Well after a 3 day ride covering around 770 miles I was looking forward to a restfull day, a sleep in this morning as I had taken the day off work with the intention of washing and cleaning the bike, as it seemed to have collected more splattered bugs and flies than I have ever seen before, must be the time of year.

Thinking this was my only major task today I answered a knock at the door at around 8:00am, courier delivery sign here please. I read the delivery docket Sydney Australia, must be the K&N's and front guard I purchased, looks like I may be doing a bit more than simply cleaning the bike now.

I had breakfast and watched the New Zealand All Blacks game against the British Lions Live from Twickenham a comprehensive win 41-20 to the All Blacks, look out for them next year in France the World Cup will be ours. Right out to the garage and removed the front guard, easy job first. I pencilled the cut edge of the replacement guard, and after a cut and polish it came up fantastic, no need to paint it just slip it straight on. done.

Time for the fun stuff, removed the seat, bearclaw, air filter top and element, removed radiator overflow bottle and return hose. Flip the gauges forward and prop the fuel tank up on the stay, removed the plastic ducting to the original air box, loosened the inner and outer plenum chamber and off they come. I made a bracket up to rebolt the MAP sensor to looks factory, and after twisting out the air temp sensor made my way to my local automotive suppliers.

I purchased 1.5 mtrs of return hose for the coolant system, I did not want to cut up the original as I may want to return it to stock one day, yea right. I also purchased a small K&N to protect the air sensor tip, all up $40. Back home and reassemble, fitted coolant bottle into old air filter space and run hose for return and overflow, I cable tied the air sensor filter to the frame.

I decided to leave the secondaries in at this stage, may be a job for another day. Slipped the filters on reassembled everything and gave the bike a good clean. Hooked up the laptop and dropped in 1fsthombre tune, all good, did an adaptive relearn with tuneboy and fired the bike up, sweet no check lights, done. Looked out to see rain falling so no way I gonna get the bike wet it may shrink hehehe. But I did get time for a photo to share with you all, front fender and K&N's.

I will report back once I have road tested, dam rain.

I pencilled the cut edge of the replacement guard, and after a cut and polish it came up fantastic, no need to paint it just slip it straight on. done.

Hey R34ME, explain the "replacement guard". The only thing I can see in the photos is the front fender that is altered to be much smaller than stock. Fill me in please. If the front fender is the change, did you order a different piece & keep your stock fender for future refit?

O2 sensor? I think it's a temperature sensor. The O2 content of the intake air is the same as in the atmosphere. Hombre's tune was for Jardine's and Unifilters. Why do you think it's the best tune for your setup?

From my perspective, I'd be real cautious about "bobbing" the front fender like that. It seems as though VTX's have a shorter fender on some models and the front tire throws stones into the radiator and sometimes causes a leak, an expensive leak. The R3 fender extends down, in front and blocks the tire from being a catapult. Other that that, looks sweet.

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R34ME-Damn that looks sharp, good job. Please post any difference in performance you notice when you get her out.

Maybe if there is enough room in the "void", you could install another wire mesh radiator protector which has just enough offset to the pattern to act as another "force-field" for the Rocket's breathing system. Although the "throwing a stone" concept is something to consider. Something I would not have thought about.

I'm anxious to hear your comments R34ME.

Hi Guys thanks for the feedback, I still have the original front fender, just replaced her with this cut down version, I understand the risk of stones penetrating the radiator but hey may look at some extra protection as suggested, sorry I meant the air temp sensor on the inner plastic manifold was rerouted thats the little K&N you can see at the front by the frame, I still have he secondaries in I will run the bike first then maybe look at plucking them out, just wanted to see if I notice any difference, I would expect the tune to be fine as the only real differerance is jardines rather than my D&D's, so will try as is and let you know.

I ran the Hombre tune for a short time with triple K&N's, Maddogs, and no cat. The throttle was too harsh for me at slow speeds. Too harsh as in too jerky and not smooth. The back firing on decel was pretty bad also. Looking at the tune it is pig rich at the top. And there are some harsh transitions. I went back to my original tune. Didn't notice any difference in performance on the ass dyno. R34ME your ride looks really sharp. Looks very clean with the short fender. If you don't think the stock guard on the radiator will do the job check Mike's grills and see if they have something for you. I had one on my Speed Triple and it worked good.

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Thanks for those comments Pig9r and yea will have a look around for an alternative grille something with a bit more protection, maybe a thicker alluminium alternative. Would you think the 20050_2 I was previously running would have enough fuel for the individual K&N's and open throttle bodies or I could drop in 20050_3 has ignition retarded slightly, looks to be not as heavilly fueled as 1fsthombre ?

I would try them all. There are so many other variables to factor in that what works for some may not for others solely because of local gas formulations, altitude, individual mods and even rider preferences. I would also force adaptions between loading tunes also to clear any "bad habits" picked up from a fueling map that isn't quiet right for your set up.

I have to admit rideability is the more important to me than shear performance. Sometimes when a lot of fuel is added to one end it will exaggerate dips in the map that were previously unnoticeable. Dyno time is good but riding on the street is more important since that is where you will be spending your time.

I use the smoothdecel2 tune. It is based on the steverreddyno tune and has had fuel added lower down to eliminate popping on decel.

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