The Chopstick Enigma a.ka BB's Buell 'FuelFrame' Lightning XB9S
Summer Breathing FixWith Pix and Chop-Stix
by: BB_Dasler
Well, it had to happen didn't it. Around christmas time, I sold the naked Suzi SV1K and sank my cash into yet another BMW K1200RS.
It's a wonderful long-haul bike with a very long wheelbase and a bomb proof 130bhp flat mounted in line 4 motor with shaft drive, abs, and more, with the kudos of owning a bike of this marque brings to you.
But, before too long, I realised that I was missing something enjoyable about riding, don't get me wrong, but the big beemer is a joy to own and ride, but it's so sorted that it feels something akin to stepping into the gondola of one of these old German airships like the Hindenburg the way it isolates the rider from motion / mechanical karma on a long distance trip.
It wasn't long before I realised that what I was missing was the 'grunt' and hooligan antics of a naked light-weight V twin, and that to get my fix to stop this itch, I had to convince Mrs. BB that we needed another bike in the garage to get things back into perspective.
Enter the Buell:
I won this XB9S on ebay. A 2004 model with 8k on the odo and a twin outlet sports can fitted as the only mod done by the previous owner.
Having googled up everything and anything I could find out about these bikes, I learned that the DDFI (fuel injction system)
worked in two modes of control : OPEN LOOP = Idle and starting; slow speeds under 20mph (1500 rpm) High speeds above 60mph (4,000 rpm) ; accelerating from low speed;accelerating from high speed ; decelerating. And CLOSED LOOP= Cruising between 40 - 60 mph at
operating temp.(1500 to 3500 rpm). It also revealed that Buells already run a pretty lean mixture to pass emmision rules, and that although the open pipes of this aftermarket system sounded awesome, they were upsetting the fuelling and causing the motor to run hotter that it should.
This is not good medicine for this engine design, and needed looking into for a reasonably cheap but effective solution that didn't involve expensive dyno time like I had previously invested in the SV1K.
Enter: The Remus Powerizer.
Now this ingenious Lil' box of tricks is made by Remus to complement the excellent range of after market pipes and cans available from this respected Austrian manufacturer. It intercepts the signals from the ECU to the injectors and works via it's own micro-processor to give accurate fuelling from start-up to redline with a free flowing exhaust system. It is the only genuine plug and play design that doesn't need any dyno time or button twiddling to achieve spot-on fuelling right across the spectrum in real time.
Brilliant! thats for me, baby...I was also delighted to read only positive feed back from other Buell forums, with the added info that better results were obtained by using this in conjunction with a free-er flowing air box arrangement.
Having learned (to my cost) from the Suzuki modding adventure, that it's good to keep all the stock parts you take off, to revert the bike back to standard trim before selling, I decided to leave the dremmel tucked up in it's box.
Enter: The Adrenaline-Moto Ultimate AirBox Kit.
This solution comprises a simple pillar and stud arrangement to hold down a shaped cover that fits snug on top of the K+N Hi-flow air filter element and dispenses with the top cover of the air chamber completely.
Wow! remembering the added buzz from the induction roar and the sweet exhast note of the baby TL on Remus end cans, I was raring to go.
Both kits come with comprehensive fitting instructions:
This part only requires you to drill one 6mm hole in the base of the airbox to fix the pillar.
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