TOTAL NEW GUY

AND when I say new guy I mean I'm new to American V-twins. Ive been on motorcycles since I was 16. I've been a Honda guy FOREVER!!( My dad R.I.P., was a tech for a dealer in the 70s)Both mom and dad rode Hondas back in the day. My first bike was a 1978 Honda CM 450 that my Dad taught me to ride at 15,(I'm 36 now) and then we restored together after i got crashing out of the way. In 1999 I bought a brand new 2000 CBR 600 F4. Rode that for three years till I hit a deer on it at like 80 MPH. Went without a bike for many years,then about 5 years ago I got a 1978 CB750SS, that was right at the start of the Cafe racer thing that has taking off. I Cafe'ed that bike and was a daily ride for me. In the meantime I started working on two CB350 twins, A CB550 4cyl, another CB750 and a divorce two years ago. I sold everything off last year to keep my head above water after the divorce and tough economic times including my 31 Ford (1966 mustang powered) Model A hotrod truck.

Now present time and a buddy at work came to me asking if Id be interested in his 'modern day cafe" after hearing me complain that I am without motorcycle now and I miss my cafe'd 78 SS.

He says he has a 1999 Buell X1 Lighting he's willing to part with. I said, "A what?" LOL I know who Buell is I just didnt know what the X1 was.
He hung his head and laughed and muttered something to the effect of "damn jap bike guys" He was just razzing me because he also owns a Kawasaki KZ1100.
I went to his house to look at the bike and I fell in love with the looks because it has kinda that ladder frame style like the Duc's have!!

Anyway! long story short he has had the bike since new, two years ago he was in an auto shop pulling a whole shot and hit a beam and dropped the bike, and it has set parked ever since. The bars are bent,headlight and ears are destroyed, turn signals are gone, and the big ugly air box saved the rest of the bike from further damage, but was completely ripped off the bike, including the snorkel. The controls and lever on the side of the hit aren't even hurt, just bent the hell out of the bars.

Bike has 6400 miles on it and I just got it for cheap!!! (dirt cheap)
So now I own a 1999 X1.

I start doing my homework and discover the bike is fuel injected!!!!
I'm like "well shit" I don't know the 1st thing about FI
I'm used to pulling float bowls and changing jets and reading spark plugs!!!

So this brings me to my 1st question,
If I put a slip on D&D and a forcewinder will the computer be able to keep fuel mapping within propper ranges? Or will I have to invest in a power commander or upload new mapping? IF I go the ECMSPY rout do they supply mapping for the ad-ons I want to do? IS it a simple download and install to the bike computer kinda thing? I looked over the ECMSPY website and that looks like a whole lotta shit I can mess up. Im not looking for a monster HP bike I just want something that will be fun and reliable to ride, with the ability to pull the wheelie when I want?

Also looking into things, what's the difference between open and close loop systems? WTF does all that mean? (Am I getting to techy and making FI harder than it really is)?
DDFI?
DDFI-2 ?
DDFI-3?
E=Mc cubed?
pie are squared?

I'm not a total idiot but I'm slow at times, and computers takes a slow and steady approach with me (that's why I'm nervous about the ECMSPY rout) so in as plain of english as I can get would be great!

Thank you so much for everybody's time and patience I'm sure Ill have a ton more noob questions.

Welcome to the family and the addiction. First off buy a ECM cable and get a copy of ecmspy and just tinker with it. It's a pretty easy program to get used to.

Thanks for the warm welcome Kab.
Tinker with it? how far can I go before im over my head? I found a few sellers on feebay selling the cable,maps and software for around 35 bucks, sure beats 300+ for a power commander.

And as far as the as "the addiction" thing goes I hope so!!!! Ive seen some pretty sexy X1s on the net! I can see myself going nuts with this thing! I love Love LOVE to ride but ya gotta look good to lol. Im just not sure what to expect the first time I throw a leg over this bike. The only Vtwin I have ever rode was a budys RC51 back in the day. And we all know that is a very different kinda bike.

Ok Im sitting here thinking again, (ya i know, I probably need to find a girlfriend)
can or does anybody make a chain drive conversion for my bike? I dunno? there is just something un nerving about the whole belt drive thing. Or am I stressing over nothing?

To be honest I'm pretty new to the whole buell thing too. But since I bought my 03 xb9r I find different mods and stuff to do to it. If you want a nice exhaust check out hawk performance exhaust, he mods the stock pipe on your bike, very reasonable pricing and a great tone when you put it back on. I bought my ecm cable off eBay and so far only used it to flash the factory race maps to my stock ECM. Their are tons of mods out there for these bikes, and once you start you'll never quit.

Also you should post pics of your new toy so everyone can see. There is a sain around here and it's pics or it didn't happen. where are you located?

Welcome.

Cable.. Ecmspy... Race maps should run pretty damn decent with a d and d forcewinder combo. I was nervous about playing with the ecm but its pretty simple. But to answer your question.. It will run like crap with a pipe and intake on the stock fuel maps.

I might have a stock set of bars but you might want to take the opportunity to switch to some lower bars.

Good luck and have fun with it.. Love mine.

Welcome bro. This is my first American twin too, got a '05 XB12R in early November. Loving it! Still have my '01 'Busa. Two different beasts. Both these bikes are lifetime keepers.

If you just do one or the other i beleive your stock ecm will be ok .
If your good with computers the ecmspy will allow you to dial it right in perfect.
Race ecm's are pretty much plug n play but cost more and cannot be tuned unless you want to buy the$700 ebr tuneable version. With all that said welcome to the family you come to the right place. There are alot of helpfull folks on here that can provide the knowlage and maybe the parts you will be needing. Now with all that said with out a picture of the x1 we beleive your sitting on a radio flyer so post pics please . We are picture whores or at least i am.Good luck with the build.

Welcome. You will love the belt over a chain for normal steet riding. Very clean and essentially no maintenance. He may have the original belt on there so you may want to thoroughly inspect it and replace if necessary. I have only had to replace one belt in almost 4 years on Buells.

I'm a addict as well!


Welcome to the Family! DDFI is what you have and it was Design by Roush for Buell. Its fairly easy to work with once you get to messing with it. Check out tuniversity.com on the side page. Max is a very knowledgable guy when it comes to DDFI systems. Good Luck and make sure you ask a lot of questions their are some really great people on this board!

Stop bragging Red!

LOL! Ok I'll shut up[up]

definately go with hawk performance exhaust. the pipe comes with free tech support. comes in handy with us new guys.

I have a D & D exhaust and love it

Ahhh thanks for the more warm welcomes guys.
Ill try and get some pics of the bike soon!! I live in N.W. Indiana
We have a foot of snow on the ground right now
and is been in the teens brrrrr! The bike is still
in my buddys garage right now, and the ally way that leads to the garage is drifted shut. Maybe Ill dig around on the computers and find some pics of past bikes to show off for now and learn how to get pics up on the boards.

hope you guys dont mind me slapping up some odd ball pics for now. this was my last project. started out as a stock 1978 CB750 SS nevery really was done? I just rode and worked on little things as I want along
And yes, poke all the fun you want at me,but that is a trailer light for my brake light, and my slip on started out as a 24 inch cherry bomb that we cut down to 12 inches!

just old toys

Welcome Merlin!!! and PIE R NOT SQUARE PIE ARE ROUND

I did the 750 cafe man