great.
The seat covering is attached to the plastic seat pan with a pneumatic stapler.


Mounted back onto the Vegas, the seat doesn't look any different from stock. But it's more comfortable, and sets a bit lower.
Only done a 30-mile ride on it so far, but it feels much better.
I'll know more later, after one of those extended group rides...

 

Got about 5 hours saddle time on the modified seat. No butt pain until near the end, just a mild ache. Much better than before. Not sure if I want to fool with it anymore, maybe.

Added a switchblock to the left handlebar control, using "LED ghost ring" pushbuttons.
Also added a small CB radio. The group I ride with have multi-million dollar bikes with exotic sound systems and built-in CB radios. One of them insisted that I install one. Quite handy, they chatterbox about turns/directions, the scenery, road hazards, and varmints.


There's modern FM FRS, cellphones, and bluetooth helmet communication systems, but *they* all use the '70s CBs...

 

A late welcome, and a good read, though most of it goes way over my head, I know a little more than when I started reading this thread.

 

Hey, Motorbikerx! Thanx.

You know the warning, "The more you know, the more you realize you don't know."

I'm sure that when you get HC's bike, you'll be enjoying the learning experience from that thing...

 

I have large hands, and like to have palmswell type grips on my stuff. Long ago, used to install Triumph type titty-grips on various bikes. Nice and soft palmswell grips of that day. But, they get slickery with sweaty palms. Enter the modern Biltwell Recoil and Renegade grips. Palmswell design with a textured/knurled surface. Put a set of the Recoils on my Yamaha 650, really liking these.


The OEM Vegas grips are ok, I guess, but feel a bit small for me, and I occasionally get hand cramps from them.
Searching online for Victory grips, all I find are expensive strange-looking grips, with end-spikes and stuff.

So, awhile back, I ordered a set of Biltwell 1" Renegade grips for the Vegas.


Decided now's the time to install them on the Vegas, try them out...