FE/FC 15 FE 501 motor performance ?'s

My bike is stock except for the Zip Ty suspension mods that are excellent and very inexpensive.
I would like to know what you guys have done to unleash the potential of the stock motor?
1. Exhaust . Which one and what did it do? I know there are a lot of options
2. Remap of the ecu or PCV etc.
Thanks for your help

Myself,

A full FMF system, with Megabomb headpipe. I run a large diameter spark arrestor insert. My Buddy gave me his.

I run the Euro Map and a 3 position map switch. Mid position most always. Currently good pump gas and good octane booster, plus Startron, or Stabil. 14/48 gearing. The bike will top out at about 115mph. On the dirt it will still spin the tire wide open in 6th. Even with a brand new rear tire on hard pack roads.

My bike currently has 84 hours. It's on it's 4th rear tire (4 hours on it) and is getting a new GT216AA today right now. Last front GT216 AA "Fatty" was installed at 12 hours. The one I took off had 72 hours on it. No problems until yesterday, I punctured it with a mesquite branch. It had plenty of Tireslime in it with Tubliss system. I topped the air off a few times with a CO2 cartridge. Rode it back like that. Got home yesterday and all the side knobs had started breaking off.

If you need more performance than this bike dishes out. Big bore kits are available, Stroker kits too. Some I believe come with their own new ECU.

What diff will I notice with the pipe and ecu over the stock ? Have you ever tried the Motoz Mountain Hybrid trials tire ? It works awesome in the AZ desert and wears like iron

Well put Tim. This bike has no shortage of power. I'll bet I only use 2/3 of it's potential HP most of the time. I do love the torque on tap and ability to power through just about anything. That being said, Euro map and exhaust. Ty Davis raced one in 2014 for the Reno to Vegas event so maybe give him a call and see what tricks he has up his sleeve.

I fried off the FE501s stock Dunlop AT81s in 12 hours here. I tossed both of them in the garbage. Monsoon season hit early last year in May, I went to the "Tubliss System". I ran a "Sedona 887" at about 8lbs., got about 30 hours out of it. Switched to a Sedona 907, 6lbs. Got about 38 hours on it. Now running a "Kings 9661" hard/intermediate. At only 4.5 lbs. It has just about 5 hours on it in the rocky 2 tracks and 2 short rocky ditch creek basin rides.

The new "GT216 AA front Fatty" is on and I rode it today just a few miles.

I don't think the "Motoz Mountain Hybrid" would actually do so well in the deep sand washes here. However I do run a 140/80/18" Tractionator on "Frank" my BMW G450X that's powered with a PC-V, Autotune and a TC449 engine with a full Leo Vince' system. Second butterfly is removed. I let my buddy ride it on Friday with us. Just to put some time on it.

That "Tractionator" tire has probably about 40 hours on it and has a long way to go, to be worn out. Its so wide though as it wears towards the center it tends to not turn in so well. I have a complete KTM front end with fully built "Racetech" Open chamber WP 4860s on it and a rear WP Trax Shock. Both of my bikes run steering stabilizers with submounts. GPR on "Frank" the BMWHuskyToom. A BRP rubber mount with a "Scotts" stabilizer on the FE501. I won't ride a bike in the dirt without one.

As soon as we hit the deep sandy wide creek bed, My buddy on my own bike, passed me and was gone. I call the BMW "Frank" as in "Frankenstien".

My Buddy has a new WR450F but it got locked in storage for the Easter weekend.

So I let him ride "Frank" my G450X. That bike works very well in the sand. I run a "Kenda Southwick" on the front of it. He flat spanked both myself and my other buddy. I was right on his ass but he passed me going up the rocks and sandy creek bed and again caught up and passed me coming back. It goes for 30 or 40 miles or more and is 200 or more feet wide. Of course as I mentioned, I was riding on a flat front tire too.

My other buddy was about 10 minutes behind us both going in and coming out. He had a nice "Raspberry" on his right side from a nice 25 ft. get off, after staring at his headlight and front fender, upside down, going in. His skin was scrubbed right off and embedded into his black "Ocelot" jersey with a big hole and he was wearing a full armor jacket with a tee shirt under that.

He has been hurting the last few days. That first shower when he got home, and had to work a 10 hour shift on swings must have been fun with that 8"x 2" Rasberry. Ouch.

Hi Henry
My dealer here in Thailand did several things before he handed it over. 1. Removed a restriction in the throttle body. Removed the O2 sensor. 3. Removed the catalyst. 4. Installed a race map in the ECU. 5. Removed the small perforated restriction in the end cap on the exhaust.
The bike now have its 58 Hp released and after that most riders will be the limitation and not the bike ;-)
I tried a similar bike with a full FMF titanium exhaust but apart from another sound I didn't feel much difference and I'm not a fan of noise for no reason riding in nature.

Wow that top speed is impressive.

I have only seen 105 on my 15 501s. I am running 15/45 most days and sometimes a 46 out back. I am enjoying a new motoz tractionator it enduro tire on the rear. It provides as much wheelspin on hard pack as any good knob I have run. In mud and loam it really grips nice. My last 100 mile ride I ran 14 psi. I ripped a few nice unintentional wheelies in some real snot as this tire hooks up much better than my previous Dunlop 606. I did experience one slight rear washout on wet pavement on my ride home.Nothing alarming or unusual for a knobby on the street. I was actually very impressed with it's traction and stability everywhere and will probably never put another Dunlop on the rear of my dual sports again. I am gearing up today for a 200 mile ride that's about 50/50 dirt/Pavement. My ride will take me through Mendocino national Forrest and the Kings Range lost coast. I have installed a new tubeless tire system in the rear I'm excited to try 10 pounds in the rear I carry a bicycle pump so I can bring it back up to save Highway pressure.

You may want to give 14/50 a try and see what your bike was built for. She'll put a big ole grin on your face

I'm running 13/48 for now. The bike will wheel stand easy in 4th anytime. Even hang the front wheel in 5th at speed if you hit a slight bump or rock sticking up out of the trail.

I have my original rear 50 tooth sprocket and a new 49 tooth sprocket put away also.

I am myself thinking about putting the 14 tooth countershaft sprocket I have in the package on the front and the 49 or 50 back on the rear, just to move the rear wheel forward in the swing arm slots and ride it like that after resetting the sag correctly. I think I may be doing that gearing change sooner than later.

Monsoon season will be in full swing here in about 45 days. Its already time for another rear tire after a few more rides. I have ran the Tubliss system, since I fried off and tossed the stock Dunlop AT 81s at just 12 hours. I have 2 new spares "Sedona 907 and an 887". Thinking of maybe buying another Motoz Tractionator myself and give it a try with the Tubliss.

I run the 140/80/18" Tractionator tire on my G450X with the TC 449 engine in it and it has lasted over 40 hours and is still holding up well. It has a tube in it though about 12 lbs. pressure. The tire has the center worn down on it at 40+ hours and it resists turning in a bit because of that but I hardly ride it anymore. No body else riding it complains. It works great in the dampness, mud or even better in the sand washes.

I have eaten my own sand off the back of it myself when I was riding my FE501. Just last month on Easter weekend when I let a buddy of mine ride it. We got down in a huge sand wash and he was gone. Both directions he passed me once we hit that sand wash, going in 10 miles and again coming back. I was humbled. Both bikes run steering stabilizers and sub mounts for those sand washes and he normally rides a new WR450F that is basically stock. I told him "wait until you get it in the sand washes'. He was on my own bike and left me in the F%#@&N dust. That "Tractionator" tire, I now know why my buddies have all hated it when I would ride the G450.

What size "Tractionator" are you running on your FE501 "Throttle On" ?? The 120/100 or the 140/80?? That might be my 5th rear tire to go on the FE501. It has just 90 hours on it and only about 1800 miles.

I believe the motoz It enduroI am running is a 130 or 120/80/18. I will say that after about 350 miles there is not much left of the tracionator. I would guess about 60% tread remains. I hardly ever run a rear past about 40% on a 500. I tend to run DOT legal tires on the rear of my 501s mostly due to their durability than their legality. I run non DOT motocross tires on the front. Although my bike does see some highway miles I do not like to compromise front wheel traction for legality. A few years ago a friend of mine talked me into running Dunlop 606s on the front of my dual sport bikes what a disaster I push the front end of my bikes too hard and had a couple of bad front end was outs on slick surfaces. I've tried almost every dot legal Dual Sport front tire made.I will not run them on my bikes anymore. Right now my current fave is a Maxxis IT desert front. The Dunlop At 81 also treats me well. When riding a dirt bike on the street with knobbies I just take that fact into account. I tiptoe so to speak. Tire and gearing choices are very individual and personal I won't tell anybody what tire or Gearing to run I'll just share here what works for me. I do ride very fast off road. Most of the roads and trails I ride here in california are BLM or Forest Service Roads with some occasional Enduro type Trails tossed in. I found the stock 15/45 gearing is perfect for me in most situations occasionally throw on a 46 in the rear if I know I will not be seeing speeds over 50 miles an hour I found with the taller gearing I get much longer burst of acceleration and am ultimately quicker and shift a whole lot less. This has been my experience with most open class dirt bikes. I have been riding open class dirt bikes for over 20 years and almost always Gear them up over stock for better acceleration and traction. I believe the speedometer on my fe501s is driven off the motor I haven't confirmed it but that's my belief I highly doubt this bike is capable of 115 miles an hour with 14/48 gearing. I could be wrong. The 105 mph I experienced was on the asphault and was measured with a GPS. I only weigh 160lbs. Throttle On!

The little wire going down the left front leg going to the sensor on the brake caliper is for the speedo, the brake disk got a little magnet fitted on it. If you're bike is on the stand spin the front wheel and see what happens on the speedo.
On the other hand, all KTM speedo's are about 10 to 12% optimistic.

You are right. I noticed the wire today while cleaning my bike I followed it up the fork leg into the headlight shell and speedometer. I still question a fe501 going 115mph with 14/48 gearing. If so there is something to be said about the tune Big Timmy is running. Sounds mean! My 94 Kx 500 tops out at just over 105 with 15/44 gearing at 220 lbs and 60+HP with 165lb me on board. Maybe faster if I remove the front fender and my MX helmet bill lol...oh yeah some one asked what size tractionator I'm running. Its a 120/90/18 enduro IT. With under 400 miles on it there is not much left of it. I'm not sure if it's going to outlast Dunlop 606 rear however I am much happier with the way it hooks up in mud and Loam in comparison to the Dunlop. I guess I'll have to try the desert tread next after reading reviews claims of people getting over 2,500 miles on them on a KTM 690 or an adventure bike sounds kind of like a fantasy to me we'll see.

Hey "Throttle On", I won't tell you what gear to run either. How's that?

What I will tell you though and show you, so you believe and can confirm yourself. The speedometer is driven off the front wheel. That's a fact. Not the engine as you believe. So that part is confirmed for you.. Its powered through the other cable/Wire right next to your front disc brake hose. Held down under the 2 screws and hold down on your yellow left fork guard. The wire is zip tied and has a plug on it that runs right between the front brakes caliper and lower fork legs caliper mount. Directly into the attached hall effect sensor below the "Brembo" front caliper it points right at the disc rotor. There is a small approx. 3/8" diameter magnet embedded in the front disc rotor. As you can see pictured.

It senses rolling movement as soon as the bike moves about 1 rotation of the tire, or less in many cases. The speedometer powers up, lights up too. That triggers the hall effect sensor. The stock 13/50 gearing is listed to carry the bike to 112mph. It will. I'm running a 48 tooth in the rear. It will go close to 115mph. I've had it well over 100 mph many times and its spinning the back wheel doing this on compacted gravel or dirt roads.

I rode it over 90mph down the same Border access road with a completely flat GT 216AA front with the Tubliss still fully inflated, only with a puncture in the front tire that was 3/8" long from a mesquite branch. Right next to one of the center knobs. This was on the same day I described above when my Buddy was riding my G450X and he passed me twice in that sand wash. I have 2 U.S. Federal Agents who were witnesses to this. Both riding that day with me. I had a dyna plug kit in my pack and a CO 2 inflator. The CO 2 air charge in the tire itself that I topped the tire off before we came out of that wash was leaked out and away through the hole in the tire before I got out of the same sand wash and up on the road as I mentioned above. I didn't bother trying to plug the tire as it was leaking and spewing tire slime and I was only about 15 miles from home.

I removed that same punctured front tire when I got home which was by then throwing off and cracking the side knobs and installed a new one just like it. GT 216AA Fatty 90/100/21"

With a flat front tire it wouldn't pick up any more speed than about 90mph on the gravel AB compacted Border Access roads with that flat front tire and it was still fully controllable with the Tubliss system and a flat.

Look at your speedometer when you are on the dirt. If you can get it to hook at 160 lbs. I weigh 240 geared up. I can make it hook pretty much when I need it too. I don't have to worry to much about making it get traction when I plant my ass on the seat. The bikes got more in it then you think.

I've been riding big bore open class dirt bikes since about 1975. The only odd ball I've had that didn't have the speedo drive on the front wheel, was the speedo drive on my G450X. It runs off the rear wheel and the hall affect trigger is the magnet itself and counts all six bolt heads on the disc rotor, to get a speedometer reading. That set up doesn't make much sense on a dirt bike that has the rear wheel spinning most of the time. Its only accurate when its coasting or off the throttle.

On that bike, Well its not too accurate if you "Throttle On".

I am looking at putting the Euro map in my 2015 FE501 (not the S). I was told I also need to change the muffler end cap. I love how quiet the bike currently is. Tell me about this Euro map? Does anything more than just the map need to be done?

Cooksend,

Just have the Euro map installed. You can then buy a handlebar mounted 3 way switch to go up next to your kill switch from a few different vendors. Mine is from "Sickass Racing". It plugs into the harness under the seat. The settings are easily adjusted from MED,MILD,WILD. It just changes the timing curve not the fueling map. You can switch it between settings anytime with the engine running at idle.

I also run the full FMF Megabomb system. It still has a spark arrestor screen insert but I have the largest one that fits in the FMF Powercore 4 muffler. The inside diameter of that insert is 1.575" or about 40mm. This is not the smaller inside diameter spark screen insert that came with that Powercore 4 Muffler. It really isn't all that loud. I never even started the bike with the stock exhaust. So I honestly couldn't tell you how quiet it is with the stock can or headpipe on there.

I currently mix 100LL avgas about 40% to 60% Premium pump gas with a bit of Startron marine formula and some octane booster. This is what I have been running through the fuel system for the last 60 hours. Especially if I run it on the "Wild" setting? Which with this fuel is normally all the time. In most of the riding I do. I want that snappy response. I ride at about 4000 to 5500 ft. elevation. Sometimes up to 6500 ft.

I run it on the WILD setting a lot when in the tighter stuff. The bike will pull harder and be more responsive down low with more ignition advance. The bike is less likely to see detonation down in the lower gears as you have the mechanical advantage of the transmissions gear reduction which means it spends less time pulling to the top of the rev range under a heavy load.

If I'm going to take it down any long high speed dirt roads, at a Hundred miles an hour. I'll first set it to the MED, or usually the MILD setting. Retarding the timing back to the MED or MILD settings timing curve will allow it to pull all the way up safely through to the higher rpm range and in doing so. Its less prone to see possible detonation when its tapped out in high gear, as its at this time that its under a heavier load for a longer period of time at Max RPM. Which is when it would be more likely to see detonation !!

Max rpms + Heavy load + longer period of time at Max rpm under a heavy load. Simple really.

I have never had any detonation issues running the bike like this, under extreme conditions with this mix of fuel. I have scoped the sparkplug with a lighted spark plug magnifier after doing so several times and if the engine had been detonating it would show on the spark plug after doing full throttle sustained high speed riding.

I don't have to go too far where I live and I'm on the trails in less than half a mile from my driveway. It takes less than a minute to get there and I can go for miles here. The bike is plated and insured. No horn, no signals. I am running the 'Acerbis" 4.1 gallon tank.

Thanks Big Timmy! I will get the Euro Map installed and see how that changes things. I will probably also check my TPS as well as eventually add the handlebar switch. I have 130 miles on my FE now and I am truly impressed with the overall package.

Cooksend,

Go ahead and check the TPS if you like while the dealer flashes the Euro map, I would not adjust it anywhere out side of the recommended range as it will shift the map.

Is the bike having issues now that you feel that is necessary?

Many who have made TPS adjustments had worse issues after the fact and just opened up a can of worms as retightening it back down again can have it move again. That's a very controversial subject that I will say no more about.

Just looking to get a bit more out of the big bore Husky! I love bottom end and being able to lug this thug! If there is more potential on the table that is as easy as a re-map I am game!