I am hoping someone can help / advise me on how the traction control on the 2017 Fireblade is supposed to behave. I don't think mine is working properly. For example, yesterday I was riding in the wet with TC set to level 9 (max intervention). When I accelerated fairly hard (smoothly, not sudden handful!), the rear would spin up and I felt I had to throttle down to stop the spinning. The yellow TC light was flashing but I'm not convinced the TC was doing anything. In TC setting 9 (or any other setting), how much wheelspin would you expect to experience before the TC kicked in? Thanks, Rich.
Had just stopped raining, so totally wet. Note, in the same conditions, my friend's BMW S1000RR did not spin up. TC kicked in before it spun noticably (TC in rain mode).
Whats your power setting? The only time I realise my blade's TC worked was when its was standing water and too much power powering (first connor in my previous commute) out of the roundabout it cut power and stopped a potential high side or just slide. For example when I was having a fun day out and having a heavy wrist, it will still power wheelie and wouldn't cut power straight away but slowly (thats when the rear wheel traveling quicker than front) similar to yours. Also when I went down to my mates farm road which is basically a dirt track to get to his, I had it spinning a few times but nothing crazy happened like when I had my supermoto down there. I believe the 5axis imu works better when its leaning and more forgiving when upright, rain mode on BMW will have built-in reduced power setting but the blade had it independent hence I asked the question.
Power setting was set to 2 on my blade. I asked my friend (on BMW) to accelerate hard, he got TC light to flash but no noticable spinning, maybe a very momentary increase in revs - as if it sensed the increased rear wheel speed and adjusted very quickly - exactly like I thought mine ought to!
I normally use default 3 when its real heavy rain, haven't had any issue of spinning when upright. So according to Honda reading material from before I collected mine in 17, power 2 is for country road riding and that would explain what you felt.
I get that a lower power setting would reduce power output and therefore reduce chances of breaking traction. However, I would have thought that once traction is lost, or about to be lost, the TC would respond in the same way, regardless of power setting. I've had wheelspin in lower power modes too. I set it to 2 yesterday because I wanted to test the TC and having more power available made that easier. I've watched youtube videos of people holding throttle wide open in wet conditions and letting TC take care of things. Unfortunately, these videos are of different bikes (BMW, GXSR, Panigale etc). There are no blade videos I could find.
That makes more sense, have you have a chat with your dealer? You just reminded me of something here, with the TC on I did a burnout and the TC light stayed on until I turned the key off and on, then it worked normally after. I guess yours didn't glitch like when I had this. Maybe its a talking point to Honda UK to see if they can get you one of them fancy 2019 ECU that's suppose to have more refine traction control?
Yes, I am going to take it to my dealer. I'm trying to arm myself with information so they can't bullshit me! I have 2 weeks of warranty left, so if there is a problem, I need to get it sorted quick! Also, if there isn't actually a problem, I need to have confidence in the system. At the moment I'm totally unsure.
Probably best to talk to Tech Support at Honda UK, I found them much more helpful than the sales/mechanic for something like this as they have no control over it and its not mechanical, also whatever they promise you they still gotta talk through to Honda UK to approve the repair if it comes to it. Good luck and keep us updated.
That won't happen. There's already a couple of threads covering this, one of which I think was mine. I had made extensive enquiries and representations to Honda UK about the 2019 ECU and whether it would be 'reverse compatible.' The short answer is no - there are many technical and electrical reasons whey this (supposedly) cannot be done. See this: https://www.1000rr.co.uk/threads/2019-1000rr-sp.36595/
Was the bike under control while the tyre was spinning? I know that sounds like an odd question, but it goes to the overall philosophy Honda have used. This is a great thread and I am glad someone is presenting a series of event for analysis as we need some fundamental questions answered - I would almost like us to work at this first as a community BEFORE we go to Honda. @Richinio I would love to chat with you over the phone - I can call at a reasonable UK time (I am int he USA) so I can get some understanding as to what you where experiencing. If interested PM me your number. Thanks Paul
Paul, I think I can describe in text + other people can read & contribute. If you still think a phone call would be better, I'd be open to that. So, I'll summarise the conditions and experience last Sunday :- Cold (around 6 deg Celsius) Very wet Settings P2 T9 EB3 Chose a quiet straight road with smooth wet tarmac - so quite slippery. Accelerated in 2nd gear, gradually winding on the throttle. Rear would suddenly break traction and start spinning and revs rose very high. I eased off throttle and spinning stopped (yellow TC light was flashing). It didn't feel like the TC system made any difference. It didn't feel like the bike was out of control but mainly because I was prepared and dead upright. Had I been lent over, the same amount of spinning would have had me on the floor I believe. I didn't allow the spinning to last long - I don't like the feeling in the wet. About a month ago, I had a prolonged rear wheel spin in the wet but I was in TC setting of 5 - although I would say the TC did nothing and I would have thought it should have intervened. Have you had bad experience yourself? PS. I took my bike to my Honda dealer today. I've left it with them as it was bone dry here today!
"Had I been lent over, the same amount of spinning would have had me on the floor I believe" The Honda Torque Management philosophy and implementation supposedly intervenes in a structured way, with less intervention the less the angle of lean. SO it is possible that had you been leaned over the intervention would have been more and enough to keep you in "total control" as Honda put it. That being said, we are still trying to determine if the level of TC invokes a different level of intervention or if it just means intervention is earlier. I suspect the dealer will return the bike and claim no issues system working per design and within spec.
