So a few months ago, getting tired of my long commute, I picked up a 2020 Superduke 1290R that someone was getting rid at a great price. He broke his arm in a way that I suppose he had a multi year full recovery ahead, and it hurt him to ride even though with this bike you are fairly upright. The bike had something like 1300 miles on it, practically new.
First things I changed was the ergo seat to replace the stock unit. Despite the somewhat upright position, it is more aggressive than the 2015 1290R that I had – so I did the handlebar risers which connect under the stock handlebar on top of the stock supports. This brings the handlebars up 30mm, and back 20mm reportedly. Since I am using this bike to time travel (commute 2-3x faster than in a car), I am looking for comfort. The seat still pushes me forward into the tank slightly, which causes my jeans to crawl up a little which is kind of annoying. Tank grips help avoid some fatigue in the legs, but also work to pull my pants up over time. Because of this I sometimes stand up to a bit to tug my pants down which then causes knee pain later in the day – I’m trying to figure out how to better deal with this situation.
I also put on a Leo Vince LV10 slip on, and a Puig touring smoke windscreen to help cut the wind a bit. Stock mirrors remain, I really like the function of being able to look behind me so I am not going for the cooler, ultra skinny mirrors. I actually wouldn’t mind them slightly larger frankly.
The seat does help some, even though I am still tilted forwards a bit it does grip me a little better where the stock seat feel slippery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I also picked up an OpenFlashPerformance.com tuner. I haven’t done any custom tuning although I would really love to have the cooling fans kick in sooner, this bike generates heat which you will feel in slower traffic. I am running the off the shelf Stage 1 tune from Shiv who I believe runs the company and has tuned cars and motorcycles for many years. The tune definitely cleaned up the throttle response IMO, similar to a throttle linearity change device (or Tesla Standard\/Performance acceleration).
I had one of those in-line throttle signal modification devices in my 2015 Z06 and the response options feel amazing, but I could not get it to stop throwing errors to the dash which I think caused the ECU to freak out and put me in cripple mode. Since I had that car tuned (aftermarket 2650 blower) perhaps I should have just asked the tuner to modify the curve in the ECU itself. I probably should have figured out how to do it myself, although I will say the modern ECU tuning is far more complicated than the olde days – where my 1994 Z28 I could tune much of the parameters myself with Tunercat with ease. Engine tuning especially with these newer cars is absolutely beyond me, conceptually the whole torque dynamics calculation thing I haven’t had the time to sort through and understand.
* Leo Vince slip on, nice add-on so that people can hear me – hopefully. Ear plugs always advised due to wind noise.
* Wind screen is a no brainer for me, even then it is probably not as great as a double bubble on a sport bike – it was the largest screen I could find and does help redirect some airflow.
* Handlebar risers – these are the largest without having to relocate or extend any lines, a no brainer for me. I’m not looking for ape hangers, but I want to be somewhat upright most of the time. The 2015 or Gen 1 1290R though is from memory a little more commuter friendly in that regard.
* Stage 1 tune and the flexibility to tune in the future, pretty happen with OpenFlash. I always use 91 (California), appreciate the cleaned up throttle response. I think timing curves are conservative on a lot of stock vehicles along with the slower throttle curve.
* Tank grips, a must on any bike that occasionally leans over even slightly – just offers better control and helps avoid fatigue in the legs a bit.
* Michelin Road 6 GT tires – pretty awesome for a daily driver. Expensive, but confidence inspiring in the wet and feel great in the dry. I used to run the Pirelli Angle GT tires years ago on the 2015 and liked those – but I heard some negative commentary about the more recent Pirelli all-weather tires on U.S. roads as causing wandering and such due to the design. Not sure about that, but I had a flat in the rear and when the plug started to leak I kind of was in a position where I needed tires now, not someday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It’s a fun commuter. I do wish it was a little more upright, but I do lean on the tank at times to “relax.” I average around 41-42MPG most days, the dash tells me 45-47 usually. I have had an indicated high of 51MPG but when I refuel I know that those numbers are not quite correct. These numbers are improved after the tune, original efficiency was a couple MPG lower. I get to enjoy a small amount of fun during my commute, but primarily I get to average 55-65MPH over the duration of the trip versus a no BS 20-27MPH average if I were in a car. When I did the math one day I calculated about 750 hours sitting in my car every year just to deal with work commute. Sitting in my car, to go sit at work is incredibly unhealthy and I feel like it’s aging me faster. Sometimes I will take a break at a “half way” point just to wake up, so for 5-10 minutes I might walk through Safeway or something. This helps but also adds time, being on the bike I stay awake, feel awake, and without lane splitting like a maniac (I let most bikers pass me) it just saves so much time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
So a few months ago, getting tired of my long commute, I picked up a 2020 Superduke 1290R that someone was getting rid at a great price. He broke his arm in a way that I suppose he had a multi year full recovery ahead, and it hurt him to ride even though with this… Continue reading