Like for so many others, a holiday/roadtrip update.
I started my trip in the now typical way, heading out few days early to do some work on the bike, before setting off. This time chain & sprockets replacement, cat delete pipe and Power commander install were scheduled in. I've actually had the Power commander unit for a good while, but I was persuaded to get another exhaust before getting it fitted by a dyno place. But I've come to the conclusion that I like the sound and look of the original exhaust and don't want to spend money to ruin that.
Dyno time was reserved for Thursday noon near Frankfurt, so I set off Tuesday morning, to have some 1½ days to work on the bike.
First things first, a quick wash was in order. Of course I forgot to bring all my cleaning stuff I was planning on taking along..
Quick rig for chain replacement. Only broke the chain breaking tool, so I consider that a successful operation.
I'm slow at doing stuff, but otherwise the PC install went rather smoothly.
..Apart from after the project was finished. Nelli refused to start after PC was installed. It was time to fire up Joe's garage computer, install Dynojet tune software, come to the conclusion that for some reason the supplied USB-cable wasn't working, finding a new long enough mini-USB cable etc etc. After too much pointless faffing we got the ecu connected. Everything seemed fine; there was
a map loaded in there, TPS was reading fine and all that. And then suddenly the bike started again. No reason why it did, or didn't start before..
While diving under the tank for the PC install, I replaced some breather hoses as well, which hadn't been done by the service, even when I specifically asked for that.
I also spent way too much time with the exhaust. And now that the bike and the cat delete pipe were in the same place, it could be confirmed that it was of wrong length.
The guy who made it had taken the overall length, but then added the sleeve on top of that. So that part of the plan was abandoned, again. But I removed the noise regulation cheat flap from there at least.
The fitment wasn't that far off, but a) mounts didn't match and b) I would've lost the little ground clearance I have.
Everything back together, time for a test ride. Everything seemed ok, which is nice.
Packed up and ready to go.
Not surprisingly the map provided on the PC was for the wrong model. TreK shares quite a lot with the streetfighter sibling TNT, but engine specs, apart from the main unit isn't one of them. While it ran fine on the wrong map, the consumption went up by 1.5 litres / 100km.
On the dyno, the guy had the work cut out for him.
The dyno setup was great. He was literally working from his backyard. But due to my bike being so loud we relocated to a quiet parking lot near an autobahn, to not bother his neighbours.
Steady 37C in the trailer. Lovely working conditions. Lovely enough that the dyno actually failed before he got the tune finalised. No dyno charts for me.
Onwards to something cooler. A bucket list box ticked, a snowboarding trip with a bike.
This might be cheating a bit, but still.
Elevation and cold engine also revealed few problem spots in the new mapping around 3-3500rpm.
Onwards, to new adventures!
Almost made it to Italy.
Somewhat surprisingly, the only issue I had on the trip (with the bike at least) was a rear wheel puncture after playing around at the abandoned airfield. Luckily
DaHitch had some worms in his toolkit for a quick fix and
IceBone quickly sourced me some new tyres. Despite rather common sizes no shop seemed to have anything on the shelf, so we ended up detouring to his trusted tyre shop. What I got was Dunlop Sportmax Qualifier II's. A bit more sport than touring for my liking, but it was literally the only option and they will do nicely.
Like for so many others, Mangart pass providing a scenic holiday background.
I broke myself at around the same time as the tyre went, so last couple days of the roadtrip were just about riding to the ringmeet camp with minimal extra activities. And while I was mostly fine again by the time we arrived on Thursday evening, my health collapsed again by Friday evening. Despite missing most of the weekend I got two ringlaps in on Sunday. The first lap was a complete mess of spatial awareness and sense of speed I should be doing. Second lap actually felt rather fast, but no idea about times. I can report new tyres to be really nice on track though. On rough, uneven alpine roads they felt more skittish and unstable than my old, worn PR4's. But strangely enough it made me trust them more, as I could gauge the limits what they can do easier.
Just like previous years,
loose_unit has kindly taken care of storing the bike again. It returned to the same garage, again unwashed and in need of an oil change at least. So I guess I'll be heading out early again the next time I have the chance to ride it.