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Topics - implovator

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Off Topic / Dead Battery Left Me Stranded

« on: May 02, 2013, 07:02:40 PM »

I hopped on the bike to ride to campus today. I stopped off at a gas station, and the bike wouldn't start back up. Just like the controversial New York Times article on Tesla, my bike rode home in the back of my pickup truck later in the day.

Thing is, it was my ICE bike. Bloody hell, I figured the Empulse would strand me with a dead battery before my ICE would.

Off Topic / Wired's Review of Zero DS

« on: April 22, 2013, 07:44:48 AM »

http://www.wired.com/reviews/2013/04/zero-ds/

Reading about the DS for months has made me think a little about Brammo's decisions for the Empulse. Well after reading Wired's review, I'm certain that Brammo nailed every decision from the Level 2 onboard charging, the best-in-class street chassis, and the gearbox. The Zero app that lets you set regen sounded nice, but then I realized that they absolutely have to do that because they don't have a gearbox. Empulse owners, on the other hand, use the years of riding experience to set the regen based on current speed and gear selection. Brilliant!

Off Topic / Paddle Shifters on E-Autos?

« on: April 18, 2013, 09:32:12 AM »

I was watching the the video on the Cadillac ELR's "Paddle Shifters". Seems they're trying to put a little more control on the driver's hands. They took away the transmission, so this is a way of giving back a tool to the driver (as Brammo might say). Mercedes is doing something similar with their electric SLS. I can't help but think that they have it all wrong. Empulse owners have something way better. Firstly, we've got six regen settings over two modes yielding 12 total settings. Furthermore, the computer-controlled regen resembles actual engine braking dynamics, which many people are already very familiar with.

Is it just me, or are cars getting boring? I'm so glad that I'm a motorcyclist.

OK, so this SLS isn't that boring, but still...

Brammo Empulse / Pulled Over on the Empulse

« on: April 17, 2013, 10:01:41 AM »

I was riding through campus today and rode right past a speed trap manned by a bicycle cop and a motorcycle cop. I snooped it out early and so I was able to check my speed real quick to make sure I was under 25mph. I was. I then stopped at the stop sign, put a foot down, and took off. Well little did I know the motorcycle cop was pulling my over with his lights on. Damned Empulse mirrors and my eyes-forward scanning for jaywalkers meant that I never saw them. So he blipped the siren. Great, this is embarrasing.

He pulled me just to talk about the Empulse. He was very apologetic and nice about it. I didn't mind. He just couldn't help himself. I totally understand. Then I got to thinking; this was definitely an abuse of power. What's the difference between this and a cop pulling over an attractive woman to harrass her?

Brammo Empulse Mods / Parking Decal Plate

« on: March 31, 2013, 09:58:26 PM »

I really didn't want to stick a parking decal on the fork leg of my Empulse. Originally, I got this semester's parking decal for the GS but I knew I'd me moving it to another bike. Knowing that it was a temporary install, I never peeled the backing off of the decal. I just taped it to the GS fork leg with clear packing tape. Then when I moved it to the Empulse I just did the same thing. Well, I knew I wanted to be able to move it back and forth quickly so I started looking for a simple plate that I could mount somehow.

They sell all kinds of these little decal plates, but they usually require you to remove a fender bolt or worse a caliper bolt. If I was going to be moving it back and forth, then I needed to come up with something else. And this is it.

It's a rubber coupling from the plumbing section of Home Depot. It came with two radiator clamps. I split the rubber down one side. Then I cut a piece of tin and rolled it to match the curve. I mixed up some JB Weld and glued the tin plate to the side of the rubber that was opposite of the cut. The radiator clamps were glued snuggly between the two. To make things a little more secure, I filled in the flathead screwdriver slot on each radiator clamp with JB Weld too. Once it cured, I rattle-canned the metal parts with satin black while carefully masking the rubber parts. Spray painting rubber is a mess.

It didn't come out too bad. Now watch it get stolen off of my bike tomorrow afternoon.

Brammo Empulse Mods / Damping

« on: March 23, 2013, 10:50:12 PM »

Update: I put a much more detailed write-up on my blog. http://www.implovator.com/2013/03/suspension-setup-for-the-new-brammo-empulse-r/

I spent a little time this evening determining the Empulse R factory damping settings. Three of the four adjusters are non-clicking screws.

Here's a quick breakdown of the range of each setting and the factory setting as a percentage closed (i.e. 0% is fully open and 100% is fully closed).

Front Rebound

Screw at top of each fork leg
1260 degrees of adjustment
39.29% closed

Front Compression

Screw at bottom of each for leg
1080 degrees of adjustment
33.33% closed

Rear Rebound

Screw on bottom clevis
990 degrees of adjustment
45.45% closed

Rear Compression

Black knob on remote reservoir
45 clicks of adjustment
62.22% closed

Hopefully I'll have some time over the next week or two to actually start street-evaluating some adjustments. I'm still a bit uncertain about the excessive static sag in the rear, but I'll give it my best shot to come up with some damping settings that I like. Chance are I'll dial it in and be perfectly happy. But if I do get a bug up my arse and get a new rear spring, then I'll have to run through the same set of experiments again.

Brammo Empulse Mods / Sag

« on: March 20, 2013, 11:28:03 PM »

Update: I put a much more detailed write-up on my blog. http://www.implovator.com/2013/03/suspension-setup-for-the-new-brammo-empulse-r/

I finally got around to measuring my static sag and rider sag tonight. The Empulse R is a bit of a heavy bike, and so I expected the static sag to be a little high. It wasn't too bad in the front at 30 mm for static and 40 mm with the rider. The rear was pretty soft at 28 mm static and 41 mm with the rider. I'm going to double check my measurements this weekend and try to bring the rear rider sag to 35 mm. I want to keep the suspension somewhat compliant for road use since I've been finding myself cranked way over and going through some pretty bumpy corners.

BTW, I came up with an interesting way to measure rear sag without help from a friend. I strapped a telescoping bolt retriever to the swingarm near the axle. Then I strapped a 1x6 board under the subframe directly above. To measure the full extension, I lifted the bike up while it was on the side-stand until the rear wheel came off of the ground and then I extended the bolt retriever and measured it. Then I took a measurement with the bike off of the stand with no rider on it (the difference is static sag). Then I hopped on the bike with gear and lightly leaned against a wall with my elbow. I carefully extended the bolt retriever again and then I hopped off and measured it (the difference from fully extended is rider sag).

Front sag is much easier if you just use a zip tie as the marker and repeat the same three measurements.

Brammo Empulse / Wet Weather Riding

« on: March 12, 2013, 10:54:38 AM »

I rode the Empulse into work today right after a rainstorm. It's got little to no frontal coverage, but that was to be expected. What really surprised me was how ineffective the hugger is for keeping the spray off of my back. My courier bag's exterior was completely soaked. Water was blowing up around the seat soaking my ass. Come to think of it, maybe the hugger's wide enough for the rear tire but it's not wide enough for my ass?

Brammo Empulse / OMG, Thank You for Sport Mode!

« on: March 10, 2013, 07:56:47 PM »

In Eco mode, the Empulse handles like a proper sportbike, but it just doesn't feel like a sportbike especially when restricted to 5000 rpms or less. I was a little worried that a bit of buyers remorse might kick in. Sure I knew exactly what I bought, but I also had a lot emotion invested in this bike.

Thankfully, Sport mode flat delivers! I finally have the punch that I need to get around traffic in the way that I feel safest. I can keep an easy +5 mph pace above traffic. When traffic starts to ensnare me I can punch through any hole. And the rear end squats nicely on corner exits now.

Thank you, Brammo, for Sport mode. By delivering both modes, you've managed to deliver two completely different bikes in one. And thanks for having the setting saved over power cycles. Hopefully with so throttle management, I'll be able to commute in Sport mode without affecting my range too much. I might switch back on occasion, but only if I'm in stop and go traffic. Actually, I don't know what the proper name for Eco mode is. Maybe it's Comfort mode?

Brammo Empulse / Recommended Charging Habits

« on: March 01, 2013, 10:07:52 PM »

When I owned my Enertia, I left it plugged up 24/7. Sure it draws a little extra juice for the several extra hours of battery balancing that is does after is reachs 99% SoC, but it's not much when compared to how much power it draws when it's charging up to that 99%. With my Empulse I follow the same pattern of leaving it plugged up as much as possible. I've found that it's been beneficial in these cold riding months as a means of keeping my battery pack "warm". I only realized this benefit today at work since I started using the somewhat crowded Level 2 stations. Today, I plugged up at the office and so as soon as I hit 100% I unplugged and moved it to another parking spot in an effort to free up a charging station for one of the 14 Nissan Leaves at my office. My Empulse sat unplugged for the next 5 hours.

When I left work, I saw that regen was disabled since my pack was cold. I also noticed that my pack was at 86% SoC. It dropped over 10% due to temperature. I'm certainly not surprised, but it did get me thinking about the NYT vs. Tesla spat where the "reporter" left his car unplugged overnight and found that the cold morning had sapped a considerable amount of his charge. Anyone who's been following EVs and battery developments would expect this, but it is certainly a shock to an inexperienced user.

Anyhow, what I really wanted to get at is, what are the recommended habits for Empulse owners? The manual says that you can simply unplug when the charging is complete or at the desired SoC and that it should be "left plugged in periodically" for battery leveling. I just planned to keep mine plugged in 24/7 until someone advises me otherwise. On the other hand, you have Leaf owners who quote a recommendation from Nissan that they charge to no more than 80% most of the time to ensure proper battery pack life. So that's got me second guessing my plug up for 24/7 plan.

Brammo News And Views / East Coast gets First Class Service

« on: March 01, 2013, 01:51:24 PM »

Not sure if this is news to everyone, but it was news to me:

For years the West Coast has been graced with the best service Brammo can offer. Now we on the East Coast are getting that same first class service.

Guess who's company vehicle this is?

Welcome to the East Coast. We're glad to have you.

Brammo Empulse Mods / Clip-Ons anyone?

« on: February 24, 2013, 03:47:06 PM »

I've been riding standard bars for a few years now and I swore I'd never ride clip-ons on the street again. I might reconsider with the Empulse though. The cockpit is tight and small and I actually struggle to get my head low when hanging off. I *feel* like my helmet is nearly hitting the bar. to compensate, I try to slide back in the saddle, but the sloping seat makes that difficult.

I'm not trying to be critical, I am just amazed at how well it handles out of the box and I think I just want to corner it more aggressively. I'll probably ride it purely stock for a while and see what I think once I get rearsets on there.

Seriously though...this think flat out handles. The dampening is a little firm for the street, but despite the backend hopping around through corners it still feels really planted. I can't wait until break-in is over.

Brammo Empulse / Sunny Florida

« on: February 22, 2013, 10:09:43 PM »

We had a wintery mix of precipitation in Raleigh, NC last night and all day today. I hopped in the pickup and headed out in 37 degree weather this morning. Hours later, I drove through some sort of thermal barrier and the temperature jumped up to 77 pretty much as I hit Jacksonville, FL. I threw on some shorts and continued on to Tampa, FL.

My plan is to say hello to the staff, sign for the Empulse, load it up, and head on back home. However, I might just have to take her for a spin in case the wintery mix lasts through the rest of the weekend. I'll try to post up some pics. Please just promise me they won't make it up on Pinterest. I'll never hear the end of it.

Brammo Empulse / Holy Post Count

« on: February 19, 2013, 08:27:29 PM »

I just noticed that the Empulse sub-forum has more posts than the News sub-forum. I guess there's a little buzz around this product, huh?

Brammo Empulse / Empulse Two-Up Pics

« on: December 13, 2012, 10:58:34 PM »

Are there any photos of the Empulse with two riders other than the promo video? I'm wondering how high up the pillion rider will be with that seat design. I know the promo video showed the passenger on the downslope, but I just figured that was Steve-O giving improper advice to the gorgeous model for his own gain.