Airbox lid: on or off?

[Syscrush]

Hey all. I picked up the bike on Sat and yesterday and did a 100 mile shakedown run.

To recap, what's been done so far is:

1) Filter cleaned & oiled.
2) Airbox lid installed.
3) Valve adjustment.
4) Carb racks disassembled, carbs cleaned inside and out, all gaskets and O-rings replaced.
5) Dynojet Stage 1 kit installed (set to the recommended settings for a K&N and aftermarket exhaust).
6) Carbs reassembled and synced.
7) CBX-tras alternator installed.

I picked up the bike on Sat and went for a 100 mile shakedown ride on Sun.

Wow - what a difference! I have the idle set to right at 1000, and as an experiment I managed to (carefully and slowly) launch the bike at idle without touching the throttle, and ride it around a parking lot. It's smooth and tractable at low revs, I was chugging along at 25-40 kph in top gear with no issues.

It doesn't feel like it has a flat spot at 5000, but I may get more attuned to it as I continue to ride.

Given how nicely it's working now, and how much I've already invested, I am not planning to proceed with the dyno tune at this point. It's past time to just ride the thing and be happy.

Many thanks to all who have contributed insight and advice on this - I really appreciate it.

[daves79x]

As I said before, #2 and #4 on your list did by far the most good (in addition to valves that were too tight). Glad it's working well now - enjoy!

Dave

[Syscrush]

As I said before, #2 and #4 on your list did by far the most good (in addition to valves that were too tight). Glad it's working well now

Yeah, thanks again. Even when there were other issues, the airbox lid definitely helped and let me know I was on the right track.

My scientific curiousity was interested in making a single change at a time to isolate the variables and learn more about what's going on, but it obviously made the most pragmatic sense to do everything (valves, carb clean, re-jet) at once and then get riding. :)

enjoy!

Way ahead of ya! ;)

[Syscrush]

A little update here - I have almost 5000 km on the bike now, about 4000 of that since having the jet kit installed & the valves all adjusted.

In terms of rideability, I'd say that it's somewhere between good & very good. Over the winter I'll invest in some dyno time to try to get it to great. The areas where I feel there's still room for improvement is off-idle transition, and low RPM light throttle riding. At 40% throttle or more, it feels great everywhere. At 10% or less, there's some burbling/popping around 3.5-4.5k, and the a bit of a transition you can feel as the revs climb above 4k. It's immeasurably better than it was, and TBH I could ride it like this indefinitely and be fine, but it's a special bike and I would like to take special care of it. :)

I don't know how long the current set of plugs has been in there, but the previous owner told me that he changed them every 5000 km - which to me means that either he really loves changing plugs, or something was really wrong with the bike - jetting, oil burning, or ignition. So yesterday out of curiosity I pulled #1 and #6 for inspection. The color was a very nice tan, but there were some flaky crud deposits around the outside ring of the plug body. I'm going to have them replaced at the next oil change in about another 1000k and will keep an eye on them.

[Littleeagle28]

Beauty. Louis has a lid that he sells with the hold-down bolts. Placing my order now.

Hi just joined the group and am also looking for a lid, can you give me the contact details where you got to yours please.
Ta
Arnie

[EMS]

Beauty. Louis has a lid that he sells with the hold-down bolts. Placing my order now.

Hi just joined the group and am also looking for a lid, can you give me the contact details where you got to yours please.
Ta
Arnie

Shipping the lid from the U.S. to the U.K. will probably cost more than the lid itself, Arnie. You may be betteroff trying to find one from a U.K. CBX Rider's club member!

[Littleeagle28]

Beauty. Louis has a lid that he sells with the hold-down bolts. Placing my order now.

Hi just joined the group and am also looking for a lid, can you give me the contact details where you got to yours please.
Ta
Arnie

Shipping the lid from the U.S. to the U.K. will probably cost more than the lid itself, Arnie. You may be betteroff trying to find one from a U.K. CBX Rider's club member!

I have been trying with no luck so far, but will continue to do so, thanks.
Arnie

[Syscrush]

I have an extra now, with bolts. Let me find it and I'll pm you a price.