2014 Honda Fireblade SP

2014 Honda Fireblade SP

Carlo, one of our customers who previously owned a 2012 Kawasaki ZX10 that we tuned to 198hp, recently bought a 2014 Fireblade SP after wanting something different. Most people were asking him about the reason for getting off one of the fastest bikes on the road, for something seemingly “slower”. The Fireblade SP is equipped with full Ohlins suspension, Brembo brakes and a blue-printed engine. These make the bike feel smooth and incredibly confidence inspiring on the mountain road passes that surround the Western Cape. It can be immediately felt once you sit on the bike. It might not fall within the 200hp bike category, but don’t try and keep up with one when the road gets twisty.

He now came to Superbike Solutions and asked for the same treatment his Kawasaki received. A Power Commander 5, Autotuner and HM quickshifter were fitted. The HM quickshifter unit came off his previously owned bike and after some changes was able to work with the Honda systems.

The bike was already fitted with a titanium Arrow slip on. This now needed a threaded bung to be welded into the stainless steel link pipe for the wide-range Lambda sensor the Autotune uses. Carlo, being an engineer, decided a mild steel one was not good enough and drew up a Stainless Steel one which he had machined and requested us to fit.

The Fireblade SP was then put on the dyno and did a base run of 174.25hp. After meticulous dyno tuning we were able to realise gains across the rev range and a new peak figure of 180.66hp. This is only half the story though…

Blue line is the stock 2014 Fireblade SP with Arrow slip on and before dyno tuning. Red line is after Power Commander installation and dyno tuning.

Peak horsepower figures suggest the SP is still “under powered” when compared to his previously owned Kawasaki ZX10. But when comparing our two dyno graphs, the Fireblade makes more power all the way to 11,000rpm. This ZX10 then goes on to peak at 198hp but considering where in the rev range a road bike is typically ridden, the SP is likely to be a more tractable and usable ride.

Blue line is the fully tuned 2012 Kawasaki ZX10, red line is the fully tuned 2014 Fireblade SP.

Julian, Superbike Solutions

Photo's done by Redandblack Photography

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Ducati Desmosedici RR

Recently one of our very good customers acquired a uniquely desirable Ducati Desmosedici RR.

As with all his other bikes, he wanted us to upgrade the fuelling and fit a quickshifter; which seemed like a pretty routine job. Knowing our customer’s “Top Drawer” expectations, and the nature of the bike, we were determined to give him something special. A week after discussing the project, this arrived:

Wanting to get the best from the bike, we decided to do an advanced cylinder and gear map. This means that for each cylinder there are six fuel maps, one for each gear, requiring a total of twenty-four maps. After enquiring from Dynojet South Africa about a Desmosedici Power Commander Five (PCV), we were informed that the PCV for this bike does not have the internal memory for twenty four maps. Alain from Dynojet S.A. had previously done something similar to another Desmosedici, but we were  determined to get a unique set up and not go with auto tuned maps.

This meant we had to use two PCVs and two, dual band Autotunes, as per Alain’s advice. After receiving two PCVs for a Ducati 848 and two dual band Autotunes, we realized this was not going to be an easy installation or set up. The first problem was trying to get the map resolution to 14 000 RPM on a  PCV that is configured for a maximum of 11000 RPM only. Loading the resolution of a current model ZX 10 map into the 848 PCV sorted that issue out.

It was then good to go for the installation.....boy was I in for it!

 

Let it be known, this bike is not mechanic friendly! Everything on the Desmo is a pain to get to and is packed tighter than a can of sardines. Getting the fairings off and inflating the tyres are about the easiest things to do on this bike. You literally have to be a double-jointed dwarf to get into it, and for that we have Byron.

The exhausts had to be fitted with threaded bungs for the wide-range Lambda sensors of the dual channel Autotunes. These had to be very neatly welded into place. Positioning for the rear cylinders was a bit dodgy, but we eventually got it sorted.

Next came the installation of the two PCVs and the two Autotunes which proved to be more difficult than  anticipated.
We had to be sure about the firing order to be certain that we were targeting the correct cylinders.
Because the 'Sedici uses a shower type injector, all the connections are housed inside the air-box and this meant drilling through very expensive carbon fibre. The rubber gland is courtesy of a crashed Tata’s firewall.

 

Because of the lack of space, the top of the air-box seemed like the only place to mount the four modules.

This all seemed possible until the tank was fitted. Unfortunately not. Stripped everything off again and relocated the PCVs to the front of the air-box, behind the head stock. Don’t ask for a picture because you can’t see it.

Then it was three solid days on the dyno creating the custom maps for the two PCVs.

Screen shots of the Maps.

Impressions of riding this bike were strange. I was pretty nervous just because of the 'Sedici's value, but after about five kilometres I had forgotten about this, and the nervousness disappeared. You can’t help but grin when accelerating from 8000 RPM. It howls like a banshee, and for lack of a better explanation, it just gets freaking angry and accelerates up to 14000 RPM in the blink of an eye. I have, however, ridden better bikes with more power, better handling etc. But that’s not what Ducati's Desmosedici is about. It’s knowing you are riding one of only a thousand five hundred made, it’s about the fact that this is as close as you are gonna get to riding a MotoGP bike.

Julian Neethling, Superbike Solutions.

Click here for a Youtube link of one of the first Dyno run's we did.


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