wondering if my SD is up to par

I own an 07 SD, bought it slightly used (308 miles on it),I broke the motor in as best i could, loading and unloading the throttle and keeping the RPM's under 6500 or so for the first 1000 miles or so.

I have fitted a motohooligan air box, did the 2,3 gear switch mod, installed FMF apex cans, put 02 eliminators in and removed the O2 sensors.

I am waiting on a cable to start playing with loading maps.

Thing is, that while i am not a small guy, 5'9 ~215lbs, and i live at 4700 feet, It seems to be hit or miss if I can get the front wheel off the ground, sometimes i cob the throttle in first and the front wheel comes right up slowly, predictably maybe 10-16 inches before i let off (cant afford a ticket!) . other times it feels like it tries but wont quite get it off the ground. Still other times, and this has only happened a couple of times, I take off and WHAM! the thing flat out pulls a real wheel stand, happens very fast and seemingly right off the bat, it is very surprising and i have to get off the throttle to avoid ending up on my but.

Same goes for second gear, sometimes i can tell it is floating the front wheel, other times it only seems to raise the front a bit. Keep in mind this is all throttle, I have not tried to "make" it wheelie using the clutch or pulling on the bars just cause it is so unpredictable.

I know the first response that just about everyone will give is to "get it mapped", and i am working on that, waiting on a cable
I also have a 40 tooth sprocket on order as well.

But I am wondering why it is so hit or miss? The "snatchyness" i have read so much about has never visited me, there is a tiny bit of it at low load around 3k, but seems to run without a hickup at full throttle. I also think the altitude here is killing a good chunk of power, but does not explain the randomness.

I have read several places on this forum about guys pulling power wheelies in 2nd and 3rd gear, and that 1st gear wheelies should never be a problem unless the rider is a sumo wrestler and laying on the tank.....

the other thing i think is a bit strange, with the air box and cans, i was worried that it would actually run worse without a map, but every mod i have made seems to have hellped, not hindered the performance, I attributed this to the altitude, where it was possibly running rich in stock form so it had some headroom. I am not sure how the BARO sensor works with this FI system, so that may not be the case.

living in a small town in colorado, a dyno is hard to come by, so no way to tell for sure. anyone else have issues similar to this?

I will be fitting a wide band O2 sensor to it in the near future just to verify the map tuning, hopefully that will shed some light on things.

Can you wheelie?

@ ducati Pete,

Yes, I can wheelie. problem is not so much technique, but rather the fact that i never know what will happen when i cob the throttle. if i did not care about wrecking it it wouldnt be a big deal, but i do care

Yes, if i revved the engine, popped the clutch, stood on the rear pegs, pulled back etc etc it would wheelie every time. but since it is never consistent it makes it impossible to learn a repeatable routine, and it also makes me not want to push it, as there have been a few times when it poped up seemingly out of nowhere, if it were to do that and i were "trying" to wheelie, a wreck would most certanly ensue.

If you are consistently at that altitude you can probably get away with running the standard map. At your altitude the akra map would just dump way too much fuel causing lack lustre performance. Try removing the secondary shafts as it could be these the are not opening up correctly or test by setting the to100% open at all revs. The other thing map be that you tps could be loose or faulty.

The tps is the sensor that tells the motor how "open" your throttle is and then calculates based on the percentage of open throttle with the rpm how much ignition and fuel to use. An incorrectly set up tps will cause a snatchy throttle too. There are plenty of people who have smoothened up their bikes by limiting the effect that the tps has on the bike (02 sensors, etc...) but setting up the tps for your bike will make the biggest difference.

There are ball park figures for the return voltages but every bike seems to vary with what feels right... Its all trial and error and it has scared some people off it as if you get it wrong it turns the bike into a pig... Idling way too high to stalling everytime you lift the throttle etc.

Sorry for spelling mistakes... This was done on my phone

It's up to par...

Next time you try to wheelie, pay attention to how quickly you're opening the throttle. A smooth, moderated pull will get you going in a hurry with little to no lifting of the front wheel, and a quick yank will send the front wheel skyward in a hurry...

With your mods your bike should have no trouble at all standing up in 1st.

Be careful & have fun.

I agree totaly with the speed at which the throttle is opened makes all the difference. I am 6'4" 275lbs (clearly not the smallest sd piolt) and in 1st gear my stnd SD all stock will easily pull the front to blance point all throttle. 4k rpm and crack it open not roll on it and up she comes. seating position and lean also make a huge difference.

where do you live in colorado?

I will look into the TPS and secondary butterflies, that actually makes sence. As to how fast I hit the throttle, that is exactly why I am in doubt, when I say I "cob" the throttle, I open it As fast as I can.most iv the time. Sitting normal, I cob it at 4-5k and it will lift the front wheel, but no where near to the balance point.

that is strange. It does sound like something could be getting stuck with the flies just because of the inconsistency. I am sure the altitude would have some affect but still it should be either comming up or not with the same imputs made. I am sure its no fun trying to hang a nice wheelie like that. Hope you get this solved. Keep us posted.

The races at Miller Motorsports park have the bikes at 20% less power at altitude. Roughly the same as you. That puts a 110 horse ride down 22 ponies from sea level. Throw in non broke in motor, new to you ride, trepidation on you part from fear of binning your new toy. your looking at a series of considerable set backs that you will remove all sept the horseness of the ride.
May I suggest giving it a little more time and dropping on both sides so you can get on with it. Also look at a relocation to Death Valley, she should wheelie just fine and 234 feet below sea level.
Ride it she'll come to know you well.

quick update, I fitted a wide band O2 sensor to it and took a short ride last weekend. with the stock O2 sensors removed and eliminators fitted, MH box and FMF cans, she was running very lean, esp. at idle and mid range. Full power was also lean, but not so bad ~13.8 was the richest i saw. removed it after that, need to do some fab work to make it a more permanent install.

Tuning cable came in yesterday, loaded a tune early this morning. Now i am in a whole new world of SD bliss, dramatic difference in performance. need to re-install the WB to see where it is at, but on the whole i think the re-tune was the key.

for a $16 cable, the Tune ECU has got to be the biggest bang for the buck mod in the history of modding, granted it is allowing me to realise the full potential of the other mods, but hats off to the guys at Tune ECU, offering the program for free is just plain stellar(i made a donation first thing this morning though ).

now i cant wait to get off work so i can go ride it again

I've been playing with different tunes over the last couple days...which one did you load up?

Maybe someone can confirm this? I seem to remember when we were dynoing my R that if the temp was say one bar above the reference point on the tac of 12K? it was consistantly down a few ponies. Like the ecu was pulling timing out at a certain temp? Maybe irrelevent to the tune ecu in there now. I was only running a PCIII with my mods.

Derick