Tag Archives: motorcycle

2007 MV Agusta factory overheat option-delete research

Originally posted February 2014

IMG_3055Well, it’s a high-strung bike, but over-heating on the street in comfortable temps (70F for example) is just NOT acceptable. I love the bike, but his is major issue. I’ve started work on trying to solve it. Here are some of the research points I’ve found, and lists of things that others have done.

This post will grow over time, and hopefully become a FINDABLE resource on the web, for the next owner of a gorgeous MV Agusta F4 1000R, that needs to solve this problem.

Here is a list of things another owner did, that I piked off of MVAGUSTA.NET:

MV Agusta . NET – 05-06-2010, 04:03 PM

  • Installed Muzzy blades.
  • Add 1098 fan to the left side of the upper rad.
  • Modified the shrouds on the MV fans to eliminate the gap between the stock shrouds and the rads.APR-15: it took me a week to decide how I wanted to attack this. In the end it was much simpler than I’d thought. – read about my experience here
  • The fan switch circuit. All three fans come on with either the switch circuit or the ECU.
  • Opened up the bypass holes in the thermostat.
    9-MAR. & 15-APR This seems like a simple thing to do to the thermo itself. My original plan t was to purchase a new thermostat to drill. In the end, I just modified the original by doubling the diameter the existing 6 bypass holes, which are extremely small due to the very narrow flange. Sorry, I don’t have any photos of this.
  • Engine Ice15-APR: the instructions implied you need to flus the entire system to use the engine ice. Not knowing if any of these tips were working, I opted to simply use Water Wetter from Redline mixed with existing anti-freeze and distilled water. This seemed to help a bit, but didn’t seem to make a dramatic improvement.
  • MV impeller
  • Silicone hoses
  • Coated the headers – having completed this modification, I’m unsure of how much benefit it really is, but I suspect there is some, considering the pipes are close enough to the cooling components to melt the original fasn! read about my experience, here

I ran the fans continuously below 40 mph. The important thing is to be able to get a jump on the temp before it gets up into the 200’s. It’s much easier to keep it cool than to have to bring it back down and keep it cool. On an average summer day, with the fairings on and the bike idling it would maintain 167F.


Hi-flow Bodywork

Another option found was to get these fairings with big openings to vent out the air. About $300 for the pair, and then of course I’ll need to get them painted too.. BUT it’s an option!

Updated Fairings from Catalyst Racing Composites:

Catalyst Racing Composites – 00-09 F4 Stock Left SideMV F4 vented fairing


Ceramic Header Coating

I have wanted to get this done to several bikes, for several reasons. Most of those reasons being cosmetic. With this being one of the suggested factors to help in reducing the bike’s overall running temps, it was a no-brainer to get the pipes coated.

UPDATE: 21-MAR-2014

Pipes are now out for coating. I’ve ordered a custom color for the pipes. Once that arrives and they are coated, baked and returned, I’ll post photos of the final results, and the re-installation process.

UPDATE: 14-APR-2014

Pipes are back from coating!
Pipes returned from coating, and re-installed on the bike following 2 weeks to let the finish curing. Coating shop recommended 5 days, but I ended up waiting 2 weeks due to other projects that needed to be completed. Here is what they looked like when picking them up from coating:

New coated MV exhaust
New coated MV exhaust

Although they look rather garish on their own, once installed, I think it offers a decent accent:

Pipes installed w/o bodywork:

Pipes with the bodywork installed:

Coated pipes with bodywork installed.
Coated pipes with bodywork installed.


Fan Shrouds

To Be Continued…


Cat Delete

I like the sounds of this improvement…

UPDATE: 10-MAR-2014

It looks like this mod requires me to cut the pipe, remove the contents and re-weld. Not impossible, but it’s not a skill that *I* have. This will take some calls to people I know to see who’s willing to do it and at what cost. At $400 for a replacement mid-pipe I think it’s well worth the effort to at least try this myself. If I do that, I’ll be sure to post pics of how I managed to do it.

UPDATE: 20-MAR-2014

The Cat has been dealt with. It was not the simplest task, by far. In fact, if you don’t have a space that can tolerate A LOT of noise, banging and a cloud of toxic dust, you probably want to re-consider this.

Removal was not easy by any stretch, and doing so without any sort of respiration protection is insane, in my opinion.

The ceramic/metallic material the comprises the potato just can’t be good for you to breath. I complete this portion of the project in my shop.

First step was to cut the pipe apart at the red line here. I used a hacksaw to keep the amount of lost material to a minimum. You can use whatever you want, but the more material you remove, the shorter the pipe gets and that’s probably not going to play well for you.

MV Agusta Exhaust mid-pipe
MV Agusta Exhaust mid-pipe

After opening the pipe, this is the view you get. From here, it was a matter of drilling out the center (drilled out a 2″ diameter with a 1 1/2 HP hammer drill), then hammering chisels along the sides to break up where it was attached to the inside of the section. The final step was using a 1/2″ drive 30″ extension to ram it out the cut-open end. This last part took a couple of hours, but eventually it was removed.
mv.exhause.obstrution.2

Final prep was a die grinder and grinding stones to the walls of removed section to clean up any remaining material. Inside there is a really BAD step section on the exit… and that’s something I was just not prepared for, nor did I deal with. It’s NOT ideal. If I’d known that was there I might have considered simply driving a new section of stainless THROUGH the core. But that might rattle, and I know that the way I did it, rattles are not going to happen. Once that was done, a good friend of mine put his TiG welding skills to use for me and sealed it back up.
mv.exhause.obstrution.3

Finally, the pipes were sent out for ceramic coating. That will be discussed in a separate section.

UPDATE: 14-APR-2014

Pipes are back from coating!see section on coating the pipes

Riding the California Coast – Pacific Coast Highway (17-NOV-2013)

If you ride a motorcycle, and have never been to California, you are truly missing out on one of the best places in the United States to ride a motorcycle. PERIOD.

Here a few photos from various places along a ride I took yesterday from Santa Cruz, CA, to Lucia,CA:

View Larger Map

Being an MC ride, there are few opportunities along the way to take photos, but amongst the group we did mange to snap off a few.

We first gathered here at Lighthouse Harbor Grille in Moss Landing:

We met up with the remainder of the group in Carmel.

View Larger Map
We gassed up the bikes and prepared ourselves (with more caffeine of course) for what was about to transpire. Rich (on the 916) took the time to model his man-sack for us. I hear it’s last word in manly riding apparel for the Central Coast.

From here on our, it was Ride like the Wind all the way to Lucia. We did stop once to regroup, turn on the video cameras and discuss the awesomeness so far:

The first of many great surprises on this ride, was our lunch destination in Lucia. Ah.. what a view! What a great place to relax after a spirited ride up Hwy 1.

View Larger Map

Return ride Video:

Next stop. Nepenthe in Big Sur. Despite a hair raising incident with an inattentive tourist in a rental car, we made it there without obvious injury. Despite the fact that the highway was the destination and the star of the day, this pulled off a pretty convincing 2nd place.:

What a fantastic ride today. Perfectly organized (or properly disorganized?) group. It’s always a blast to right with these guys and gals. Looking forward to our next epic excursion!!

PS. Video will be added to the blog as soon as I can clear 132 GB of space on a computer, somewhere.

U.S. Red Bull Grand Prix – Laguna Seca “DUCATI ISLAND”

IMG_3237WOO! Another year on Ducati Island, and being able to take advantage of the fact I own a few Italian bikes (including 2 Ducati) was awesome. My son was with me for the first time this year and he got to experience the awesomeness that is Ducati Island first hand. It was a great weekend!!

The first few pics were of us wandering around there on Thursday, before things really kicked off. It was nice that nobody harassed us, and my son was able to test sit a few bikes before the crowds descended the next day.


U.S. Red Bull MotoGP 2013 — Day -1

Day -1 at the U.S. Red Bull MotoGP in Monterey CA was quiet, but attended more heavily than expected. The day before the official start of the event is always interesting.

I meet the vendors while they are setting up, and for those that are already selling, I start relationship building with them. This always pays off in many ways, not the least of which is simply meeting new people, and often old “friends” from events past.

Here are some photos of the wanderings around we did on Day -1.

Nor Cal Ducati – Monterey CA meetup

Last night we had the 2nd meeting up of the Nor Cal Ducati Club this evening in at Cibo, in Monterey CA.. It was a nice evening, warm, sunny and the food was quite enjoyable, but the company made it all worth the ride. And a bit of a challenging ride it was!

I met up with Dimitri on his cool Monster900 (a deal may be in the works soon!), at the Vista Point on Highway 1, for the ride to Monterey.

View Larger Map

We waited a little while to try and catch a couple of riders coming down from the North Bay, but by 5:30 PM we decided it was time to head south. We didn’t make it far before we were caught in a massive traffic jam on Hwy 1. It was a virtual parking lot, we were going nowhere.

Fortunately we both knew of an alternate route and turned around on Hwy1. By the time we reached Castroville, the traffic heading north was also backed up for miles. A check of the local news sources didn’t reveal the cause of all this chaos, but I heard that at least one person was life-flighted from and accident scene on the highway.

We arrived in Monterey a little later than planned but it was no matter, there were two parking spots for us in front of Cibo, so we pulled in, popped off the helmets and met up with the southern contingent of the Nor Cal Ducati Club. It was nice little array of fine Italian machines on display:
IMG_3008

IMG_3009

IMG_3011

Thanks to The Bear for setting this all up. Looking forward to the next Ducati Bike Night.

Memories of VME

vme.seattle.aug.2005.05
While enjoying a meeting up of the Nor Cal Ducati Club this evening in at Cibo, in Monterey CA., the subject of the Seattle VME (Vintage Motorcycle Enthusiasts) came up, specifically the wonderful and wacky “Isle of Vashon” event. The coolest aspect of the bikes you’ll see in these videos, is that they are ALL ridden to and around the island.

What others have posted about the TT

Sample videos shot by others:
VME Isle of Vashon 2011

VME Isle of Vashon 2008

Here are some articles about the event itself:


VME Isle of Vashon
The Northwest Classic Old Bike Event

http://www.soundrider.com

What, you missed it again? VME’s Isle of Vashon? Nooooo? Why? Didn’t know when the date was? Where was it listed?[…]


Motorcycle club appreciates the Island’s support
http://www.vashonbeachcomber.com
The Vintage Motorcycle Enthusiasts (VME) would like to thank the Vashon-Maury Island community for supporting our 29th annual old bike rally, known as the Isle of Vashon TT.

Thanks to the event’s con[…]


Now this is really cool, and geeky.. but a big post about VME on a Gamers forum!!

Vintage Motorcyle Rally (Pic intensive)

Where is this, “Vashon Island” place?

Vashon island is located in lower ventricle of Puget Sound:
Screen Shot 2013-06-16 at 10.46.29 PM

Situated above Tacoma, south-west of Seattle and south-east of Bremerton, Vashon Island is one of the few Puget Sound island that is serviced only by ferry. No conventional roads exist to get to this island, unlike the rest within Puget Sound that are connected via some sort of bridge or another.
Screen Shot 2013-06-16 at 10.58.30 PM

VME events, and the Isle of Vashon in particular, you can find not only a nice variety of vintage bikes, but a number of strange and often amusing customs.

I certainly wouldn’t mind attending another one of these unusual events some time in the near future!

Tale of two Italians

Awaking this morning, I decided to put together this little rundown of my two liter-class Italians. For a pair of bikes with remarkably similar style, their characters are vastly different.

Here is the 411:


2008 Ducati 1098 Superbike

2007 MV Agusta F4 1000R
bike_banner
Dimensions
Wheel Base:
56.3 in. Wheel Base:
55.4 inches
Seat Height:
32.2 in. Seat Height:
31.9 inches
Fuel Capacity:
4.1 gal. Fuel Capacity:
5.5 Gal
Dry Weight:
381 lbs. Dry Weight:
423.3 pounds
Suspension / Wheels
Front Tire:
120/70 ZR17 Front Tire:
120/70 ZR17
Rear Tire:
190/55 ZR17 Rear Tire:
190/55 ZR17
Front Forks:
45mm Showa Inverted, adjustable preload, adjustable compression & rebound damping Front Forks:
50mm Marzocchi Inverted, adjustable preload, adjustable compression & rebound damping
Engine and transmission
Displacement:
1099 cc Displacement:
998 cc
Bore and Stroke:
104 x 64.7mm Bore and Stroke:
76 mm x 55 mm
Compression:
12.5:1 Compression:
13.1:1
Fuel System:
Marelli EFI w/ elliptical throttle bodies Fuel System:
Fuel Injected
Horsepower (bhp):
160 bhp Horsepower (bhp):
174 hp
Torque (ft./lb.):
90.4 Torque (ft./lb.):
81.9
Transition:
6 speed Transition:
6 speed cassette
Fleet Status
Acquired:
Feb. 2008 (new) Acquired:
May 2013 (used)
Mileage:
14,581 Mileage:
11,203
Duty:
Occasional track days, special riding excursions, photography prop Duty:
Special riding excursions, photography prop
Modifications:
* CRC forged levers
* Woodcraft billet clutch cover
* Ducati Performance spider pressure plate
* AVVI Billet Rear Sets
* Custom painted brake, clutch and slave reservoir caps
* Ducati Performance exhaust and 1098R ECU
* H11 HID low-beam lamp
* Reflector delete
Modifications:
none
Riding Impressions
  • Wicked fast.
  • Scalpel sharp handling.
  • Loud and Proud
  • Incredible performance
  • Scalpel sharp handling.
  • Head turning design (motorcycle art)
  • Closest thing to an F1 engine on the street

Additional Shop Makeover Photos

Living with the updated shop.
Follow-up on my first Shop Makeover post.

One of the largest reservations I had about moving the workbench, was the lack of electrical on that side of the garage. Nothing was originally wired there. In fact there are 8 plugs in the shop, 6 of them on the ‘red wall’ side and 2 at the very rear of the shop.

What is the oddest thing about that, is the side of the shop with the main breaker box, there are no outlets!

My buddy Bill to the rescue! About an hour of parts selecting, wire stripping and doing it the right way (I’m sure I would have burned up something or killed myself, I’m a DC wiring guy, not AC), I now have this nifty 4-gang box right on the wall. And with it’s own dedicated breaker to boot. Now I have plenty of power options for the workbench. I’m currently selecting a multi-plug switched gang box to drop off the last connector. No rush, I have the power I need right now. My mini air compressor lives right there in below the box. It had always been a bit of an orphan floating around the shop. How, it has a place (like I said, a place for everything, and everything in it’s place).
ShopPhase1_01

For those (few) that asked, this is how the toolbox fit under the workbench. Almost looks like I build the bench around the toolbox, instead of tweaking the toolbox to fit the bench. Either way, I’m SO happy to have the toolbox AND workbench together. So far the tendency to leave tools on the bench and not put them back in the box has been nearly eliminated. As I said before, a man has to know his limitations and eccentricities, and find ways and methods that provide the opportunity to do the ‘right’ things instead of the ‘easy’ things.
ShopPhase1_02

Now… the banner.

That banner.

A gracious gift from my friend Mary (THANKS!). It has hung in multiple garages. Originally it was hung on the ‘big red wall’ before I painted it red. Now I have it suspended from the ceiling, via hooks (damn cement wall) along the back wall, covering the natural gas pipes the intrude into the shop.

I was not a big fan after I hung it up, and as time goes on, it’s losing even more favor with me.
ShopPhase1_03

So I took it down.

ShopPhase1_04

I think it’s less visually distracting without the big banner there. My Porsche banner, well, I plan to keep that. It covers the nasty pipes along the wall, and it does not hang down along the wall like the H&R banner does (did).

For me it works.

ShopPhase1_05

This is what the shop looks like this morning. The CLK tucked neatly away, out of the ice (and the soon to be arriving snow). Plenty of room in the shop.

Now I need to work on heating it. That’s been a big issue for me. I used to have a heated shop. I do miss that quite a bit. I’m sure it’s just a matter of getting some good electrical advice. Some space heaters should do the trick in the short term. Sealing up the horribly installed side garage door should also help. Right now leaves (yes leaves!) blow in there, along with the cold wind. One more item on my 2010 Shop ToDo list.
ShopPhase1_07

Cafe racing – test fitting some new parts

This week, I have been working with my son on the little Kawi.

While I was vacationing in The Gorge, this past week, a pile of parts arrived for the Kawi.  Along with starting some bodywork on the gas tank, I also performed the first test fitting of a number of new parts:

  • rear turn signals
  • aftermarket rubber grips
  • new stainless headlamp bucket mounting hardware
  • new stainless handlebar mounting hardware
  • bar end mirrors
  • clubman drop-bars (powders coated black, which is turning out to be a problem)

Here are 4 photos of where I left it last night, when it was bedtime for my helper.

Kawi 400 with clubmans and headlamp test fitted
Kawi 400 with clubmans and headlamp test fitted
Closeup of clubman drop handlebar and updated headlamp bucket hardware
Closeup of clubman drop handlebar and updated headlamp bucket hardware
side view of parts installed and tank under heavy re-work
side view of parts installed and tank under heavy re-work
Rear views shows more tank detail, clubman and bar end mirror.
Rear views shows more tank detail, clubman and bar end mirror.

Rude lesson in painting primer on fuel tanks

While filling dings and dents in the gas tank, I applied a few guide coats (primer applied with the intent of sanding all of it all to surface level, which will leave any high or low spots easy to identify) and was relocating the tank on the painting table, at which point the worn out (unknown to me until this point) seal on the gas cap let fuel leak out onto me, my clothes and the tank.

The raw primer was immediately bubbled and lifted off the paint underneath.
cafe_1719

Gas and paint not playing nice with each other. Not a big deal, not totally shocking but.. wow.. if I spend all this time painting a tank, only to have my first fueling mishap (and it will happen) bubble up all the paint.. I’ll be sad.

Here is the good news (I think). What happened is perfectly normal. I don’t have the ‘wrong’ primer, I just need to be careful with raw unsealed primer around fuel. The paint shop where I’m buying supplies indicated that the rest of the guide coat would likely have been damaged by the spill and I should be sure to sand ALL of it off, then re-prime when ready.

Lessons on body work, right? Upward and onward!