Featured 10 Hrs In The Car And My Speed Rs Is Home!

Been wanting a Speed for a while, previously had a Street Triple R (2014) and was teetering between the 2 when I bought that bike, ultimately the handling of the 14 Street vs Speed is what decided for me. Ended up trading it for a Ducati Multistrada 1200S Pikes Peak a year later. Loved the Multi, but missed the triple. The new Speeds definitely feel sportier than the older ones. Anyways, found a new 2019 at a dealer, made me a great deal on it (wasnt a fan of the 2020 lime green). Dealer is 325 miles from me house, all highway, so loaded up my Mutlistrada in my truck and headed down. Gave them my Multi, loaded up the Speed and headed home.

Wishing I was riding....


Tucked away in my shop. Have some blinkers and EvoTech tail tidy on the way.


Plan for tomorrow is to pickup a 2" hole saw and some rivets so I can "fix" the arrow cans.

 

That was in my big diesel pickup. Would have been faster if I was in my Cadillac. All though most likely would have gotten a few tickets as well.

 

It does... Diesel cost me $4.09 / gallon. Gets annoying, I have a 36 gallon tank, so the pumps stop at $100, which means I need to swipe again to get a full tank...

 

I ended up drilling the plate out (the end closer to the header) to 1/2". I removed the baffles completely. My local auto parts store had black aluminum rivets, so when it all back together looks stock...

I will say they glued my end caps on so it was a pain to get them off, spent some time with a heat gun before they finally gave in.

I DB tested before and after, same way they used to do when racing (6 ft from the tip at a 45 deg angle).

Stock:
Idle: 82 db
7k rpm: 93.8 db

After Mod:
Idle: 93.4 db
7k rpm: 106 db

So yes, its louder, but it isnt excessive, way quieter than my Duc was with the Mivv Exhaust.

 

Since I had the heat gun out pulled all the warning labels off (on the mirrors as well as the fuel tank) and the reflectors off the forks.

Then took it for a proper break in. Through the hills where I live. I have always been for hard quick acceleration on break in, no long sustained high RPM or constant RPM, which the hills and twisties are great for!

Initial thoughts... Didnt even mess with road or sport modes. Track mode, the ABS is ok, still allowed me to slide the rear into a corner, could see it being a bit intrusive on the track, but for street riding seems acceptable. TC, couldn't stand, wouldnt let me get the front end off the ground more than half a foot before it would start cutting power. After a few stops fine tunning the brake/clutch levers and adjustments I setup the "Rider" mode, shut off ABS and Traction control.... All I can say, this is how this bike was designed to be ridden, what a blast!

Feels so much lighter (probably isnt) than my Multistrada. Very quick side to side, tons of power, can come out of a tight corner, grab some throttle and point the headlights to the sky.

Going to look for different handlebars, want them a splash taller and a little less sweep. Will have to take some measurements on those. Also need to spend some time getting the suspension tuned. Its a little stiff for the garbage roads in the hills. When there is fresh ashpalt, it is perfect (as Im sure it would be on the track), but on bumpy roads (tar snakes, torn up asphalt from semi trucks, etc) the suspension is way to stiff. The chassis gor very unhappy and squirly a few times because of how stiff the suspension is when the asphalt wasn't perfect. Going to soften up the compression on the forks a fair amount, lighten up the rear compression a splash and add in a little more rebound on the rear and see how that feels...

 

Fred Cummins Motorsports down in Bakersfield...

Im up in Placerville, so ride most the foothills, and our roads are close (very bumpy) to Berryessa's. Well, its been a few years, and with the fires im sure they have repaved some of them, Knoxville was super nice last time I was out there. My wife is from Vacaville, so used to ride Berryessa and out through Pope Valley out to the coast a fair amount during the summers.

 

Got the new turn signals and the Evotech Fender eliminator mounted up...


And slapped the Tech Spec's onto the tank.

 

Im debating shortening the OEM Arrow muffler, and cutting the stock mid-pipe then making the stock setup into a lowboy... Anybody done this yet? I have a tig welder so could weld up the SS without much hassle.