Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums Performance Mods freak question

Hello all. Lately ive been debating on getting the Freak mod done. I have read all of the pros and other info here. Last night i was talking to a guy that works at a place that dyno tunes. He asked about my bike and what my plans were. i told him about the freak mod and he told me NOT to do it because adding pod filters or K&N filters to the back of the carbs messes with the vacuum which in turn messes with the mixture and other things where you do gain some HP but you give up alot of gas. He told me to leave it the way i have it now. (Snorkels out, K&N filter, bottom drilled). Does anyone have any input on this either way? Just to let everyone know it wasnt as if i asked him to do it and he didnt want to, he is somewhat of a friend and trying to give advise.
Thanks
Jack

did it on my bike before all other mods, gained power, ran smoother, started easier, and still got 45-50mpg. drawback, none. its your call tho

Frank

Depends what you want, I don't think my mileage dropped that much if at all when I did it but to be totally honest I never clocked my mileage to be accurate all I can give you is my impression. I can tell you it was worth it to me for the way the bike feels when I ride it. He is correct in the part where you have to re-jet, mileage is going to largely depend on how hard you twist the throttle. It is ultimately your decision and if you have read the threads about the Freak and Freak type mods you should have a good feel for what you should gain by doing it, weigh that against the small drop in mileage you may experience.

Thanks guys, reason why i asked is i would take your experiences over his as he doesnt own a Triumph so there is very little exposure to our bikes. I am planning on having the big bore done @ the end of summer so i think i will try it then.
Thanks
Jack

While I haven't done the Freak to my America I have chopped the air box on my Bonnie and added K&N pods (home made Freek) and it really makes a huge difference in the throttle response and does increase the power output. An added bonus was that my highway mileage improved about 6 mpg to 51 mpg; my in town mileage is about the same (same right wrist twisting the throttle ).

if you do the bb kit getting rid of that airbox is a must

Frank

Hi Jack,

I've done both. I used to run a holed airbox, KN drop-in with bottom holed, 132 mains, stock pilots, and 2-shims on the needles with TOR longs. Very similar in some respects to your current setup.

My current configuration is the gutted airbox w/KN pods (aka poor man's Ghetto Freak), 150 mains, stock pilots, 2-shims on needles and Thunderbike pipes.

I'm too "thrifty" to pay for Dyno runs in either configuration for a machine that only produces 55-60 something HP and I'm pretty confident in my tuning capabilities, so I can't provide you empirical data, but ......

I believe there is an increase in HP based on the ability to use larger mains in the pod configuration and in my case the use of the Thunderbikes.

With that said I do not believe the minimal HP gained over your current configuration is worth the cost of the Freak unit (300 or so clams), but IS worth the cost of the Ghetto Freak mod (100 or so clams).

Just my 2 Zloty ......

Tom

A little knowledge is a dangerous thing.
This guy probably works with a lot of sportbikes.
They have 'tuned airboxes', specially shaped to improve HP.
A modern sportbike will lose HP if you remove the airbox and go to pod filters.

Our bikes have an airbox that is shaped to fill the space where it will fit. It's not 'tuned'. All the sharp angles in there, looks different from the smooth curves of a sportbike 'box, huh?

There are countless examples here of people who have used the Freak with great success.

Brian, you are absolutely correct. He does work on sport bikes. That is why i asked the question here. I knew you guys would know more than what he thought he knew what was best for our bikes. Thanks for all of the replies. You guys have made up my mind ofr me.
Thanks
Jack

i don't mind at all . i am sure D&D is a good dealership, i wouldn't know as i have never been there, just have heard what people say about them. i am not expert at all, with performance mods i have talked to many who have done as much or more than i have, and the guy who designed these big bore kits with weisco. guess the only way to settle it would be a before and after dyno on the same dyno with a good operator

Frank

I would add that you would also have to have the same tuner and rider doing the test on both bike to attempt to eliminate those variables.

It's not really the tuner or rider that's in question. It's one bike's current state vs. another. Putting the two bikes on the same dyno, the same day, etc. would definitely show how the bikes are different and be an excellent comparison.

Unfortunately, with most of us spread all over the place, that's not possible. I still would think a properly set up dyno run should be a good description of the bike's performance.

But if one guy knew how to tune better than the other it would skew the results as well as the way the person running it on the dyno could produce a different result. Just look at the different results we get from members here with the same changes.Comparing similar altitudes.

I agree Ian, but to me that's the point. Two similar bikes on the same dyno (run by the same person) would show which tuning philosophy works the best.

As I said before, my dealer (D&D) got their own dyno to figure out how to get the most out of their racing bikes. They run the dyno on every bike they service, store files on what worked the best on what set-up, etc. They have close comparisons of most possible combinations. It's given them a great advantage - not only knowing where best to start, but checking to make sure.

Allow me to join the fray. I have one bike with pods and one bike with air box, all are K&N brand filters. The only variable is the engine timing, one 270, one 360 and maybe that makes a bigger difference than I think it does.

The chopped air box with pods has made me a believer and I'm going to hack an air box for the other bike. Maybe it's the bigger jets, maybe its the pods, I don't know but I'm sold. The cool thing is the pod bike just averaged 51 mpg on the highway, beating the air box bike by 6 mpg...

Smoother acceleration and it seems like less effort to maintain speed are the two selling points IMHO. What's not to love? I can't really comment one way or another on the boys have the real gear to test this stuff with, all I can say is I have experienced both on the same day and there is a positive difference with the pod filters. Again, IMHO.

the main thing about our bikes as was mentioned is we do NOT have a tuned airbox. that is a big deal. a properly tuned airbox is better than pods but we arent lucky enough to have that. i will add that even the rocket 3 guys are putting pods on the throttle bodies and seeing huge gains from it so it does help. but if you bike is running good with the box and your happy than keep it

Frank