Hi All I live in Lincoln UK. About 6 years ago I bought a 2011 Multistrada 1200s that I thought was a good bike but I found out that it ha some issues due to previous owners. It had 23900 miles on it, and it clocked up 38000miles last weekend. Long story short one of the previous owners had mullered the horizontal heads exhaust studs... even shorter story I replaced the head with a good second-hand one and took the opportunity to do the Desmo service. With the old head not sealing on the exhaust the bike ran like a bag of poo below about 4000rpm, with the new head it was nearer 3500rpm, after balancing the throttle bodies it dropped down even further. After upgrading the springs front and rear the bike is probably my favourite bike. I have also bought a 2015 Multistrada 1200s but this is a better starting point, but it still needs some work mostly upgrading the springs but it will be my touring bike, and the 2011 is my blasting bike. I have a track evening booked for it. Thanks Heath
Improved running, lower rpms - Lambda elimination is recommended by MS owners. Either disable in the ECU or with plug-in eliminators.
Hi Chrisw, I have Tuneboy with the cruise control, so the lambda sensors are disables as the cruise is powered and control via the rear lambda connector. It would be interesting to put my 2011 bike up against another 2010 to 2012 bike to see if it runs better or not, I think mine runs smoother than my 2015
Snatchy running below 3500 rpm is normally down to the lambdas controlling fuelling (so the bike can pass emission regulations). The fitting of plug-in O2 manipulators seem to be a quick fix. Better still is their complete removal via ECU reflash. Make sure you remove the lambdas and blank off the ports in the exhaust.
Before you shell out for new springs you might like to manually adjust the front preload. It makes a hell of a difference. On the right fork leg using the 19mm hex nut at the top of the fork. Rear settings are all done electronically via the dash. Locate the Adjuster: Find the 19mm blue nut at the top of the right fork leg. Find Your Baseline (Zero Preload): Turn the adjuster counter-clockwise until it stops to fully unload the spring, counting the turns so you can return to them if needed. (Usually about 2 & 1/2 turns which is nowhere near enough). Set for Your Weight: Clockwise 1 full turn of preload for every 15 kg (33 lbs) of rider weight (including your riding gear). Final Tuning: If you feel the front end is too harsh over bumps, you can back the adjuster off by 0.5 turn.
Other things you might like to do, change the shitty seat before you crush your nuts against the tank and go up 2 teeth on the rear so it does 30mph much more happily.
Hi Sam, thanks for the advice, Preload on max front and back and the dynamic sag is still too much, I'm quite a big chap being 6'6" and lots of Kg (unfortunately) On the seat front, in one of those comedy moments the 2015 bike I bought seemed to have a lower seat than standard (set at the lowest level) when I picked it up. However in one of those weird you couldn't make it up moments I saw a Touratech seat (which is higher than stock) being sold nearby. I go on my bike to get it, so that I can see if it is higher than the seat I had which I still wasn't sure was standard or lower at this point. The bloke selling it is 5'6" and he was back to using the standard seat as the Tourtech was too high for him. he looks at my seat and says that's lower than my standard one, so he tries it and he wants it. Anyway we do a deal and basically swap seats and everyone is happy. The gearing on both bikes is 2 extra teeth on the back. I tend to aim for no lower than the gear x10. So third gear 30mph, fourth gear 40mph and the like.
