Author Topic: First ride and starting Mods.  (Read 1842 times)

siai47

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First ride and starting Mods.
« on: March 31, 2017, 11:57:14 PM »
Well, I've owned an Empluse TT for a Month and a half but never saw it until today.  I finally had a friend bring it down from the dealer in Michigan.  I'm pretty pleased with it but only have had time to put 10 miles on today.  While I was waiting for the bike to arrive, I loaded up on parts for it.  I had a Competition Werkes fender eliminator kit on the shelf and installed it this afternoon.  Real easy, no harnesses to cut.  I just needed to buy four bullet connectors at the auto parts store to terminate the ends of the turn signals that were provided in the kit.  I also replaced the license plate lamp with LED while the tail light was sitting there.  I think its a real improvement over the original bracket.  I also bought the upgraded Marzocchi on E-bay so they are going on along with frame sliders and the short Victory windshield.  I think I hit the jackpot today on E-bay as I scored a complete, new in the box Brammo carbon fiber kit which includes the front and rear fenders, upper cover, headlight housing and tail light cover (which is useless with the relocated tail light.  Total price was $200 plus $40 shipping! 

Two concerns.  First, if you own one of these you might want to check the cooling hose that runs from the motor up to the radiator on the left side of the bike.  You can see it coming out of the motor.  Just follow it toward the front and look where it passes behind the metal shield that forms the radiator and motor controller support.  On my bike, a sharp edge on the shield had already started to cut into the hose.  I took the lower cowl off, removed the shield, blended the sharp edge with a Dremel tool and touched up the paint.  When I put the fender eliminator kit on, there was a piece of split wire loom that wasn't needed any longer and the diameter and length was just right to put over the hose to protect it from further abrasion.  It's worth a look.

The other concern is the transmission.  I know there is a lot of backlash---but I was surprised at just how much there is along with noise from the transmission.  I checked the oil level and the oil that came out of the level plug was almost black.  I am going to change it tomorrow and keep an eye on it.  It looks like clutch material ( I didn't see any shiny bits).  The bike had about 15 miles on it when I got it so I am sure someone "demo" rode it--so much for the 600 mile break-in.

Other a couple of loose fasteners and the above two items, the bike is going to be fun to fool around with.  BTW--I would also be interested to know how many of these were made by Polaris.  Vin #'s would shed some light on it.  My bike was built in September, 2015 and the last three numbers on the VIN are 094.  The other bike the dealer had was in the 70's so maybe some other owners could chime in and start to fill in some blanks. 

TT000090

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Re: First ride and starting Mods.
« Reply #1 on: April 01, 2017, 09:42:14 PM »
Good luck finding out how many were made. I own TT000090  It's a great bike.  Enjoy it for what it is.
KEEP IT CLEAN!  Cheers, Jason

siai47

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Re: First ride and starting Mods.
« Reply #2 on: April 03, 2017, 08:36:41 PM »
Got the forks on tonight along with the frame sliders.  Also removed the rear foot pegs (at my age there are no cuties along side the road needing a ride).  Just waiting for my carbon bits and a short windshield and it will be done for now.  The fork change was pretty easy once I figured out the calipers won't come out without taking the pads and possibility the rotors off.  I just dropped the axle and left the calipers in place on the wheel then removed the forks.  Hope I don't need to change the front tire for a while!  The rear pegs were a little harder to figure out.  It requires a normal metric Allen wrench and a ball end Allen wrench.  Once you remove the front bolt with the standard wrench you use the ball end wrench to remove the rear bolt by putting a load on the wrench and then twisting the entire foot peg mount to start the bolt turning.  They were so tight that I thought the ball end would break, but it didn't.

By the way spotted a post with VIN# 175 so there are at least that many.
« Last Edit: April 03, 2017, 08:38:30 PM by siai47 »

HadesOmega

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Re: First ride and starting Mods.
« Reply #3 on: April 04, 2017, 07:38:48 PM »
Did you notice any difference with the new upgraded forks and the stock forks?  This is like the best handling bike I've ever owned, I'm wondering how much better it would be with the gold forks.
2016 Victory Empulse TT - #139

siai47

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Re: First ride and starting Mods.
« Reply #4 on: April 04, 2017, 09:52:27 PM »
I really can't tell because I only drove it 15 miles with the original forks.  The TT forks appear to be the same as the Brammo Empulse and the gold forks were used on the "R".  The standards only have compression dampening on one side and rebound on the other unlike the gold forks which are each fully adjustable.  I am hoping they have lower stiction then the stock forks giving you a better ride along with more precise damping control.  There has to be a bunch of people who have the Brammo's that could answer the question much better then I could.  Should be able to find them a lot cheaper on E-bay then going to the dealer.  That's how I got mine.  Pretty sure they are from the 2008-2010 Ducati Monster 696.
 

PaulHMartinez

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Re: First ride and starting Mods.
« Reply #5 on: April 05, 2017, 09:46:46 AM »
Hard to say how many were made, that might best addressed to Brammo, but according to the Cycle News interview with Steve Mennento Pres. of cycles at Polaris they had sold less than 100. I'm assuming that number was probably prior to the Victory shut down and the big incentives were offered to sell them. (it's what got me on one) It looks now that there are few new units left for sale. If I had to guess I would think the total to be in the range of 200. My question is how many were actually sold for the initial $20,000 they had hoped to get.

The story
http://magazine.cyclenews.com/h/i/336181914-cycle-news-2017-issue-11-march-21

shayan

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Re: First ride and starting Mods.
« Reply #6 on: April 10, 2017, 01:54:16 AM »
Vin #172

Mods:
1. MRA RNB windshield
2. Competition werkes fender eliminator
3. Pro taper handlebars

Future mods:
1. CF mirrors
2. ryno fender (if it fits into the existing fender)
3. Lightweight passenger grabs.
4. HID headlights

jmillington

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Re: First ride and starting Mods.
« Reply #7 on: April 10, 2017, 12:00:23 PM »
My VIN # ends with 001682.