Booster Plug

[SF_Hooligan]

Before you buy that, make sure it's compatable with the CANbus wiring of the R1200 - lots of electronic farkels aren't and can cause (sometimes expensive) problems to the bike's electrical system...

Or spend that money on something else and just ride with people who know how to ride. If someone rides close enough to my ass that they're all up in my business every time I slow down because they're focusing on my brake light, I wouldn't ride with them for long. On the other hand, no one can keep up with me anyway.

[bmwk100]

Just installed mine last night. Definitely noticed a difference in the smoothness of the bike.

[jameson71]

Before you buy that, make sure it's compatable with the CANbus wiring of the R1200 - lots of electronic farkels aren't and can cause (sometimes expensive) problems to the bike's electrical system...

Or spend that money on something else and just ride with people who know how to ride. If someone rides close enough to my ass that they're all up in my business every time I slow down because they're focusing on my brake light, I wouldn't ride with them for long. On the other hand, no one can keep up with me anyway.

That doesn't work for those of us who ride on public roads where random strangers are allowed?

And about the canbus...can't one just use a fuseblock and hook it directly to the battery?

[SF_Hooligan]

Before you buy that, make sure it's compatable with the CANbus wiring of the R1200 - lots of electronic farkels aren't and can cause (sometimes expensive) problems to the bike's electrical system...

Or spend that money on something else and just ride with people who know how to ride. If someone rides close enough to my ass that they're all up in my business every time I slow down because they're focusing on my brake light, I wouldn't ride with them for long. On the other hand, no one can keep up with me anyway.

That doesn't work for those of us who ride on public roads where random strangers are allowed?

And about the canbus...can't one just use a fuseblock and hook it directly to the battery?

1. I said that (somewhat in jest) because it sounded like this was riding buddies running up on the poster's backend, not just random strangers. It's easy to tell riding buddies "stay off my ass" or to simply ride with people with skills.

2. If you have random strangers coming up on your six all the time, you're riding too slow.

And yes you can use a fuseblock and just trigger from the brake light.

[baldyralphie]

Booster plug installed, very happy rider! Here's the story: My bike is a 2007 R1200R with 22.000 miles on it, which I have had now for about 3 months. As much as I love the bike, the one thing that always bugged me was the jerky throttle. Shifts took extreme concentration to execute smoothly and throttle roll-off was as if the engine had been shut off and somebody had tossed out an anchor. Needless to say, I was concentrating more on the throttle, instead of enjoying the ride. I decided, despite the cost, to try the booster plug. After studying all of the posts, the installation turned out to be quite simple and took me about 20 minutes. I have just come back from a 100 mile test drive and the difference is amazing. Shifts are now smooth without even thinking about it and throttle roll-on / roll-off is no longer jerky.
So, does the booster plug work? For my bike, yes definitely. Am I imagining the difference? Definitely not. Is it worth 150 bucks? Well, lets not kid ourselves, it is overpriced but if you have the problems I had, absolutely worth the investment! Hope this helps some of you that might be "on the fence".

[badbs101]

I got the Compact Accelerator Module which does the same thing for about $80 less. It works good but I'm on the list for an Ice Air as it will have some complimentary products available in the future.

http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthre ... e&t=638412

It's a lot to read but basically the Ice Air is like the Booster Plug/Accelerator Module. The subsequent products, Ice Cool and Ice ?? (cant remember the name) will improve fueling even more.

[hetman]

Just installed the Booster Plug but haven't taken the bike out yet.

Thanks for the directions / diagrams in the first post.

It seemed to help me to remove the panels on both sides, not just the left, since they're both mounted to the tank. I just held the tank up from the back with one hand while installing the plug. Then I zip-tied the sensor up near the emissions canister.

[hetman]

Ok, just as an addendum..

Before the booster plug, my bike backfired and burbled like crazy when decelerating in gear (I have a Leo Vince pipe.. didn't notice the backfiring much before adding that). Now, not much at all.

It also does feel smoother at lower speeds.

On the bad side, and this shows it's definitely putting in more fuel.. I was averaging 46-47 MPG on my last few tanks. Just riding around for 10 miles with the booster plug in, and my MPG shows as 38! I've never seen it in the 30s before. It's dropping so fast that I don't think it has bottomed out yet either. Hopefully some of that is just me decelerating in gear more to test the backfiring, but I'm sure the MPG has gone down a decent amount.

Edit: My MPG pretty much returned to normal after a tank or two, so I was a little hasty in posting about the dive.

[badbs101]

Interesting to note the drop in fuel economy. I haven't noticed much, if any, drop with my Accelerator Module and I've put a few tanks through now. Still averaging well over 40 mpgs, not 46-47 but I never got that much with all the short trips I take. I do know they don't add fuel when you're cruising. And I don't think they are supposed to add fuel on decel either. Maybe it doesn't add as much fuel as the Booster Plug?

[Bamblys]

Ok, just as an addendum..

Before the booster plug, my bike backfired and burbled like crazy when decelerating in gear (I have a Leo Vince pipe.. didn't notice the backfiring much before adding that). Now, not much at all.

It also does feel smoother at lower speeds.

On the bad side, and this shows it's definitely putting in more fuel.. I was averaging 46-47 MPG on my last few tanks. Just riding around for 10 miles with the booster plug in, and my MPG shows as 38! I've never seen it in the 30s before. It's dropping so fast that I don't think it has bottomed out yet either. Hopefully some of that is just me decelerating in gear more to test the backfiring, but I'm sure the MPG has gone down a decent amount.

I knew this booster plug sounded like a very bad idea to me and now you confirmed it. I love the backfiring on my R! I think it's one of the best noises it makes. And now in addition there goes a fuel economy...

[sdavidp]

On the bad side, and this shows it's definitely putting in more fuel.. I was averaging 46-47 MPG on my last few tanks. Just riding around for 10 miles with the booster plug in, and my MPG shows as 38! I've never seen it in the 30s before. It's dropping so fast that I don't think it has bottomed out yet either. Hopefully some of that is just me decelerating in gear more to test the backfiring, but I'm sure the MPG has gone down a decent amount.

Not to be contentious but I don't understand how the average mpg can drop so rapidly. If your mpg has been up in the 40's for a long while, wouldn't it take a lot of time/data to drop the average?

I don't think I mentioned it but I decided to try the booster plug. I installed it when I had about 700 miles on the odometer. At the time the computer was showing average mpg of 43. Shortly thereafter it went up to 44 and has been there ever since, with about 1800 miles on the bike now. So if the computer is accurate then I haven't seen a significant change in fuel economy. YMMV of course, and much of my riding is on the highway at 60-70 mph.

(Side note: I tried calculating the MPG myself but ran into a couple of problems. The first was the difference between the tripometer and odometer -- see other posts -- but can be solved by using odometer, and the other was that I could not be sure that when filling up I was accurately replacing the same amount of gas used since previous fill-up. So my calculations had a lot of error.)

As for performance, I felt like there was a noticeable difference in 1st and 2nd gear at low revs; much smoother. When I was coming home in the afternoon during those 100 degree days I felt that low revs in 1st and 2nd where just as choppy as it was before the booster plug.

hope this helps...
david

[hetman]

Yeah, I had reset the MPG with the current tank, so that's why it was changing so quickly..

Luckily it went back up after some mixed freeway riding.. it's hoving around 40 now after using most of the tank, so not as bad as I was thinking. I was expecting it to go down since that was the experience of others I had read about.

[Fjm]

I have had my booster plug hooked in for 9 months now and I can easily state that my fuel consumption ranges 40-46 MPG, which is also the range I had prior to installing the booster plug. I would suggest individual riding styles on the day has more of an effect on fuel consumption than the plug has. Either way I am still happy with it. Good to see other choices are also coming on to the market.

[daveyator]

My mpg has always been in the 48-51 range after almost 2yrs with the booster plug. Something is up with your bike or riding style.

[SF_Hooligan]

My mpg has always been in the 48-51 range after almost 2yrs with the booster plug. Something is up with your bike or riding style.

Having ridden with Hetman, I'm going to say it's the constant wheelies and burnouts that are killing his MPG.

[hetman]

I was sort of counting on the fact that with only one wheel down, I'd have less friction and better mileage

[Fjm]

My mpg has always been in the 48-51 range after almost 2yrs with the booster plug. Something is up with your bike or riding style.

Bike just got serviced.......so all good there! Yes my riding style has everything to do with my fuel economy. To be honest, I dont give rats about how much fuel I use, so long as I dont run out unexpectedly! Given the type of daily riding I undertake, the speed I go and the open position my throttle is usually at, I am actually quite surprised at how good my economy really is. Happy riding folks.

[dcameron]

Averaged 40-42 mpg before installing the booster plug. Now getting 42-44. Overall throttle response much better.

[bmwk100]

Bike just got serviced.......so all good there! Yes my riding style has everything to do with my fuel economy. To be honest, I dont give rats about how much fuel I use, so long as I dont run out unexpectedly! Given the type of daily riding I undertake, the speed I go and the open position my throttle is usually at, I am actually quite surprised at how good my economy really is. Happy riding folks.[/quote]
Question- Did you remove your booster plug prior to having it serviced? I am scheduled for my 24K service and have not heard if having the booster plug will be an issue with the dealer/warranty.

[Fjm]

I left the Booster Plug on at my last service. No issues with the BMW service manager.