New Helmet & some FatDuc adjustments

Another early morning today - woke up @ ~5:50am - not sure why I'm not sleeping much at the moment.....must be the seasons changing, the mornings are nice and bright - this should not last long though, next week Daylight Saving time kicks in.

But hey, I'm up now - might as well get a ride in before work...............good chance to test out the new helmet and make some trim adjustments to the FatDuc (see my Zorst post below)

With the Sun being brighter and a little higher in the sky, the daily commute has been torture with regard to Sun glare. By chance I wandered into the local motorcycle shop during my lunch break yesterday and came across this lid:

It's a budget DualSport (DS) style helmet - branded as Fly Racing with the model name being Trekker.........after doing some reading I decided it was worth the risk of shelling out $150 bones to give it a go.........if it proves itself I may indeed buy a more expensive Shoei Hornet to go with the XR-1100 I usually ride with. 

Initial impressions are good - It's not too noisy with the visor down, the vision is EXCELLENT. It is relatively comfortable to wear and the peak doesn't seem to be too adversely affected by wind. Furthermore, the peak is great for dealing with the Sun glare issues I've been having - all in all - a good purchase and a good price. For those of you who are interested there is more reading here. 

Along with testing the new lid, the morning ride gave me the opportunity to play with the trim setting on the FatDuc 02 manipulator I had installed. Essentially this little device plugs in-line with the return circuit of the lambda (O2 sensor) probe in the exhaust mid-pipe. 

You can see it here mounted on the frame (once I have the trim set nicely I will hide it better)

Essentially the idea behind the FatDuc is to alter the signal being sent back to the ECU which dictates the fuelling while the bike is running closed-loop (<= 4000rpm). As you increase resistance (trim) on the FatDuc you decrease the signal strength being sent to the ECU - thus resulting in a richer mixture. Reduce resistance and the opposite is true - the mixture becomes more lean and more like stock fuelling. 

During the ride this morning I made some small trim adjustments - I think I'm starting to dial it in - bike is running much smoother down low and not as snatchy rolling on and off throttle at low RPM.......thanks FatDuc =D