Well I figured I would start a thread on some of the things I've done and the go fast parts I've added to my Connie over the past couple of months.
So I purchased the Concours last year and since have racked almost 17K miles on it. I purchased the bike for I wanted a hyper power plant in a usable and standard frame. The bike is a phenomenal daily runner and great touring bike. The girth is a bit to get use to but as I became stronger the weight became less of a hindrance and more of an advantage. The bike is rock solid and steady in the strongest of winds. Rides 2 up great and got decent gas... Shaft drive is also awesome to have!
I've had a few issues with it. One being the surprise gas leak early this season which I remedied with a key less gas cap and a bunch of JB stick weld. I eventually modified the old filler area and added another .5 gallons to the tank yielding 5.5 gallon total fill. Which was nice for with the old ECU tune I was getting 42 MPG and I could finally get to the 200 mile range between fills:
Recently I added a Blue tooth stereo system to it and we love it. makes those long trips not feel as long and I find it easier to hear my surroundings (sirens and horns) vs wearing ear buds. I either catch praise or grief about adding a stereo, mostly on the looks but hey I/We love it so no regrets. It's a BOSS Blue tooth 4 way system. Cost $130 shipped. It's also fantastic for camping for you don't have to rummage for speakers, just turn the ignition on and listen to tunes for hours.
As of very recent I came across another issue. My exhuast manifold was leaking due to yet another flaw in materials used in the header. So instead of buying a stock replacement I figured I'd upgrade. I was running a slip on and secondaries removed on a stock ECU... It was running well and I thought quick enough.
Knowing that this motor is a near identical to that of the ZX-14 I looked into ZX-14 replacement bits. I looked into full systems knowing the exhaust was the main restrictive element on the bike. The issue being though is running a full system required a re-flash. So I turned to Shoodaben Engineering to get my ECU properly tuned in: https://sites.google.com/site/shoodabenengineering/concours1400.
Steve from Shoodaben was amazing to work with. I shot him the dimensions of the exhaust I planned on using and he formulated the tune that would work best for my bike. We opted out for the full Area-P tune for it was the most intricate and with the the setup would yield the best power. He told me to expect the power or a tad more of what he was getting off this re-flash. Here's some Dyno results:
Stock Vs Stock and basic re-flash
Full Area-P re-flash with full Exhaust... Yes that's WHP and torque on a ZG1400...
So I sent out the ECU to Steve and ordered a full Yoshimura R-77 Stainless system with Carbon 510mm muffler for a ZX-14. Got the bits in a week later (why it was down and rode the Hyosung out to Eli69's).
Comparison Stock ZG1400 vs Performance ZX-14:
Installed and Re-Flashed ECU installed:
The Power is Night and Day different... The bike is crazy powerful... I would say it's on par if not a touch quicker then my B-King when it was stock. I rode bag-less yesterday and 150mph is a breeze to get to now... The acceleration is nuts, with the re-flash the bike screams deep into red-line where as before the power just simmered out at 9.5K RPM. I shift a 10K now and the bike rockets over 100mph in 5 seconds or less... The weight helps with keeping the front end down but it will power wheelie easily in first and 2nd especially with bags on. Steve at Shoodabeen also implemented a Economy tun in low throttle potions so I'm having my cake and eating it too! Yesterday after 100 miles on I was seeing this for Average MPG...
Unheard of for I would be lucky to see 44mpg if I was milking it. I also was getting after it too... Well worth the coin... Which all in all cost me about a $1K for the system and re-flash.
I'm ready to RLAM in about a month. So GSR folks are more then welcome to try it out. It's a monster! But refined and economic now too...
FYI!
So I purchased the Concours last year and since have racked almost 17K miles on it. I purchased the bike for I wanted a hyper power plant in a usable and standard frame. The bike is a phenomenal daily runner and great touring bike. The girth is a bit to get use to but as I became stronger the weight became less of a hindrance and more of an advantage. The bike is rock solid and steady in the strongest of winds. Rides 2 up great and got decent gas... Shaft drive is also awesome to have!
I've had a few issues with it. One being the surprise gas leak early this season which I remedied with a key less gas cap and a bunch of JB stick weld. I eventually modified the old filler area and added another .5 gallons to the tank yielding 5.5 gallon total fill. Which was nice for with the old ECU tune I was getting 42 MPG and I could finally get to the 200 mile range between fills:
Recently I added a Blue tooth stereo system to it and we love it. makes those long trips not feel as long and I find it easier to hear my surroundings (sirens and horns) vs wearing ear buds. I either catch praise or grief about adding a stereo, mostly on the looks but hey I/We love it so no regrets. It's a BOSS Blue tooth 4 way system. Cost $130 shipped. It's also fantastic for camping for you don't have to rummage for speakers, just turn the ignition on and listen to tunes for hours.
As of very recent I came across another issue. My exhuast manifold was leaking due to yet another flaw in materials used in the header. So instead of buying a stock replacement I figured I'd upgrade. I was running a slip on and secondaries removed on a stock ECU... It was running well and I thought quick enough.
Knowing that this motor is a near identical to that of the ZX-14 I looked into ZX-14 replacement bits. I looked into full systems knowing the exhaust was the main restrictive element on the bike. The issue being though is running a full system required a re-flash. So I turned to Shoodaben Engineering to get my ECU properly tuned in: https://sites.google.com/site/shoodabenengineering/concours1400.
Steve from Shoodaben was amazing to work with. I shot him the dimensions of the exhaust I planned on using and he formulated the tune that would work best for my bike. We opted out for the full Area-P tune for it was the most intricate and with the the setup would yield the best power. He told me to expect the power or a tad more of what he was getting off this re-flash. Here's some Dyno results:
Stock Vs Stock and basic re-flash
Full Area-P re-flash with full Exhaust... Yes that's WHP and torque on a ZG1400...
So I sent out the ECU to Steve and ordered a full Yoshimura R-77 Stainless system with Carbon 510mm muffler for a ZX-14. Got the bits in a week later (why it was down and rode the Hyosung out to Eli69's).
Comparison Stock ZG1400 vs Performance ZX-14:
Installed and Re-Flashed ECU installed:
The Power is Night and Day different... The bike is crazy powerful... I would say it's on par if not a touch quicker then my B-King when it was stock. I rode bag-less yesterday and 150mph is a breeze to get to now... The acceleration is nuts, with the re-flash the bike screams deep into red-line where as before the power just simmered out at 9.5K RPM. I shift a 10K now and the bike rockets over 100mph in 5 seconds or less... The weight helps with keeping the front end down but it will power wheelie easily in first and 2nd especially with bags on. Steve at Shoodabeen also implemented a Economy tun in low throttle potions so I'm having my cake and eating it too! Yesterday after 100 miles on I was seeing this for Average MPG...
Unheard of for I would be lucky to see 44mpg if I was milking it. I also was getting after it too... Well worth the coin... Which all in all cost me about a $1K for the system and re-flash.
I'm ready to RLAM in about a month. So GSR folks are more then welcome to try it out. It's a monster! But refined and economic now too...
FYI!
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