An O-Fish-L member of the BMW riding community.Oh yeah - O-Fish-L this too - already.
Here she is on her early 2001 Christmas present, a new-to-her 1995 BMW R11R. It has ABS, heated grips, clock, tach, BMW windshield, BMW System bags, valve cover protectors and has been well maintained and garage kept for it's 69,700 mile life.
In spite of BMW's claim that the Oilhead Type 259's don't surge, this one did. On the test ride I took before I bought it, after the first five miles, I couldn't stand it any longer and pulled the cat map plug. The surge was almost gone. I bought the bike Saturday morning and immediately threw away the Bosch plugs and put in Autolite's. More improvement but there is still a minor surge. Since "The Woman" will still be in Tucson through the holidays, good friend and long distance riding partner Rob Lentini offered to try to clean up the remaining surge for her, saving me the trouble of dragging my tools to Tucson.
12/24/2001
I worked on the bike Saturday, installing an RS low pipe and the bags and Rob and I worked on the bike Sunday, to clear up the surge problem. We did make some progress with the Zero=Zero procedure, setting the TPS to 375mV [was at 690mV!!] and replacing the original throttle cable but with a cat plug installed, the surge is minimized but remains. I have again removed the cat plug for ridability. I suspect the intake manifolds are leaking air.
12/29/2001
Now I have hauled the bike home and have had some time to work on it. The bike has an RS low pipe, full bags, GS hand guards, Police Throttle Screw, new brake pads, new oil sight glass, the cam chain tensioner bolt has been tightened to stop an oil leak, the brake fluid has been replaced, the intake manifolds have been replaced, the throttle cable was replaced and the MeZ4 tires that were on the bike have been removed. The tires were replaced with Bridgestone BT 010's. Not that big a loss, the rear was already worn to the wear bars. Too bad about the front, it was brand new, but MeZ's are not my choice of a a good tire for the RS or the R. A side note to those that have had to [or may have to] use Slime®, Fix-A-Flat® or similar products to make on the road tire repairs. Be sure to clean the rim up when you repair or replace the tire. Left on the rim for a long time, it's a bitch to clean up.
Earlier I said "When it's done, it will also have the Staintune® low pipe, full BMW System Bags, GS hand guards and GS intakes". The RS low pipe may be what stays on the bike and I found out that the R11R shares the intakes from the GS.
The O2 sensor is still connected. Added below: 4/6/2002 I suspect that it may need to be replaced to function properly. Since the bike still has a catalytic converter incorporated exhaust system, I may try to get the O2 sensor working correctly. If I can't, I will go to the Staintune and eliminate the emissions crap. I'm sure most serious motorcycle riders would prefer not to pollute our environment but for me, when it comes to a major investment in a motorcycle that is unpleasant to ride as designed <vs> removing the emissions crap and enjoying the bike the way it should be enjoyed, I admit the ridability of the motorcycle wins. My goal with "The Woman's" R11R is the make it as pleasant to ride as possible and like my RS, it should do so without the much talked about surge. Unlike my RS, I have decided to try to eliminate - or almost eliminate - the surge while retaining a functional catalytic converter and O2 sensor. My take on this issue is that BMW has a design problem that they choose to ignore, leaving the resolution to the bikes' owner rather than go back to the drawing board to find a fix. It's one thing to find a fuel injected bike with a catalytic converter, computer and O2 sensor that has a lot of miles on it surging, yet something entirely different to find that type of problem in brand new machines.
For others wanting to personalize their R11R, Click Here for part numbers/sources for some equipment I added as well as selected service bulletins. Keep an eye here if you're interested, changes are inevitable.
Now that's how to make her smile.......
I noted earlier that I was going to try to retain the O2 sensor and keep the Cat working. That effort is over and the O2 sensor is - along with everything else emission related [except for the incorporated converter that will die] - is now either gone or disconnected. No amount of tweaking would clean up the surge enough on this bike to make it pleasant to ride. The bike is now smooth with no surge detectable. Fuel economy is @ 41 to 46 MPG depending on usual speed, load and environment changes. Fuel range is another matter and is being dealt with. See notes here.
Added: 6/22/2002
Fuel tank has been enlarged and painted. Go here.
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