Posts Tagged ‘ Harley-Davidson ’

Have I found the bike within? FZ1 Stock vs FCE vs ECUnleashed vs Both

Riding in on my way to work this morning, the question danced across my mind: Have I finally found the bike within my bike? That bike that is smooth, predicable, and ride-able?

Perhaps I have.

I first rode my step-father’s 2008 Yamaha FZ1 and loved it. It was the sportiest bike I had ever ridden to that point and it, by comparison to my 2006 Harley-Davidson Sportster 883, was sporty. Yet it was also practical for around town and long(er) trips.

After returning from that wonderful trip, within a week I had posted my Sportster for sale on Craigslist, and within a month or so I had purchased a used 2006 Yamaha FZ1 from a nice gentlemen in upstate New York via eBay. I was very excited to get the bike and really enjoyed its power and handling.

Relatively soon after buying it I started playing with the suspension and geometry to get it to handle better and at the beginning of the next season I did my best to set-up the suspension right. Also, soon after I got the bike I noticed that the throttle response at roll on was rather snatchy. I thought, and had hoped, the Ivan’s FCE (Fuel Cut Eliminator) would resolve this. After receiving an FCE via a generous Christmas gift, I installed it and liked what I felt.

Within just a few months of having this bike I had taken the time to adjust the suspension and geometry and also try to make some fueling modifications. My tweaks would work for most of that season, but as I got more experienced riding a sport bike, I started to want a better cornering experience. It took some time, but I figured out that I couldn’t trust my bike while it was leaned over because the throttle was so snatchy that I was afraid it would push me right out of the turn when I rolled back on the throttle. With that feeling, I couldn’t lean over as far and I would drive one or two gears higher than I wanted in order to not be in the meat of the power range when I rolled back on.

I began to question the FZ1. And I listed it on Craigslist several times but (perhaps thankfully) was unable to sell.

At some point I couldn’t take it anymore, I either needed to fix the problem or sell it. Since selling it and buying a new bike was out of my budget, I decided to try the ECUnleashed service. They should really advertise more, because I think I came across them rather accidentally on an FZ1 forum. The result was bike-saving, in that I didn’t feel the need to immediately sell my bike any more. It even seemed to increase my fuel economy while increasing the power and smoothness.

It was a lot smoother. As I got still more comfortable with it I still felt some of that snatchy throttle though. So, one morning before work I decided to put my FCE back in.

Three commutes later, with some rides through the Blue Hills, brings us up to the question posed at the beginning of this post. It seems, at least for now, that the combination of the ECUnleashed ECU and the FCE has resulted in a much smoother power delivery throughout the rev range of my 2006 Yamaha FZ1. I wish I could have sold my FCE to cover some of the cost of the ECU service but alas, I will take a better behaved bike.

My initial thoughts are that the FCE removes a bit of the Unleashed-ness making the bike feel a little less raw. This means that the bike is slightly less exhilarating, but much smoother and predicable mid-corner, which is what I have been shooting for all along.

In short here is my evaluation of the 2006 Yamaha FZ1:

  1. Stock – Sell it!
  2. FCE – Keep it for a while
  3. ECUnleashed – Keep it for a longer while
  4. FCE + ECUnleashed – Keep it (at least until your needs or wants change)

I now feel that I have a nice, predictable, yet powerful platform on which I can continue to fine tune various aspects to hone in on a better riding machine for my needs. Before, I didn’t want to try to build on top of a faulty foundation, but now I feel better about the idea of spending some money on certain accessories since I should get some return out of them.

Thanks for reading and happy riding.

2012
07/16
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Arthur & Pat’s ride

Yesterday, my father-in-law went for a ride from Quincy to Arthur & Pat’s in Marshfield. (see route below, tracked on my Garmin 60CSx.)

It had been a while, since late last season, that we had gone on a ride together. He rides a Harley-Davidson Dyna Low Rider and likes to “meander”. We kept it slow and gentle. I was on my 2006 Yamaha FZ1 and kept it in 6th gear most of the time.

Which brings me to my first tangent. I drove my FZ1 in sixth gear on a ride where my average moving speed was 32 mph. I was able to comfortably drive at 25 mph in sixth gear. This brings me to my question. Why am I able to drive under 30 mph in sixth gear? I want sixth gear to be absolutely useless under 40 mph. If I had my druthers, I would change the sprockets on my FZ1 to make it more streetable, and then replace 6th gear with an 8th or 9th gear, a real overdrive. Gears 1 through 5 would be very useful and fun around town and also speeding around the twisties, and 6th gear would be an exaggerated overdrive for highway cruising.

Here are two videos recorded with a handlebar mounted Flip camera. Notice the different riding styles from video 1 to 2.


I don’t normally keep it in 1st gear through these turns but I was practicing my throttle roll on. The 2006 FZ1 has a very abrupt roll on which I am trying to ‘master’.

Thanks for reading and happy riding.

2010
06/27
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Social Media Put to the Test – Update I

Last Saturday I posted an experiment on Craigslist. For those of you who would rather not read my previous post about it I will recap:

-recap-
I have been day dreaming of riding and potentially owning a Triumph Daytona 675. I have never ridden a proper sport bike and the fact that I am interested in one is an interesting progression in my riding since I initially started down the Harley-Davidson cruiser path. There are no places to rent non-cruisers in New England and especially no places to rent the Daytona 675. The only place I found that does rent them is in Utah. I did price out my various options including flying to Utah and decided that I wasn’t ready to invest that much time and money just yet.
I awoke one morning with an interesting idea which I immediately put to digital ink. I would post on Craigslist a want ad for renting or borrowing a Daytona 675.
-/recap-

After posting my want ad to Craigslist I did not invest much hope that it would work out, but it couldn’t hurt, right? A day or so after the posting of said ad I received an email. Don’t get too excited, as this email was a tip to give a local Triumph dealer a call and ask for a test ride. I considered this option but it wasn’t ideal in that the test ride would probably be short and being a new bike it would not be able to be revved past 5K. That being said I put it on the back burner.

About the point that I had given up on the ad, it had been five or so days, I receive an email from a gentleman in Cambridge who is in the process of selling his 2006 Triumph Daytona 675. He offered to let me borrow it, for multiple days, only paying for the fuel that I use. How awesome is that?!! We have textually (via email) agreed and I should be able to borrow his bike, for probably just a day, in the first half of June. Perhaps even on my birthday!

I am surprised to say that my experiment seems to be producing a positive result. I will post an update once I am actually able to ride the bike and I will also be giving a ride report as a separate entry I am sure. After all my involvement in social media it may be actually paying dividends for me personally.

Needless to say I am very excited that it appears I have made a connection through Craigslist and that I will get to ride the bike which has been of so much interest to me.

thanks for reading and happy riding.

2010
05/28
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Motorcycle Brand Complexity

I’ve been thinking about why Harley-Davidson had a significant negative Net Income for the year of 2009. My thinking led me to look at the number of models that H-D has. They seem to have very few engines and very many models per engine. This seemed like a slow moving and high cost product strategy.

From that initial idea I decided to look at the number of models offered by the various motorcycle brands. Since H-D is a cruiser only company I tried to break up the motorcycle market into ‘cruiser’ and non-cruiser or ‘sport’. I took the number of families the company groups its bikes into, plus the number of different engines it offers, plus the total number of models it touts. The families are the least important of the three, since families are largely a marketing decision and therefore slightly arbitrary.

What I was left with was a general idea of product complexity per brand.

As I expected H-D is the most complex of the cruiser brands, yet I was surprised to see Star so close behind. The problem with the complexity of H-D products is the narrow band of its appeal. Star is very complex as well, however, Yamaha Motors, Star’s parent company, is a much more diversified company than H-D, especially after the closing of Buell. If large displacement cruisers fall out of favor, as they did in 2009, H-D is really far up the creek without a paddle and with a hole in their boat.
Victory, H-D’s main competitor, is much more focused in it’s product offering. Indian is a competitor but not a strong one due to their market position, however, we can see their ultra-focused product line: One family, one engine, seven models.

Complexity in the ‘sport’ market, as it is here defined, is less troublesome since it includes many different riding styles and applications. As I have defined it, the ‘sport’ market includes any two wheeled vehicle that is not a cruiser/retro style bike. This includes, super-sport, sport, touring, motocross, scooters, and so on. Since there are many sub-markets to the sport market risk is spread out over many different types of consumers.

I started this idea thinking about H-D, so that is how I will end it as well. H-D is introducing too many models that are very similar. I suggest cutting out several models. For example the Nightster and the Forty-Eight are so similar, why not have a base model of something similar to the NIghtster then having customers opt in to having it modified to the Forty-Eight.

Since, in general, H-D owners are so quick to customize their rides, the strategy I am explaining is a hybrid of what already takes place. Currently, consumers purchase an H-D then use after market parts to make it “their own”. This strategy would be similar only there would be fewer base models to choose from initially, yet with a few changes of parts, performed locally at the dealer, the consumer can have the base model modified to one of several base+ models.

This won’t be an easy transition for the company nor for the public, however, with such a high level of complexity H-D stand to have drastic lows like it did in 2009. By example, producing a Nightster plus some Forty-Eight parts, tank, mirror…., is a lot cheaper than producing and stocking inventory of both the Nightster and the Forty-Eight.

I wish Harley-Davidson then best of luck in coming years. With proper leadership the company should be fine.

Thanks for reading and happy riding.

2010
03/02
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motorcycle accessories – part II

Well, it’s taken me longer than I would have liked, and it’s still going on while I wait for my air compressor. However I wanted to provide an update. In part I I was able to wire in a switched +12v line and a -bat line and route it to the front of the bike.

In this second part, I have been able to complete the wiring for both the USB charger and the grip heaters. The wires are still a bit messy, but that will be taken care of in part III when I am finally able to put in the grip heaters under the grips.

As you can see from the picture I have faux mounted the hardwired cigarette lighter USB charger adapter to the left cable stays. If you look toward the bottom you will also see a switch. This is the metal toggle switch that came with the grip heater kit. I have currently mounted it using the horn bolt and an old wrench that came with an assemble-it-yourself piece of furniture from IKEA. I have done this because I am reluctant to drill holes in the fairing.

In progress view of adding an USB charger and grip heaters to an FZ1

In the picture you will also notice that I have soldered an in-line fuse for both the USB charger and the grip heaters. I used a 2-amp fuse for the USB charger and a 5-amp fuse for the grip heaters, all purchased at my local Radio Shack. You will also notice my left over Harley-Davidson house key that I bought at the Home Depot. (How many more company names can I drop?)

I have tried out both the USB charger and the grip heaters and both work. This means that my digits will be toasty and by battery will be full while I ride around in the frigid north. I am really excited about both. It makes me want to ride even more than I already do.

Come back for part III where I will chronicle the final installation of the grip heaters.

Thanks for reading and happy riding.

2010
01/22
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“fuel economy is what you make of it, danny”

the title to this post is a variation of a very memorable quote from an, in my opinion, underrated movie, Last Action Hero.

If you compare the advertised gas mileage ratings of the Yamaha FZ1 and any of the Harley-Davidsons the Yamaha comes off as being a gas hog and an ozone killer.

At first I thought this was purely due to the engineering of the engine. And my first few gas tanks veryfied that my average gas mileage was roughly what was advertised. I was averaging a little over 36 mpg (advertised is 35 mpg).

My ’06 Sportster averaged just under 50 mpg which gave me a great extra argument for owning and using a motorcycle instead of driving my very fuel efficient ’06 Honda Civic, which averages around 33 mpg.

As a side note, I once tested the fuel economy of my Civic by driving very conservatively and it was mostly on the highway. After one week, I averaged over 42 mpg. That’s as good as a hybrid does on the highway. As a bit of advice, if you are going to be driving primarily on the highway don’t bother paying extra for a hybrid vehicle.

The point of this post is that I went for a long (106 mile) ride with my father-in-law on Halloween. He rides a Low-Rider and likes to “meander” through back roads. It was a pleasant ride. Our average speed was around 35 mph and my average gear was 6. At that speed in that gear the revs are humming around 4K. I do not know what my exact mileage was for those 100+ miles however, I can estimate that I got around 43+ mpg. Wouldn’t you know that it is what my father-in-law got on his Dyna.

It became apparent to me that mpg depends largely on your riding style. If you ride a Yamaha FZ1 like a Harley, you get Harley mpg. If you ride it like it wants to be ridden, you get 35 mpg. And while riding an FZ1 like a Harley is pleasant it can only be done for a while before it yearns to be opened up.

The moral of the story is: MPG is what you make of it.

2009
11/02
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my experience buying a motorcycle on eBay

I have owned three motorcycles to date. The first I purchased through a work associated classified ad, the second through craigslist. Both of those purchase experiences have been unique but as good as I could expect. The first bike, a Kawasaki Vulcan 500, turned out to be a great learning bike but a maintenance fiasco. The second, a Harley-Davidson Sportster 883, was a great bike that I have been able to drive many miles over the last three seasons. When I was looking for those first two bikes, craigslist owned my life for months. Especially in the beginning of the riding season; the more affordable bikes go within 10 minutes. I had been searching on craigslist for a used Yamaha FZ1 (2006 or newer) or a Suzuki Bandit 1250S (2007 or newer). All of the local bikes that I found were priced more than I thought the bike was worth. I began looking on eBay and still the local bikes were overpriced. I then found a 2006 FZ1 outside of Buffalo, NY for a reasonable price.
I was torn. I had never purchased anything so large on eBay, nor had I dealt with vehicle shipping companies. To make a long story somewhat shorter, I purchased the bike off of eBay. The seller, Andy, was great. A gentleman of middle age. I had considered taking a plane or train to Buffalo and then riding the bike back. The train would have taken 12 hours to get there and the plane would have been difficult to bring essential ride tools and supplies. Also, the ride back would have been 9 hours of boring Interstate 90. That sounded dangerous due to fatigue and increased opportunity for drivers to hit me.
The actual sale of the bike went quite smoothly. Andy and I talked on the phone and decided on the proper steps that should follow. I sent him a Cashier’s Check. After he cashed the check, he sent me the Title, Bill of Sale, and one of the keys. I then proceeded to remove my Sportster from my insurance and registration and added the FZ1.
I tried to pay the seller to bring the bike to Albany, NY and I would take a Greyhound to Albany and ride the bike back. The seller couldn’t do it himself and couldn’t find someone else to bring it. I didn’t want to pay more for the bike+shipping than what I thought I could get for the sale of my Sportster. With that in mind, I didn’t have the funds to go with a big name vehicle shipper. I found another auction site, uShip.com, where I posted a shipping request and shippers then bid on your shipment.
I was surprised how many bids I received, and in hindsight I posted the request too early. In the future I wouldn’t post this request until I had won the eBay auction and also had completed the payment portion of the post-sale activities.
To make a long story short, the original shipper turned out to be a flake. He continued to over promise and under deliver, or in may case not deliver at all. After two weeks, I canceled with him and booked another shipper who was more expensive but worth it. My bike was brought to me in an enclosed trailer covered in a moving blanket.

I have had the bike a week now and have been loving it. It is so much fun. It’s a perfect specimen of an FZ1. I am sure there will be many riding adventures to come.

Thanks for reading and happy riding.

2009
10/26
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sporty turns 8

Today my ’06 sporty will turn 8…..thousand. I thought it might be a good day to have a little retrospective. Queue the music…

I first laid eyes on you in Leominster, MA. You were so shiny and new. Just 2100 miles on you. I took you for a ride and you felt nimble and quick (compared to my fiasco of a Kawi Vulcan 500). Your shifting was clunky but endearing. You were also a great price of $4200. That’s $2/mile. Sold!!!
Amy and Murphy, who gave my a ride out there, went on there way and I rode home….fast. I ran out of gas in the main tank but didn’t know how to switch over, but I was luckily able to coast to the 76 station.
I have racked up almost 6000 miles with you. Most of those were during daily commutes to jobs and school. We have also done some fun trips both short and longer. We have been to the North End several times. We often go on rides with the wife down the south shore. There is also the trip to Martha’s Vineyard which was great fun, except for the flat tire on the hottest day ever. And who could forget the Halloween ride.
You have treated me well, with no mechanical problems to report. You will unfortunately need to be replaced in the near future, but let’s not dwell on that, let’s remember the good times.
2009
07/10
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