Running rich

getting the map custom made. The bike is running more or less at optimum mixture throughout the rev range and the whole package is just working so much smoother and better - output at the wheel is now 72bhp.

but...after all these mods shouldn't the bike be running lean if anything? however that's not the case - either the mixture delivered is rich or combustion is vaguely incomplete as the plugs are BLACK with soot and need a soft brushing every few hundred miles. oh, and there is a sooty deposit from the exhaust.,Hi there,

In what you are saying, the bike has been set up for flat out running, (in my thinking) therefore you have to run it flat out, for the bike to run right.

It's always a trade off

If you cruise at, say 120kph when out riding in the countryside, the bike needs to be set up for that, and the bike will run well, if you start running it at 150 and not resetting it, it will run lean, and the opposite with 100.

If the bike was set for 120 and the bike was run well out in the countryside and you had a half hour through stop-start traffic and then pulled the plugs, in my thinking again, the plugs would be alot blacker, if this is your case, i wouldn't worry about it. That's the trade off.

Some might say it's FI and it will compensate for this, i'm not too sure about this, and i am not a FI guru, but the machine needs to be programmed and can not be programmed to 'how you feel on the day' on how fast you want to go.

Just some thoughts along with Lawrence's which i agree with, but just put in a different way,,,,