Removed the secondaries

Today I removed the secondary butterflies from the throttle bodies, opened up the airbox completely and re-set the TFI to Dale Walker's Stage II settings.  What a difference - completely smooth, spools up and down faster, better throttle response and feels like it should.

Stage 2 is the TFI, secondaries removed, PAIR plugged, BMC filter, Yoshi TRS, airbox opened right up and O2 sensor bypass.  Wow.

I haven't dynoed it, but Dale's extensive work shows the chart below.  The bike should be producing around 122 hp and 92.4 ft-lbs of torque.  Big fat gains right through the range and it feels it.  Max torque kicks in at 6,000 rpm.  At 5,000 rpm, that's 90 ft-lb, which is better than a B King at those revs.

Wellington Harbour shots

Taken this morning near Wellington Harbour

No real reason

It was. a nice day.  The bike got well cleaned.  Every nook and cranny, silicone spray, toothbrush etc.  One bloke looked at it the other day and thought it was new (fellow Bandit 1250 owner too).

Tank Support

I bought a tank stand/support from Metrick metal (www.metrickmetal.com).  It's aluminium and holds the tank up so you can adjust the throttle bodies or any other tasks that need access whilst the engine is running.  It's a useful piece of kit and I used it today to set up my throttle bodies.

Thottle Position Sensor (TPS) and Throttle Body sync

TPS:  For some time, I have noticed snatchiness at low speeds.  The dealers checked it for me at the 12,000 km tuneup, including the TPS setting (or so they said).  They said "all normal", but I didn't think so.  I checked the FI settings using the dealer mode switch and noticed it said "_C00".  The factory manual and Haynes manual all say that "C00" is normal, but the position of the hyphen is not discussed .

Overseas forums for the Bandit and other Suzukis (GSX650F/GSXRs) all indicate that _C00 (or the same but the hyphen in the upper position) indicates the TPS is out of adjustment.  The ideal is -C00, with the hyphen in the middle position.

Can I adjust it?  With a Suzuki SDS unit, yes.  It is also possible to manually adjust it by slightly moving the TPS unit on the left side of the throttle bodies.  It takes a Torx T20H security bit (with a hole in the middle) to slightly loosen the unit and adjust it by hand until -C00 shows.  It took me about 15 minutes (it's very sensitive) and checking on the SDS shows it is spot on, so this obviously works.

Throttle body sync

I used a Morgan Carbtune:

It's fairly straight forward.  Tank on blocks, run bike until it is hot and the fan is coming on.  Turn off.  Connect dealer switch:

Switch on, and bike will show -C00.  Disconnect The IPA sensor (number 1) and the 4 air hoses to the throttle bodies, replacing with the vacuum tubes from the Morgan Carb Tune.  Restart bike in dealer mode, which will show C13 (IAP Sensor disconnected).

Adjust air screws until all cylinders are the same (using number 2 as a guide).  Reassemble.

Kisantech flashingbrake light

I ride a lot in heavy traffic, and there's a lot of dozy cage drivers with cell phones, eating and generally not paying attention. NZ has just changed the legislation allowing overseas approved brake light systems, so I splashed out and bought a Kisantech bulb for the taillight. It has flasher circuitry in the bulb base, which simply replaces the taillight bulb. The light unit is replaceable, and the unit comes with a spare (I didn't realise so ended up with 2 spares).

A minute to instal, and it starts off with a frenzied flash, slows and then stays on as per normal so you aren't pissing people off stopped at the lights. I like it. It's a shame NZ doesn't allow headlight modulators,as I'd get one if I could.

The site is: https://www.kisantech.com/view_product_pop.php?product=20W-D

Replacing the front discs

 I have noticed more and more vibration on braking, to the extent the mirrors shake.  I could feel a high spot on the disc pulsing under braking, but nothing was obvious.  I checked the torque on the fasteners, but all was good.  Quality replacement discs are NZD$488 EACH!!!!, and I managed to get a 3,000 mile set from EBay for USD $119.  A good quality allen head socket, and half an hour later all done, loctited on and re-torqued.  Perfect brakes again.  I didn't realise how bad they were until the problem was sorted.