Well, in another post I was complaining because it was suppose to snow entering into this weekend and ruin my opportunity to pick-up the Bird from the dealer after they installed the BB kit. Well, the snow did not happen and the weather yesterday was sunny and 57 degrees by mid afternoon. So I got to pick up the Bird and ride her for about 60 miles or so. Here's my initial impression of how she perfroms.
Understand that I am taking it easy on her for the first 100 miles and then will progressively pick it up over the next two hundred miles. Also, I had the catalytic converter removed and replaced with custom mid-pipes (which are available for $100 plus shipping see other post about mid-pipes), I have the short TOR's installed. First thing I noticed was the same thing that Thatch pointed out, the motor's tone is definately different (deeper sound) and the idle is lower by a couple of hundred rpm or so. Plus there is a definate lope at idle, obviously the cams.
When I left the dealer the thing i noticed right away was that the bike performed just like stock as far as initial take off and low rpm performance in the parking lot. Other than sound no indication of larger displacement pistons and cams. The bike juts pulls away from a stop just like it did before.
Next thing I noticed, and it suprised me, was just how much torqure there was right at 2500 rpm and up. I had a Kawasaki Meanstreak which I installed a BB kit and cams on and the power shifted up the rpm range. The bike lossed a significant amount of torque down low but had a wicked mid range puch and a lot more top end. With the Bird there is definately more torque starting a bit lower in the rpm range than when stock, a very pleasant suprise and I have not even opened the throttle yet.
So far I have not taken the tach beyond 4K and I have not fully opened the throttle up and already the power is significant. I imagine i have not even felt the performance increae of the cams yet, I'm hoping the cams help the bird to breath better beyond 5K for before the Bird felt a bit flat even though it continued to pull. I suspect based on Thatch's reveiw that this will be the case.
So there it is, the BB kit is a nice addition and I have yet to feel the full effect. once I get a few hundred miles on her I'll change the oil and then really see what she can do and report back.
Linear Mode
