What mode... What power?

[batman1]

So, if the LC is producing 125 bhp, would it be correct to assume that the full-fat 125 brake is delivered only when the magic 'excorcet' chip hidden under the front seat is plugged into the loom?

If so, then what do you reckon the power outputs are in the different ride modes, rain, road, dynamic etc?

 

[jonnyp]

Hi Batman,

It's 125 BHP in all modes...the plug in dongle allows you to access Enduro Pro mode and its functions.

 

[batman1]

Hi Batman,

It's 125 BHP in all modes...the plug in dongle allows you to access Enduro Pro mode and its functions.

Hi Jonny,

So Rain mode is 125 bhp and yet Dynamic is also 125 bhp, does that mean that it's only characteristics of how the power is delivered that changes?

 

[Nutty]

So Rain mode is 125 bhp and yet Dynamic is also 125 bhp, does that mean that it's only characteristics of how the power is delivered that changes?

Yep

 

[GC6269]

Excuse my ignorance......

I noticed my Enduro Plus plug (or what ever it is....) yesterday under the seat.

If I've no plans to go off road, is there any point in installing it?

And where do you plug it in? I know......RTFM!

 

[Mutley]

 

[GC6269]

I thought now that I was a subscriber I was allowed to ask stupid questions.

And once I'd reached a three figure post I could start trolling in earnest...

 

[Georgeeboi]

I'm always asking stupid questions!

 

[Perspicacious]

There are no stupid questions.

I'm always asking stupid questions!

There are only stupid answers.

 

[rattler]

If you don't ask you'll never know

 

[Big Nick]

Winds me up all this crap about 'riding modes'

Some technology is useful, some utterly pointless and riding modes are the latter IMHO

The bike is fitted with a throttle to regulate your speed FFS!

I bet there's even a waiver in the owners manuals for bikes with these fitted to say you can still fall off in 'rain' mode when it starts raining!!

 

[stubox]

Winds me up all this crap about 'riding modes'

Some technology is useful, some utterly pointless and riding modes are the latter IMHO

The bike is fitted with a throttle to regulate your speed FFS!

I bet there's even a waiver in the owners manuals for bikes with these fitted to say you can still fall off in 'rain' mode when it starts raining!!

Sort of agree, but I used to dislike the need to grab 2 handfuls of throttle on previous boxers so now in road and dyna modes it gets over this. For me a proper linear throttle in one wrist movement is the ideal, but it seems the modes/throttle map are the latest 'clever' feature to deliver it.

 

[cookie]

Sort of agree, but I used to dislike the need to grab 2 handfuls of throttle on previous boxers so now in road and dyna modes it gets over this. For me a proper linear throttle in one wrist movement is the ideal, but it seems the modes/throttle map are the latest 'clever' feature to deliver it.

that's the first argument for modes i've ever seen that makes it seem in any way useful

 

[rattler]

Agree it's all in the wrist action

 

[Wapping]

Winds me up all this crap about 'riding modes'

Some technology is useful, some utterly pointless and riding modes are the latter IMHO

The bike is fitted with a throttle to regulate your speed FFS!

I bet there's even a waiver in the owners manuals for bikes with these fitted to say you can still fall off in 'rain' mode when it starts raining!!

Not so, though I haven't read the owners' manual for the new 1200, not least as I do not own one, nor a GS of any sort.

As the post from 'stubox' suggests, it probably does 'boost' (for want of a better word) throttle response over wrist action, of which there is plenty in this section I grant you.

Of more practicable use perhaps - and definitely on bikes with considerably more power than the 1200 (WC or otherwise) - is that it enables the rider to 'drive' the bike harder in less than ideal conditions, not by cutting the power (though it may do on the 1200, I don't know) but by altering the shape of the power curve.

We all know that the transmission of power ('drive') steadies a bike, forcing the back tyre into the road. That is as important in the wet as it is in the dry, maybe more so. It explains why GP - and other race bikes - have altered and switchable power maps, linked to assorted other electronic limiters or aids, so they can 'drive' the bike harder, more of the time. Now, I am the first to admit that even a well ridden GS is light years away from even the poorest CRT to line up on the start line, but the same basic principles hold true. Twat suit or Dainese leathers, Lidl carpark or Assen, the physics and basic mechanics are much the same for both riders.

Did everyone crash in the wet before? No. Did some potter about, frightened to unleash the 100 odd horsepower? Probably yes. Did their terror result in more selfimposed problems for the bike? Definitely, yes. Electronics is their saviour, just as it is for Mr Rossi etal.

 

[cookie]

Electronics is their saviour, just as it is for Mr Rossi etal.

not quite etal...

 

[Wapping]

not quite etal...

Sometimes everything ain't quite enough, though your picture does make a good point. Rossi's very few successes on the Ducatti came it the wet, when the management systems on the bike, 'tuned down' the beast to something even approaching rideable.

Of course there will always be great 'Wet weather' riders (Rutter being a very good example) just as there will always be great road racers who do nothing of particular note on the track and those who just ride sand dunes and rocks. Either way, the electronics ( where allowed by the race series rules) are here to stay..... And what happens in racing will find its way onto the street. Honda was a case in point but in reverse. They hesitated introducing electronic supports....Because their road bikes didn't have electronic systems..... Until that is their riders went backwards.

The truth is that electronics on modern BIG horsepower bikes does make them a far nicer ride. The early FireBlade at not much over 100bhp was, in my view, far nicer to ride than the first of the much more moedern fire breathing ZX10's or at least the ones that I rode were. The 1200 GS series bikes are nice to ride as they have really very modest power in quite a heavy chassis. Riders really can twist the throttle hard (creating that all important 'drive', which makes the bike stable) without fearing that the thing will speed them through the shop windows, spit them off or render them hospitalised. Lots of bods say how well they corner.... Yes they do, the more you 'drive' a bike around a corner, the tighter line it will hold. To get 'drive' you have to twist the throttle, that's how bikes work.... And it's much easier to 'trust to twist' (as the old saying goes) if there is 250kg or more to lug around and only 110 bhp to do it. It's a flattering bike and there's no harm in that.

There is an argument that the electronics are making the bikes sterile. Cobblers, is my view. Sterile is good, if it lets you get on with riding the thing; just as you do not need an ear splitting exhaust note, either. Dr Ullrich, who runs the Audi 24 Hour race team, was taken to task that his all conquering cars were too quiet. His reply was that he would make them even quieter, if the press would guarantee that he would win each time. If it's good enough for him, it's good enough for me.... On the road at least.

 

[Jumblemo]

Sort of agree, but I used to dislike the need to grab 2 handfuls of throttle on previous boxers so now in road and dyna modes it gets over this. For me a proper linear throttle in one wrist movement is the ideal, but it seems the modes/throttle map are the latest 'clever' feature to deliver it.

The modes aren't just about throttle mapping. They are presets for Traction Control, suspension and ABS. Having one button to adjust all, while riding is no gimmick.

And I don't see a single rider who has them complaining about them.

 

[iandavid]

Excuse my ignorance......

I noticed my Enduro Plus plug (or what ever it is....) yesterday under the seat.

If I've no plans to go off road, is there any point in installing it?

And where do you plug it in? I know......RTFM!

to answer your question, my understanding is that if the enduro plug is not fitted, and you have ESA, when you set it say in "DYNA but with ESA on soft" then when you switch off the system resets to the default "DYNA - Hard, ROAD - Normal and RAIN - soft"

With the plug in it will keep your individual ESA setting for the mode you were last in.

It plugs into a socket hanging around under the seat. Mine had to be coded to the bike by the dealer.

 

[stubox]

The modes aren't just about throttle mapping. They are presets for Traction Control, suspension and ABS. Having one button to adjust all, while riding is no gimmick.

And I don't see a single rider who has them complaining about them.

Oh I'm not complaining and I do like the thought that when in dyna mode the reduction in ASC intervention plus a subtle change within the suspension will allow you to drift the rear on the road. Which if it happens most would shit themselves or take the bike back to complain about another fault....

I'm also in the camp that electronics are a good thing in allowing me to further enjoy a bike that, within my limited ability, I would not have been able to before without falling off again. Though some bits like the aggressive anti wheelie on the S1000rr drove me nuts.

But on the GS, for me, the best bit is having the ability to use the full range of throttle without the double shuffle. And as Wapping has pointed out this ability to have a decent connection from throttle to rear wheel (and now with some proper grunt) is making the bike such a pleasure to ride compared the previous models.