Howdy,
I just posted about the RWJC exhaust I installed, but I wanted to have a separate post regarding the RVS Stage 2 Re-flash Review. After speaking with Ryan at RVS, he convinced me that I wouldn't notice the difference in stage 2 and stage 3 (1.5 hp) so I decided to not mess with modified air intake and just add the aftermarket exhaust.
After putting the exhaust and tuner on, I noticed the
left muffler was blowing much hotter air than the right muffler. I reached out to the dealer I bought it from and he said that's totally normal. My initial impression was holy smokes! Having the combo of the much louder exhaust combined with with the tune was a bit of an overload. The website says all modes have performance gains, but after confirming with Ryan at RVS, he said only the 'Performance' mode is effected. I liked knowing that standard and work mode would remain the same. When I initially rode the bike on the street, it was really a bit scary in the fact there is no give throughout the entire mid-range power band. It feels like something you are eventually looking for after riding the stock machine pretty hard for the past 6 months.
After I took it for a 1-2 minute spin near the shop, I loaded it up and headed out to Hidden Falls Adventure Park which is where I usually ride (Marble Falls, TX). I rode the bike for 3-4 hours and here are the things I noticed:
-In this very rocky terrain, it was hard to get the rear wheels to *not* spin, so I found myself riding in AWD majority of the time, which is not really any different from how I would usually ride, just more noticeable after the tune. However, I loved when I was able to ride in mostly dirt as it was really fun to keep it in 2x4 and actually be able to break the tail in loose without giving an uncomfortable amount of throttle.
-I was under the impression the front end would be raising a lot more, which made me hesitant to tune it. I kinda thought that you would be able to pull a wheelie if you hammered on it in the 20 MPH range. To my happy surprise, it doesn't raise very much more than the stock machine. Granted, if I was riding on concrete or super hard ground I'm sure it would be much easier to keep a consistent wheelie than stock.
-The bike's oil ran about 4-5F degrees cooler in standard mode than performance mode. Sadly I was not able ever test this bike on the stock machine, so if anyone can test that out it would be interesting. The oil temp reached 200 at some points during the ride, but usually at 194-195. It was pretty hot yesterday however, 90F degrees I believe.
-After about an hour into riding, I still noticed how damn hot the bike's exhaust was, specifically the left exhaust. I put my hands (wearing gloves) about 3-4 inches from the exhaust to feel the air output and the left exhaust was unreal hot. The gloves and my hands started to burn after about 2-3 seconds. With the right muffler, it never really got hot enough to burn my hand. I also noticed the machine would almost want to backfire, but never really backfiring. This may not be the best way to explain it, but when I would let off the gas, the right exhaust seemed to gargle or a slight seeming of a potential back fire. After the machine cooled, I noticed the powder coat on the left tips had already started to burn and discolor. The right tip looked fine and just like it did before I rode (when the tips and exhaust were brand new).
--- There is the video of what the bike sounds from RWJC, however the RVS tune likely isn't on this bike. Likely they have their own tuner on their, which I purchased from RWJC, but I didn't like the fact you have to keep the tuner on the bike always. Plus the RVS tune seems to so popular on here I wanted to see what the fuss was about.
^^^^^ This has me thinking the machine is running too lean. I am going to contact Ryan Tomorrow to see what he thinks, but I am hoping we can figure it out.
OVERALL: I am happy with the performance of the machine but I want to make sure everything is dialed in. I would hate to roast my machine over 12 horsepower. I will add a video of what my machine sounds like tomorrow Morning, to see if anyone has any input or at least for fun compared to the video above.
I will add more information as soon as I can get. I will also add more input once I can ride the machine more.
