How 'smooth' should my 05 R1 be? Possible prob?

Hey guys,

Last weekend I bought an '05 R1 with 15k miles on the clock (traded in my '03 model). Now that i've put a few miles on it and got a bit more used to it i'm noticing the power delivery low down is really quite choppy and rough - if I'm travelling in traffic at a constant 30mph in 1st, the revs don't stay constant and it's really not smooth at all, jerking about all the time. When it's on choke (or whatever the FI equivalent is) it's lovely and smooth but once it's off-choke it runs really rough. It almost feels like a twin low down, and sounds like it's not quite firing properly. I took it back to the dealers today and they went through the diagnostics on the clocks and it all checked out fine. They gave a few explanations:

a)They're all like that, rough as feck low down as they're designed to go fast, not slow. They're nothing like the '03 which is lovely and smooth.

b)They don't like Super Unleaded and run really rough on it. (It's had a full tank of Super, followed by a full tank of Premium once the fuel light came on, so it's 80% Premium now anyway)

c)The EPROMs on these 'learn' riding styles; the last owner rode like a girl, so now that you're giving it some beans it's got to get used to your riding style

I rode the bike home and I really find it difficult to believe it's designed to run rough in normal traffic conditions, it's not enjoyable to ride at regular everyday speeds. When it's revved high it goes well, pulls like a train in fact, but it's really lumpy at normal speeds.

Now, it's due in for a "full £250 worth" service at the weekend, agreed as part of the purchase deal, but when I asked if the plugs will be checked and/or replaced I was told no as they're not due until 24k miles, even though they're 6 years old. To my mind, rough running could be down to plugs?

So what i'm wondering is, can others with 04-05 R1s confirm or deny that the bikes are all rough and erratic low down? If not, what's the problem likely to be?

Thanks in advance!

Dave

in my experiance 1000cc sportsbikes dont like going at that sort of speed in traffic and around town, they are'nt really made for that kind of riding ;D

shouldn't be a real noticeable misfire though, could be muck on the plugs worth changing to see if it helps, fresh oil new plugs, check the air filter make sure its not blocked.

best thing is get someone else to ride it to get a second maybe even third opinion.

My experience is the same, but this is worse than i'd expect. Thing is, the dealers aren't prepared to start swapping plugs etc as they're saying there's nothing wrong with it. At idle it seems fine, it's only on a ride that it causes problems. I'll have to convince them to ride it I think, in the meantime i'll put some injector cleaner through it and a fresh tank of fuel in case that's the problem.

I saw a thread somewhere suggesting that throttle bodies sometimes need balancing and if unbalanced would cause this kind of issue?

Mine is as smooth as a cashmir codpiece at whatever rpm.

Remind me...is the exhaust system on your bike OE? More so, is the y-split de-catted? 5VY R1's are known for smooth linear power delivery unless de-catted when a remap is essential.

Re: Super Unleaded. I wouldn't bother. Modern road bike engines are, for want of a better word, mapped for 95 ron. Banging in 98 ron is just leaving you light of pocket. You may think there's a difference but it is probably your wallet telling you so.

See if the bike is the same post service and take it from there. Sadly I'm not available at the mo to offer to take it out, but if it is still the same in a month's time (which I hope it isn't) drop me a line and we'll have a look at it.

It's got the OE pipes on it and I've no idea re cat, how easy is it to tell?

If it's still **** in a months time I'll take you up on that offer, thanks :)

Could it be that the previous owner put a new system on it and had it remapped, then put the OE exhaust back on when he sold it, leaving the existing map on the bike?

Yeah that crossed my mind too, I'm going to pop into my local dealer who've serviced the bike all it's life and see if they know. Failing that I'll go and knock on the chap's door and ask :)

The only other thing it might be is a coil pack breaking down. It's happened on my '07 FZ1, and also happened on Lee's '08 FZ1 Fazer. Runs like a bag of crap low down, but clears when you give it the beans. :-?

Clogged air filter?
Throttle bodies out of sync?

I did have a plug die on my track bike at Odiham last year, idled on 3, ran quite rough until it was revving over 6000 and gradually deteriorated throughout the day - a new set of plugs cured it, fortunately... sounds similar :-?