Took my first real ride today.

[HansO]

If you add a Dobeck Performance AFR Plus you can gain some untapped torque and power, increase economy and get ride of the right leg heat. It is not expensive and is worth every penny.

What you on Commission now or something or have you just bought shares in the company

 

[Idaho Red Rocket 3]

No Hanso. I just really like what it does, how it works, how easy it is to control and you can't beat the price. It is almost like a free power gift.

 

[cr0ft]

Congrats. From a fellow R3T pilot - let me suggest you find the thread that's called "R3T Derestricting" in here. In there you'll find instructions on how to hook a computer to the bike and reprogram the ECU to get you 30 fresh horses and 10+ more torque with the click of a mouse. If the bike stops revving for you at 4k revs or so? That's the stock "tune" which is atrocious. With Power-tripp's tune applied to a bog standard R3T the bike revs cleanly up to 6k pulling like a train all the while.

As for brakes, consider replacing the brake lines with a set of stainless steel braided ones. I haven't found a package yet (the R3 Roadster packages are the wrong length) but brands to look at would be Spiegler or HEL, and probably others, just recall those off the top of my head. You have to measure the line from the reservoir down to where it splits, I think that's the bit that differs (planning on that myself, haven't gotten it done yet - will probably be a project for winter at this rate.)

 

[wsk3]

My first real ride with my R3T was over the weekend. I did 80 miles on varied roads to get familiar with the machine. As long as the wheels turn the balance is great. When I put my feet down at stop if the bike wasn't standing straight it puts a lot of weight against your inner thigh. I experienced very little hunting for balance slow rolling in traffic. It corners just fine for my riding stye. It's very quiet with stock exhaust. The engine is so smooth and the first thing I noticed was the V-twin vibration was gone. After 2 years on a Victory Hammer I don't think I'll miss it. I am happy to be back in a touring seat, it's like riding a recliner. I'm 6'2" so the higher riding position is kind to my legs an back. The higher riding stance did not diminish my ability to perceive the machine's center of gravity as I have experienced with Honda's VTX. The mirrors are flat glass so I had to adjust my brain, cars behind that were close to me really were close to me. The instrument display gets obscured by sun glare. Turn signal auto cancel takes longer than other bikes I've owned, again, adjust brain. The brakes bite better than my last bike and am happy to have ABS now (hope i never need it). Tranny's tough to tap into neutral but its new. After riding a softtail for 2 years I'm happy to have touring suspension again but might need to upgrade the rears, will know after I pack it for short tour this weekend. Took 50 miles of riding for the gas gauge to drop away from full. It's break in for this machine so I am not putting revs up there yet- will have to experience the performance limits after first service. The torque the drive train puts out is why I bought this bike.

 

[cr0ft]

The mirrors are flat glass so I had to adjust my brain, cars behind that were close to me really were close to me.

Strange, my round mirrors are so curved that I can barely see the cars as more than specks. Another thing I need to replace time permitting. But congrats on the bike!

 

[Camptc]

Congrats on the new R3T, Knees! I just came over to the R3T in March. I've logged about 3500 miles on it this year, and I've loved every one of them. Regarding the leg cooker that is the header assembly: I just took some time last week to remove the chrome covers and the clamp/shield pieces on the header pipes. After doing that, I used some decent fiber glass exhaust wrap to cover the header, and then reattached the shielding and chrome covers. If you don't know to look for it, you wouldn't know that I had done anything to the bike. However, you'll know exactly how much of a difference it makes when you're sitting at a stoplight in 90+ degree weather. Wrapping helps to reduce the scavenging effects of local heating from the exhaust pipes. Cost <$30. Time well spent.

 

[steve59]

Congrats on the new R3T, Knees! I just came over to the R3T in March. I've logged about 3500 miles on it this year, and I've loved every one of them. Regarding the leg cooker that is the header assembly: I just took some time last week to remove the chrome covers and the clamp/shield pieces on the header pipes. After doing that, I used some decent fiber glass exhaust wrap to cover the header, and then reattached the shielding and chrome covers. If you don't know to look for it, you wouldn't know that I had done anything to the bike. However, you'll know exactly how much of a difference it makes when you're sitting at a stoplight in 90+ degree weather. Wrapping helps to reduce the scavenging effects of local heating from the exhaust pipes. Cost <$30. Time well spent.

I was wondering what happens to the heat from the headers? does the fiberglass tape absorb it? I would like to deflect some heat but don't know enough about proper cooling. If the air isn't blowing on the headers helping cool them is the heat going down the pipe, back into the heads? it sounds like a good cheap solution.

 

[Camptc]

Exhaust air works in a similar way to you opening a hot oven in a cool room... the hotter air 'moves' toward the area of lower temperature. This is caused by the transfer of thermal energy from the excited (hot) air to the slower moving (cool) air. An exhaust system's purpose is to redirect the exhaust away from the engine, which will also take the heat with it. By insulating the headers, you maintain the heat in the exhaust air, rather than letting it heat your headers. This causes faster travel of the exhaust as it moves through the pipes and out to the cooler ambient air. There is always going to be some amount of air flow out and away from the engine via the exhaust system, so the warm air will always move toward the cooler ambient air, and not back into the engine. An engine experiences a phenomena referred to as scavenging losses, whereby non-ideal combustion conditions eat away at the efficiency of the engine. Loss of heat from the exhaust air into the headers would be considered a scavenging loss because the efficiency of exhaust removal decreases as energy loss into the headers increases.

 

[steve59]

That sounded pretty cool and I appreciate the time you took to explain it. it even sounds like a cheap way to squeeze another couple ponys.

 

[Camptc]

Not promising anything, but it would have power benefits. Not sure how significant they'd be...