The BMW HP2 Megamoto thread.

[bingbong]

[quote=Ron50]

Originally Posted by Ron50

Just checked with the dealer. A couple of baffles/restrictors turned up that must have been sitting around since last year.

That very lean air/fuel ratio of 15.3:1 in the 3000 rpm range is even more interesting now.

Just fitted the restrictors.

Bike seems smoother and only a little quieter. Performance doesn't seem much different.

Hard to tell definitively but the cyclic vibration in the intermediate gears seems to have been reduced by about 60%.

Looks like the problem is related to closed loop leanness in the injection, which is made worse by removal of the restrictors causing the mixture to be even leaner.

This Cyclic vibration has been a topic of conversation for years on boxers. When I had my 1100 GS it was always made much better but never cured by balancing the throttle bodies. A winter job for me as the beemer service doesn't do this at the 6000 mile anymore. It also improves with mileage apparently...

[sunandsand]

30 sec race tech suspension update.

I will be doing the 3rd re-valve on the forks today as well as re-valving the rear ohlins to take out some high speed compression.


The good news is that upon riding the very first time after initial re-valve, it is an entirely different motorcycle. The front end does not feel like it wants to slap the bars out of my hands when hitting rough pavement or bumps.
The head shake on accel is completely gone. I could take my hands off the bars at 70mph and slap the bars side to side with no hands and it corrects with no head shake at all. It is really a super stable bike now and short of track like rpm's at wide open throttle openings turning over bumping corners, no headshake at all! Changes were made to ride height in the rear as well as the fork tube position. I will post final set up specs when done.

Stock front springs are .80 or .85, I don't recall exactly, and .95's were installed, which sounds about right for my weight and the bikes weight. For any of you that are heavier, stiffer fork springs will prevent the front end from sitting so low in the travel. While I was correct in believing that there was too much high speed compression, I mistakenly felt in the past that the MM needed softer fork springs when in fact it needed stiffer springs as it was blowing through the travel and felt too harsh.

Rear spring is correct at stock for me at 110 n/mm. The stock spring is actually borderline for my weight with the spring almost being almost too light. I weigh 162 lbs so those of you that weigh any more than that will definitely benefit from a heavier spring and those of you over 220 or so might need 2 rates up.
(Mac, there must have been a misunderstanding with you and JJ as you are good with the heavier spring)
First ride after initial re-valve really brought to light how incredibly stiff the high speed compression is on the forks. To me, when I hit a bump, it felt like the front end was hydrolocked. It feels 500% better now but is still too stiff for my tastes. If I was actually racing the MM and jumping it in the true supermotard style, I would leave it with the current valve stack. But for the street and where 95% of my riding is done at reasonable speeds, I'm opting for a more compliant feel.

As a baseline for comparison, for those of you that have ridden a GS/GSA or a stock RT, you might say that they have great bump compliance but are undersprung with a little bit of a wallow. If you put the MM on a scale of 1-10 for high speed compression/bump compliance and a GSA/RT at a 1, the set up I'm looking for is perhaps a 3-4 on that same scale for the MM. It's got to be comfortable for me to enjoy riding the bike on a daily or weekly basis. The rebound has also been increased in the valving and that feels very good thus far. The good thing is that they will now have a few different valve configurations for the forks so that you can take your pick.

[RoteEddie]

Originally Posted by sunandsand

30 sec race tech suspension update.

I will be doing the 3rd re-valve on the forks today as well as re-valving the rear ohlins to take out some high speed compression.


The good news is that upon riding the very first time after initial re-valve, it is an entirely different motorcycle. The front end does not feel like it wants to slap the bars out of my hands when hitting rough pavement or bumps.
The head shake on accel is completely gone. I could take my hands off the bars at 70mph and slap the bars side to side with no hands and it corrects with no head shake at all. It is really a super stable bike now and short of track like rpm's at wide open throttle openings turning over bumping corners, no headshake at all! Changes were made to ride height in the rear as well as the fork tube position. I will post final set up specs when done.

Stock front springs are .80 or .85, I don't recall exactly, and .95's were installed, which sounds about right for my weight and the bikes weight. For any of you that are heavier, stiffer fork springs will prevent the front end from sitting so low in the travel. While I was correct in believing that there was too much high speed compression, I mistakenly felt in the past that the MM needed softer fork springs when in fact it needed stiffer springs as it was blowing through the travel and felt too harsh.

Rear spring is correct at stock for me at 110 n/mm. The stock spring is actually borderline for my weight with the spring almost being almost too light. I weigh 162 lbs so those of you that weigh any more than that will definitely benefit from a heavier spring and those of you over 220 or so might need 2 rates up.
(Mac, there must have been a misunderstanding with you and JJ as you are good with the heavier spring)
First ride after initial re-valve really brought to light how incredibly stiff the high speed compression is on the forks. To me, when I hit a bump, it felt like the front end was hydrolocked. It feels 500% better now but is still too stiff for my tastes. If I was actually racing the MM and jumping it in the true supermotard style, I would leave it with the current valve stack. But for the street and where 95% of my riding is done at reasonable speeds, I'm opting for a more compliant feel.

As a baseline for comparison, for those of you that have ridden a GS/GSA or a stock RT, you might say that they have great bump compliance but are undersprung with a little bit of a wallow. If you put the MM on a scale of 1-10 for high speed compression/bump compliance and a GSA/RT at a 1, the set up I'm looking for is perhaps a 3-4 on that same scale for the MM. It's got to be comfortable for me to enjoy riding the bike on a daily or weekly basis. The rebound has also been increased in the valving and that feels very good thus far. The good thing is that they will now have a few different valve configurations for the forks so that you can take your pick.

No suprises with your findings. I told you the stock springs is ok for my 62 kg frame :-) I don't have any problems with headshake either, so I'll simply change the oil and keep on riding.

Please let us know more details!

[HPSaucy]

I called JJ today, but he was busy with your bike. I want to mirror all your settings as my riding is all sport-touring, not trackdays, motorcross or anything else too violent.

I certainly want to know what he does to the rear shock too, as I didn't send mine down there. I was hoping just replacing the spring and getting the setting, sag & ride height right would be enough to transform it.

[sunandsand]

Originally Posted by HPSaucy

I called JJ today, but he was busy with your bike. I want to mirror all your settings as my riding is all sport-touring, not trackdays, motorcross or anything else too violent.

I certainly want to know what he does to the rear shock too, as I didn't send mine down there. I was hoping just replacing the spring and getting the setting, sag & ride height right would be enough to transform it.

I hope you heard me yelling at you on the phone in the background!! He was actually in the machine shop making some parts for my RT shock and I just happened to be walking by the receptionist when you called.

I've ended up taking the high speed compression down a few more levels from where it was over the weekend on the forks and decided that I wanted the shock's valving to match so had it softened up just a tad on the compression damping. As I mentioned, I'm still looking for a little less jarring when hitting bumps. As you know, California does not have the money that Norway does to keep the roads ice rink smooth. I'll keep you posted.

[HPSaucy]

I did hear some shouting in the background, I thought it was JJ saying he was working on your bike, but it you! Hah! Well can't wait to hear what the final set up is, and please can you do pictures like Joe did here so I can get Ventura BMW to copy the set up when they put mine back together.

[Maineroads]

Any news? Pictures? New add-ons? Winters here and my bikes put away. I need something to read about.

[HPSaucy]

Torrential rain, and waiting for parts, the MM will likely be laid up for a while.

I went hog wild crazy and bought an old R1200S as a companion bike, and something to do project playtime on. Had been thinking about an HP2 until I talked with someone who had spent a lot of time riding both, and told me that the R1200S is a way sweeter ride, despite the goodies galore appeal of the HP2S. I'm waiting for that one to get here from FL, so right now it is super quiet.

[Maineroads]

I had a R12S before the Megamoto. It will be a good companion bike.

[HPSaucy]

How does it compare, did you do any upgrades etc to it? Also I can't help but ask why did you sell it? I'm excited to get mine, and start fiddling around with it.

[sunandsand]

Ok, so I believe I'm at the final settings on the MM suspension.

As most of you know, I've been working with race tech to revalve suspension, arrive at proper spring rates and chassis geometry settings to turn the over damped head shaking delinquent into the somewhat comfortable, civil, yet exhilarating motorbike that the numbers and price suggest.

After changing fork springs and spacers, rear shock spring, several preload and ride height adjustments, 3 different revalves on the forks, 1 revalve on the rear shock, and playing with front and rear ride height as well as gold valves and lots of adjustment, I was finally able to hold wide open throttle on a local on ramp that curves gently up a secluded canyon on a 7% grade full of dips, bumps and rises and not back off one bit from redline through the gears while leaned over through 5th. Yes, that certainly means absolutely no headshake straight up either. It's still not GSA or RT soft but what I would call set up capable of riding much faster than I have any business riding on a public street. It no longer jars the bars or my head crossing expansion joints or hitting reasonably sized bumps and now truly has a chassis set up and suspension action to match the great brakes and motor.

As I'm light at only 163 lbs, I was uncertain as to whether I should go up in rear spring rate as well as increasing forks spring rate. For my weight, I ended up with race tech .95 springs in front and 11.6 kg spring on the shock, which is the equivalent of a 117 n/mm vs 110 n/mm stock. Front compression damping was softened up hugely under stock. Rear shock was only slightly softened up on compression valving. I would list where my compression and rebound settings ended up front and rear but it would mean nothing to any of you without the valving changes to the internals.
I ended up with rear shock height adjuster bottomed out and fork top caps (geometry settings was one of the first things race tech did and that made an immediate and huge improvement to stability, although I moved my forks up a few more mm to quicken turn in at the expense of a little solidity) 14 mm above the triple clamps and about 45 mm sag front and rear. Again, without proper springs for your weight, chassis geometry will not necessarily be the same as mine while riding resulting in sluggish turn in or possibly more instability.

I can only say that it's a transformed motorcycle and one I look forward to riding now.

My thanks go out to JJ at race tech for his knowledge and support in turning my MM into the bike it should have been in the first place.

[HPSaucy]

Would you post some pictures of the fork clamps and rear shock height & preload setting please.

How how much did you change the rear damping too, fractionally, or massively?

[fixinbones]

Originally Posted by sunandsand

Ok, so I believe I'm at the final settings on the MM suspension.

As most of you know, I've been working with race tech to revalve suspension, arrive at proper spring rates and chassis geometry settings to turn the over damped head shaking delinquent into the somewhat comfortable, civil, yet exhilarating motorbike that the numbers and price suggest.

After changing fork springs and spacers, rear shock spring, several preload and ride height adjustments, 3 different revalves on the forks, 1 revalve on the rear shock, and playing with front and rear ride height as well as gold valves and lots of adjustment, I was finally able to hold wide open throttle on a local on ramp that curves gently up a secluded canyon on a 7% grade full of dips, bumps and rises and not back off one bit from redline through the gears while leaned over through 5th. Yes, that certainly means absolutely no headshake straight up either. It's still not GSA or RT soft but what I would call set up capable of riding much faster than I have any business riding on a public street. It no longer jars the bars or my head crossing expansion joints or hitting reasonably sized bumps and now truly has a chassis set up and suspension action to match the great brakes and motor.

As I'm light at only 163 lbs, I was uncertain as to whether I should go up in rear spring rate as well as increasing forks spring rate. For my weight, I ended up with race tech .95 springs in front and 11.6 kg spring on the shock, which is the equivalent of a 117 n/mm vs 110 n/mm stock. Front compression damping was softened up hugely under stock. Rear shock was only slightly softened up on compression valving. I would list where my compression and rebound settings ended up front and rear but it would mean nothing to any of you without the valving changes to the internals.
I ended up with rear shock height adjuster bottomed out and fork top caps (geometry settings was one of the first things race tech did and that made an immediate and huge improvement to stability, although I moved my forks up a few more mm to quicken turn in at the expense of a little solidity) 14 mm above the triple clamps and about 45 mm sag front and rear. Again, without proper springs for your weight, chassis geometry will not necessarily be the same as mine while riding resulting in sluggish turn in or possibly more instability.

I can only say that it's a transformed motorcycle and one I look forward to riding now.

My thanks go out to JJ at race tech for his knowledge and support in turning my MM into the bike it should have been in the first place.

Now if only this type of suspension service were available in NY!

[Maineroads]

NY? Try living in Maine! But I can get my Kubota serviced anywhere.

[hillbillypolack]

Originally Posted by RoteEddie

Originally Posted by HPSaucy
VIN sequences........EU - 95000 // US - 99500

1. Joe Bar............................
2. Ray R..............................99535
3. Fixin Bones.......................
4. Megaman.........................
5. Dee Tee...........................
6. Jonasf..............................
7. Megathumper....................
8. Cyclop.............................
9. pepot...............................
10. Beetlejuice......................
11. GSMarc..........................96193
12. Giraffe...........................
13. Rangy............................
14. Maximus Brutus...............
15. NakedRider.....................99519 but crashed out
16. rjc.................................
17. Ron50............................
18. Learjockey1....................
19. Devil Dog / Mental GS......
20. Patrick HP2.....................
21. Rote Eddie......................95095
22. bingbong........................95212
23. BMW justin.....................99529
24. Bruno Brasletti................95099
25. colr...............................
26. HP Saucy.......................99526
27. Maineroads....................99545
28. Allan.............................99530
29. Vince Taylor...................99514

Updated

Interesting. I was also looking at the VIN sequence, and most here show numbers below 99550 (in US). If VINs proceed up to 99606, which accounts for the 107 or so MMs in US spec, where have they gone? And, yes, I know there are those rare people who don't know about ADVrider. Perhaps they're hidden in the warehouse at the end of Indiana Jones. . . .

Also, would it be possible the more recent builds would be ABS equipped? Has anyone here felt the bike needs ABS, or what is your opinion on that?