I have owned a 899 for over 3 years and still enjoy it as much as ever. When I first bought it, the bike was 30 years newer than any other bike I owned. I was very impressed with most aspects of it apart from when pootling though town. The erratic throttle response, constant hunting etc. made it a real chore. After reading through many internet posts, I unhooked the exhaust flap and this made a subtle, but welcome improvement. Last year, after more internet posts reading, I invested in a Rapid Bike EVO system. The write ups I had read (not necessarily of 899s but similar Ducatis) talked about the improved low throttle openings behaviour which was fairly universally attributed to the undoing of the necessary lean fuel mapping that is required to pass current emissions legislation. I had always been happy with the wide open throttle behaviour and engine speeds greater then 6000rpm. The main selling point of the EVO system was its ability to constantly monitor the lambda sensors and adjust the fuelling as required. Once installed I tried out the bike and thought there was a good improvement. The common advice was to ride around for a while and let the auto-adaption improve the mapping further. I cannot say I noticed much change after that initial improvement. When I looked at the supplied RapidBike map I could see in the base map that fuel was being added at small throttle openings below 6000, albeit not a great amount. However the "Start Correction" was set to 6000rpm and the Auto Adaptivity maps showed that no additional changes were being made to below 6000rpm. I could not find a great deal of information as to why Auto Adaptivity was being restricted to greater then 6000rpm. There was some mention of Check Engine Lights being set if the threshold was lowered but that was about it. I was somewhat dissapointed as the only reason I fitted the RapidBike module was to address the region below 6000rpm. I spoke to someone who regularly maps bikes on his dyno and he informed me that below 6000rpm on the 899 (and all recent Ducatis) is an area of the fuel map that runs closed loop lambda control and a piggyback unit is always going to be fighting with this, even though the Rapid Bike documentation claims that it can work in these areas. He recommended flashing the ECU to disable closed loop control. Using Woolich Racing software I have disabled the O2 sensors in the Ducati's ECU (which I am told is the only way to disable closed loop control). Using the Rapid Bike software I can see that the lambda sensors are still producing valid outputs so I presume the ECU setting just disables the ECU from using the lambda outputs without turning off power to them. So now I have dropped the "Start Correction" setting to 2500rpm and have been putting some miles on the bike. It is very difficult to be objective with measuring improvements as there are so many factors in play, but it certainly feels like the low throttle/ low rpm mapping is improved. The Auto Adaptivity maps are showing significant changes in the below 6000rpm region (mostly adding fuel, but some areas where it is being removed). I would be interested to hear if anyone else would like to share their findings with Rapid Bike systems. T
I've done around 400 miles with my rapid bike system fitted and I've got some issues. I seem to have developed a really rough patch between 6-8K which seems to be getting worse. Looking at the auto adaptivity maps, one cylinder has pretty much positive values throughout and the 2nd is nearly all negative, almost like a mirror image! My voltage readings for both 02 sensors are different too by about 02 V (0.81 and 0.61), and they seem fairly different when the bike is running too (sensor 2 seems a bit erratic!). All in all a bit frustrating however maybe the Rapid bike system has highlighted a faulty 02 sensor!
Interesting... I bought a used 1299S with a Rapid Bike fitted and soon after getting home, it was very similar to this and I thought it was a suspect o2 sensor. I tried resetting, reloading standard map and then allowing it to "learn" but the bike would not run correctly. Taking it off, the bike runs fine! RB unit went on fleabay, so all good now
Yeah, I found my issue. I managed to plug the wiring harness from the Rapid Bike into the incorrect 02 sensors on the bike. Wiped the maps and started the auto adaptivity off again. Bike is running really well now although I'm curious to see what the A/F ration and power curve is like so may go on a dyno soon.
