My first effort at tuning my Breva - I'm sure some of you will get a chuckle at part of this.
The bike is a 2008, 13,000 kms. I would have thought that it should have had at least 3 services in that time, but the only logbook entry is for 04/2011. The dealer I bought it from mentioned that they had serviced it, which would be the one logbook entry. They also "checked it over" (which I paid for) before I took delivery.
So, what have I found.The yellow paint was still on the main throttle adjusting screw, which indicates it has never been touched since leaving the factory. This is backed up by the fact that the balance was way off! The TPS reading was 4, also off just a wee bit! So much for "checking it".
A few years back I built ye olde oil-filled-tube manometer, for balancing the carbys on my Bonnie, so I dug it out again. I made up a couple of suitable connecting nipples to screw into the manifolds and, having read the excellent tutorials on the site, away I went. (Big thanks to the guys for writing those how-to's).
I hooked up the laptop, running Ducatidiag and warmed up the bike. I then connected the manometer, locked the throttle at 3000rpm and nearly freaked out when I saw how unbalanced it was!! I started tweaking the screw, and it seemed to go ok at first but then just wouldn't hold at the balance position. The levels would drift up one way, then slowly drift back too far as I tweaked it. I was starting to wonder what was going on, as it really is a pretty simple procedure.
I finally worked it out - the tubing I was using was too thin-walled, and as it got hot (from the engine heat via the nipple) it was softening and the vacuum was squeezing the tube together!!! Doh!!
I replaced the last section temporarily with some thicker stuff and managed to get the balance fairly close. The idle was also out-of-wack.
Anyhow, I rode it down town afterwards, and it feels better, the idle is certainly more stable. I bought some thicker vacuum hose while I was out, so I'll re-make the manometer and have another go soon.
I'm pleasantly surprised at how easy it is to do the basic tuning on the bike. I've also turned off the Lambda sensor, so once I re-check the balance that's probably as far as I'll go, tuning-wise.
This bike is starting to give me a warm, fuzzy feeling when I ride it , and it doesn't hurt when friends (particularly the women) say what a beautiful bike it is :lol: .
The bike is a 2008, 13,000 kms. I would have thought that it should have had at least 3 services in that time, but the only logbook entry is for 04/2011. The dealer I bought it from mentioned that they had serviced it, which would be the one logbook entry. They also "checked it over" (which I paid for) before I took delivery.
So, what have I found.The yellow paint was still on the main throttle adjusting screw, which indicates it has never been touched since leaving the factory. This is backed up by the fact that the balance was way off! The TPS reading was 4, also off just a wee bit! So much for "checking it".
A few years back I built ye olde oil-filled-tube manometer, for balancing the carbys on my Bonnie, so I dug it out again. I made up a couple of suitable connecting nipples to screw into the manifolds and, having read the excellent tutorials on the site, away I went. (Big thanks to the guys for writing those how-to's).
I hooked up the laptop, running Ducatidiag and warmed up the bike. I then connected the manometer, locked the throttle at 3000rpm and nearly freaked out when I saw how unbalanced it was!! I started tweaking the screw, and it seemed to go ok at first but then just wouldn't hold at the balance position. The levels would drift up one way, then slowly drift back too far as I tweaked it. I was starting to wonder what was going on, as it really is a pretty simple procedure.
I finally worked it out - the tubing I was using was too thin-walled, and as it got hot (from the engine heat via the nipple) it was softening and the vacuum was squeezing the tube together!!! Doh!!
I replaced the last section temporarily with some thicker stuff and managed to get the balance fairly close. The idle was also out-of-wack.
Anyhow, I rode it down town afterwards, and it feels better, the idle is certainly more stable. I bought some thicker vacuum hose while I was out, so I'll re-make the manometer and have another go soon.
I'm pleasantly surprised at how easy it is to do the basic tuning on the bike. I've also turned off the Lambda sensor, so once I re-check the balance that's probably as far as I'll go, tuning-wise.
This bike is starting to give me a warm, fuzzy feeling when I ride it , and it doesn't hurt when friends (particularly the women) say what a beautiful bike it is :lol: .