new owner with some quick questions.

hello everyone, Ill be a new owner in the next few days. I live in northern california i know theres a huge riding community out here, so i cant wait to get out and join. The bike im looking at has the arko exhaust and has had the maps tuned for it, thats all ive been told.

ive had 2 buells so far, a m2 cyclone, and i had a 03 xb9. riding these made me want to move over to water cooled and i wnated to do less work on them and more riding. Thats why the duke caught my eye. i have a hand full of questions about the bike and about the maintenance. I do all of my own work, and i am familiar with re-mapping and all that, i did alot with my buell.


1. As my bike is right now with the arko pipe and the new maps, are there any other mods that i need to do before i have a very smooth riding bike?

2. is the motoholligen intake a must for all of these bikes?

3. how is the average gas mileage per tank?

4. do these bikes run hot or have any little issues that might come up that are regular that i need to know?

5. whats the most popular oil used for these bikes?

6. are there any electrical problems that are a must to know?

7. how do the bikes do with long distance riding?


I cant think of anymore off the top of my head, but anything will help.

thanks
andrew migliore

First of all welcome to the club.
If not all of your question are answered in here, more than one person has asked the same things in less a year I have been here, all you have to do is search.
By the way enjoy your bike

Welcome Fellow NCALian.
I just got mine last month, has less than 100 miles on it.
Motorcycle Consumer News is doing a series on most of the questions related to fueling mods that you raised, including Motohooligan air box mod. 4 page article really covered alot of ground. Further installments to follow over the course of a year, I suspect.
G2 throttle system may help also during low throttle openings.

Planning to ride the "king of roads" next month with some guys from the RC51 forum. Hwy 36 from Red Bluff to Fortuna.
Interested?
Get a Radiator Guard, if the bike doesn't have one!
Get protection for the engine cases and frame if you can afford it.
Get the KTM touring screen 611.08.065.100 for $52.
Do you have the larger gas tank from the 08 Model? Added another litre. Could get 125 miles maybe.

Welcome on board guys

After market airbox is a must for me. Motohooligan is one of our own and I've owned his box for over 3 years now and it's been brilliant. There are of course alternatives that do the same job.

IMO don't bother with oval flies though. Whip the whole lot out, shafts and all. You will pick up a few ponies there and it smooths low throttle openings. You will need to turn off 2nd flies with TuneECU though. If you do this mod RC8 trumpets help as well.

Also either fit O2 eliminators or turn off with TuneECu. This will help low throttle. Once you have done these mods and have a good map you will find you want a faster throttle cam rather than a slower one. Quite a few of us are using the .25 which is the fastest G2 make.

Electrical issues are not an issue on the SD/R. Possibly some moisture in the BGC if you soak the bike washing it or ride in heavy rain. Dry it out and pack with dialectic grease and it's good to go.

Only other issues are water pump seal goes due to sand left over from casting. Flush the system out well to get rid of any traces of it. Burping coolant system is a bitch. You need to get front wheel right up in the air. Lastly clutch slave can go. More a problem on earlier bikes though

Other than that just ride it like u stole it. Mine has done 44k miles and still loves it

^^^THIS^^^

Nicely summed up Klinck.

One thing, I'd be proactive and pack BGC with dilectric grease before problems arise.