Modding my V4 for a right hand only rider

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woohooo... well the weather cooperated just a bit today. and i purposely had about 1/2 tank..i went and rode at one of my favorite spots, no kamikaze stuff, but i was hitting it hard enough coming out of curves that the rear tire would smoke a little i could smell it. and the front was constantly coming up, i would roll off as soon as i felt the tire clear the surface,.

the turn in on this thing is something else, and the slipper is just butter even on the street, the turn in is still a bit fast for street, for my liking anyway but its only the second ride and im sure ill just get used to it and wont even notice it after a while... i already raised the forks flush, aside from that i wont change it. i will earn to ride it the way it is. then my damn shifter lever bolt came loose. there was no way to get to the bolt even if i could find an allen wrench. so when i stopped at the gas station, i got a tube of superglue and put a little in the bolt hole. and i was just enough to get me home. i have not tried the dqs as im enjoying the analog..as much at can be analog anyway. and i found the vibration zone on the right bar LOL

i stopped at a station to fill up and i purposely listened to the tank lid and awaited the whoooooshhhh. but no whoosh, absolutely no pressure in the tank and while it was sitting, i could smell the vapors mixed with charcoal smell so i know it was making vapor. im happy i could figure that out. on a poop side the hose i used even with the heat shield and firecloth wrapped around it, turned hard brittle and cracked. so i spaced the bottom of the charcoal canister out about and inch, to change the location of the bottom nipple in relation to the header collector, (the nipple is sitting right next to the damn header collector) i rerouted the hose again to include a 90 elbow connector to change the direction the hose comes off of the bottom of the canister, (towards the right belly faring, which moves it away from the header collector, and its far enough away from the collector that i dont smell anything burning even without heat shield, the canister mod worked great but i suspect a great deal of having less tank vapors also had alot to do with the undertank insulation kit i put under there also and the heat reflective tape. hard to know which one had the greater effect.

1. but for sure that spring loaded check ball in the canister was one of if not the main problem.. the tank had to pressure to whatever the pressure it took to overcome the spring.
2. the tank insulation kit was a great product, and a great bunch of people as well.

and the lower chain protector came in , parts callwed it a mud guard and of course the damn bolt on the heat shield that holds it was missing, so i had to machine up a washer with a shoulder and used a stainless 5x12mm button head bolt. and called it a day. even with lube the chain was sounding shiddy from the previous owner spray painting it. the seals trashed and it got moisture in there. so next mod will be a 520 conversion im afraid.
 
Soooooo .. it looks like 148 miles to capoot lol but it was planned ..kinda weird though it quit at 145 miles..then I out 1 liter I was carrying in a backpack ..then it went 2.3 miles and quit again ..so I'm calling it 145 on tank..45 to fumes on the fuel light
 

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I shared this thread with the shop I work with, they had a young lady that lost her arm at the track, and are doing a similar build, helped point them in the right direction…big help.
 
I shared this thread with the shop I work with, they had a young lady that lost her arm at the track, and are doing a similar build, helped point them in the right direction…big help.
Jesus. How did that happen?
 
Jesus. How did that happen?

No clue, it’s not a sport without danger, we don’t talk about it but at Autoclub speedway several times a year someone get air lifted out.

Most of the time it’s people who were pushing way too hard without enough training or gradually building speed as they learn.

Most bad crashes happen at the track when someone suddenly tries to hang with someone 5 or 10 seconds faster and they make too big a leap in pace
 
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I shared this thread with the shop I work with, they had a young lady that lost her arm at the track, and are doing a similar build, helped point them in the right direction…big help.
hey steven, im sorry to hear that..
the main reason i never had a get off at the track is because i never went above my comfort level, you have to just let it come with repetition and practice, it will come. bite off too much and bad things happen. i have had one or two bad ones on the street because of ego but fortunately i dont suffer from ego anymore.

i wish her well, i know what it feels like to lose part of yourself, its something only that person or someone who has been through it will ever know. its rough and it sucks and it is challenging and frustrating , but the rewards when you figure it out are absolutely worth the heartache and frustration. I tell people the hardest thing i had to relearn with 1 arm was tie my shoe laces, after that its a cake walk. she has alot of healing to do. for me what got through my injuries was just the stubborn dogged will to not let it beat me, and to fix what i had done to my bike..i was doing inventory and ordering parts to rebuild the bike the day i got out of the hospital, 3 months later , i rode it down the street with no skins on it and a cast on my left leg and left arm. for 2 years after i rode with a folding cane on the backseat because i could not put all my weight on my left leg and knee and ankle LOL but i sure as hell could ride. it was my passion and love of riding that go me through it and pushed me forward, the sense of achievement and the kick in the nuts to all the doctors who said i would never feed myself again or walk or talk again.. then when i proved them all wrong..i was just an ..... because i still was riding,, they ask if im not afraid dieing or if im just stupid..i respond with i dont want to die but im more terrified of not living than i am of dieing.

some of my friends, they meant well, tried to get me to ride a 3 trike...then it was scooters with automatic transmissions, and shoes with velcro straps...welllll fuq you, i dont think so. its all or nothing. if your gonna fail then set the bar high and fail trying.

but mostly my response is....if i have to explain it to you, then you wont understand. its something thats in your dna, in your blood, ingrained in your soul...it calls to you.. you miss it.. you get in a bad mood when you can do it. my sons have both been stricken with this affliction. i make it my mission to teach them how to stay alive on two wheels, but most of all to leave your pride and ego at home, because those two will push you past your skill level in the blink of an eye.
if i can keep them safe long enough to get some experience they will be ok.

if there is anything i can do please let me know, id be absolutely humbled to help her if theres a way that i can. riding with only one hand on a bar, is possible, i did it for a while, till i came up with the method i currently use..theres is course a learning curve and it is steeper than normal, but i have no doubt that she can do it. ive known guys who were paraplegic that found a way. if she she wants to she will find the will and the way.. if she doesnt or is just not ready she wont. it comes down to her. but like i said theres no doubt in my mind she can do it. if you can pass along my well wishes and encouragement id appreciate it.
man thats a rough hand to be dealt.

Rick
 
hey steven, im sorry to hear that..
the main reason i never had a get off at the track is because i never went above my comfort level, you have to just let it come with repetition and practice, it will come. bite off too much and bad things happen. i have had one or two bad ones on the street because of ego but fortunately i dont suffer from ego anymore.

i wish her well, i know what it feels like to lose part of yourself, its something only that person or someone who has been through it will ever know. its rough and it sucks and it is challenging and frustrating , but the rewards when you figure it out are absolutely worth the heartache and frustration. I tell people the hardest thing i had to relearn with 1 arm was tie my shoe laces, after that its a cake walk. she has alot of healing to do. for me what got through my injuries was just the stubborn dogged will to not let it beat me, and to fix what i had done to my bike..i was doing inventory and ordering parts to rebuild the bike the day i got out of the hospital, 3 months later , i rode it down the street with no skins on it and a cast on my left leg and left arm. for 2 years after i rode with a folding cane on the backseat because i could not put all my weight on my left leg and knee and ankle LOL but i sure as hell could ride. it was my passion and love of riding that go me through it and pushed me forward, the sense of achievement and the kick in the nuts to all the doctors who said i would never feed myself again or walk or talk again.. then when i proved them all wrong..i was just an ..... because i still was riding,, they ask if im not afraid dieing or if im just stupid..i respond with i dont want to die but im more terrified of not living than i am of dieing.

some of my friends, they meant well, tried to get me to ride a 3 trike...then it was scooters with automatic transmissions, and shoes with velcro straps...welllll fuq you, i dont think so. its all or nothing. if your gonna fail then set the bar high and fail trying.

but mostly my response is....if i have to explain it to you, then you wont understand. its something thats in your dna, in your blood, ingrained in your soul...it calls to you.. you miss it.. you get in a bad mood when you can do it. my sons have both been stricken with this affliction. i make it my mission to teach them how to stay alive on two wheels, but most of all to leave your pride and ego at home, because those two will push you past your skill level in the blink of an eye.
if i can keep them safe long enough to get some experience they will be ok.

if there is anything i can do please let me know, id be absolutely humbled to help her if theres a way that i can. riding with only one hand on a bar, is possible, i did it for a while, till i came up with the method i currently use..theres is course a learning curve and it is steeper than normal, but i have no doubt that she can do it. ive known guys who were paraplegic that found a way. if she she wants to she will find the will and the way.. if she doesnt or is just not ready she wont. it comes down to her. but like i said theres no doubt in my mind she can do it. if you can pass along my well wishes and encouragement id appreciate it.
man thats a rough hand to be dealt.

Rick

She seems to have the same mentality as you, everybody should.

She’s not gunna let anything stop her getting back on that bike.
 
then shes gonna be just fine. and nothing and none will stop her then..
thats good know im always glad to hear life not beating people
more power to her. and like i said if i can be of assistance let me know
thank you sir
 
then shes gonna be just fine. and nothing and none will stop her then..
thats good know im always glad to hear life not beating people
more power to her. and like i said if i can be of assistance let me know
thank you sir

Yeah I’ll see where they are at on the build and might put the shop in touch with you.

They’re pretty smart but when doing these kind of unique builds there’s always some stuff you find that you have to work around or an easier way to do things that you only find by actually doing it. And you have.

What’s the expression?…the novice learns from their own mistakes, the wise learn from other’s mistakes.
 
That's sounds right.. lol.. its not really hard to do the conversion its just the little things that come up along the way you know .. im they have a leg up on me since they have more connections for finding parts ..hell it took me 3 weeks just find some build your own brake line stuff cuz I was worried about Abs pump pressures..

I just wanted to make sure she has someone to talk to or support you know .the phantom pain will be the real test for her..its horrible man..over the years I have found ways to cope with the pain and lessen it ..its taken me 21 years of finding ways to deal with the pain..I mostly stumbled on them by mistake haa..but they do work even when the pain killers stop working .. this is something I could definitely help with if she should want or even need the help.
For the first year it wasn't losing my arm being immobile . .losing my military career the surgeries the back.neck. ankles knees pajn..headaches .nose bleeds..etc etc it was the phantom phantom pains man it's fuqing horrific level 15 pain on a 1 yo 10 scale ..the phantom pain is what had me considering eating a bullet
If I can be of help with ways to cope or just words of encouragement I'd be more than happy to help. ..I appreciate your posting man..its damn good to know there are others out there like me and not letting life get em down.
But still I know I'm not special..because every single one of you would also do whatever it took to get back on ..of thst I have zero doubt
 
thats Fing cool ....racing with one arm, has its challenges, but i remember my body just kinda figured it out, and adjusted, all i had to do was not let things happen too fast so my head could tell my body to make the necessary adjustments. i still have an arm although not working, that guy has a harder job of it than me. my hats off to the man.
 
getting around to replacing the rear brake switch.. since the rearsets on mine are for a 2020 v4 street fighter..ducati switched to using a 3 wire micro switch. which means the connector is different, so i cant just buy the part, i tracked down the marquart micro switch , its a marquart 1022-2022 at mouser electronics its part number 979-1022.2202... they are expensive little bugger because they are IP65 rated... so i just need to wire the correct wires to my original connector using the correct 2 wires, which is the NC set. now i just have to wait for it.
i started to mod the switch mount on the rear sets but there is just not enough meat on the little tab to drill and tap a hole for the original switch, ill show you guys in a couple days. im gettin close to calling this done i think.
 
so while waiting for parts, the weather got amazing and i had to go, so i put the rearset back together and got dressed, which for me takes about 20-30 minutes because of the ......... uniqueness of my situation, its down right a PITA, but always worth it. ,, so im done and go outside its sunny and 78deg i hit the start button and again... crank crank crank crank crank crank crank crank crank.. i turned the key off and tried this 14 times and didnt get even 1 pop from the engine. finally at attempt 15 i got the first thing that resembled internal combustion..it would run for about 1.5 seconds but barely just stumbling over like its starving for fuel, ..i attempted starting and got that another 11 times, thats right 26 attempts to start.. and finally it slowly came to life, missing and stumbling then finally smoothing out as it warmed up.

i watched the battery voltage the entire time and it never dropped below 12.6 volts even during cranking so its not the battery. thats a stout little bogger ill give it that.
ive been testing all winter on my theories to try to find a pattern

1.and i think i found it.. above 70 degrees is when i start to have these starting issues

2. at and below 65-70 degrees it starts on the third rotation almost every single time, but runs rough and sounds like cylinders are cutting in and out, i can hear an audible pop when they light again.

3. now get this from 55-65 it cranks a bit slower but starts on the third rotation every time and starts to show signs of starting enrichment from the exhaust. but it runs much smoother during warmup with no audible popping or sounds of cylinders cutting in and out.

4. im usually up late till 1am or so, so i test at night and in the morning on a cold engine. so, 45-55 degrees it cranks very slowly but always starts on third and sometimes on the second rotation which a very discernable cloud of unburned fuel on startup and for about a minute after startup.

5. 40-55 degrees starts on second rotation almost every time. with more rich smoke from exhaust no cutting in and out of cylinders, rich smoke in the xhaust,

6. heres the best part...at 35 and below its sounds like its not even going to turn over once, but consistently it turns over 1 time and at the end of the first rotation, it rips over and starts like i have never heard it start before.... bigggg cloud of enrichment smoke from both sides of the exhaust, stays rich for about 3 minutes, the haziness of the exhaust clears up at about 1.5 minute mark. runs smoother during warmup than any of of the above starts no cutting in and out of the cylinders and gets to operating temp faster than any of the above startups. all of the above also have really lazy stumbly throttle response (i wasnt reving the crap out of it, just slow blips to 1.5k or so)at this temp even though its super cold, the throttle response is much better and no stumbling to the 1.5k revs.

i did all of these startups 10 times on a completely cold engine in as close to the same temps as i could get , only thing different would be the time of day or morning, some i did at 1am, some at 6am and the warmer ones in times from 11pm to 3pm to try to get the same starting temp ranges to try to get some consistency of temps.
and only got a complete failure to start 3 times in example 1 in temps above 70 deg, i forgot to mention on 1 of the 3 attempts i put on jump pack, voltage went to 13.8 and it cranked much faster but still no start....all the temp starts from 1 through 6 were done completely at random times. and mixed all together
all of the above lead me to believe that this thing is super super lean during start and warmup in the higher temps/// probably in an attempt to meet or surpass epa regs .................. based on what i wrote up there would you guys come to a similar conclusion. the only pattern i found was that as the start temps got lower and lower it started better and better
im waiting to get the woolich racing setup to fix this. which i was going to get no matter this problem
 
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That’s weird, at 1st it sounds like it’s being starved for fuel, then it sounded like it was being starved for air or not reading something right there.

Maybe an IAT Sensor or something going on not mixing the air fuel right, but if it’s not even firing…sounds like a fueling issue, fuel pump or filter and a sensor off somewhere
 
there have been a few other ive spoken with that had similar problems that went away after an upmap.
i thought it might be a sensor issue or air problem but filter is good, and if it had a sensor issue a code would pop up i would think,
i have not replaced the pump yet, i want to make sure its not a mapping issue first
it runs perfect once its starts and warmed up i need to amend the upper, it did not fail to start every single time, it was only 3 out of ten attempts at temps above 70 deg .
the next test im going to remove the O2 sensor from the rear exhaust pipe and put in my wideband O2 setup to see what the AF ratios are at when its struggling to start, my guess is i will get a full lean message. but im not sure of its actually using the O2s during startup, it should be in open loop during startup so it should not be using the O2 sensors and i think ill be ok to put my wideband in. and during warmup all four cylinders should be live
i tried to just put the O2 sensor in the exhaust end and at the end of the exhaust outlet im getting full lean on the gauge, so i think its not in far enough for the sensor to sniff only exhaust
next time it does it, ill get video so you guys can hear and see whats going, on, im almost 100 percent convinced its a fueling issue, and id be willing to bet the whole damn map is lean because of epa, which is really bad for an engine that revs this high
 
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I'd try a different battery, to verify it isn't the battery. Even if you run jump leads from a car battery or jump pack.
 
I'd try a different battery, to verify it isn't the battery. Even if you run jump leads from a car battery or jump pack.
i thought it was the battery too, when i first started having the issue so i did replace the battery, its less than 3 months old think , it could still be bad i suppose, the voltage didnt drop below 12.6 during startup,
on 1 of the above 3 failures to start, i forgot to mention..i hooked the battery box and set set it to start, voltage went to 13.8, it cranked alot faster but still no start.
that doesnt mean it still cant be a battery issue, so your not wrong, they are not that expensive so ill try that again just in case
 

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