Changing the gearing on the V4 is advised against, mainly for most of the reasons above. It’s a definite don’t do it, if the bike has radar though. The change in gearing seriously affects the algorithms used by the radar for cruise control and can be dangerous. The system works on time to calculate distance from the vehicle in front. The faster you go, the greater the distance the system puts between you and the vehicle you’re following. Changing the gearing alters the rates of acceleration and deceleration and the ecu can’t allow for this….
Isn’t the speedo run from the front wheel abs sensor? I’m wondering if the ecu/radar uses the same? Not that it matters to me, I think the gearing is spot on for my riding.
Yes, the speedo is run off the rear wheel, the radar uses that information also but primarily uses time to maintain the distance as it's an active system. If it just used speed, the rider would have to deactivate if the vehicle in front slowed or stopped. The active system modulates the throttle to maintain the time gap. Changing the gearing has a direct effect on the slowing and speeding up of the bike. More so than what the radar "logic" is expecting or anticipating. If the time gap decreased faster (greater engine braking) than the system expected, it could lead to the brakes being put on as well and the rider may not be expecting that.
No problem. It was hammered into us on training last week. Not all the "do's and don't do's" in the owners books are PC health and safety stuff, it's just the explanation as to why that's missing...
Valuable info ..... thanks for posting ! I'm sure it applies to many bikes ..... not just the Ducati implementation of it .....
