Auel Wax Fix soft ….. bye bye bug splat!

Take that Spongebob!In the flush of youth I was the same as most fledgling bikers I guess, spending endless hours cleaning my bike with mates over a cold beer and loud music  ….. of course all that changed when riding a bike became a job five or six days a week. Washing the bike turned into a chore, something to be endured not enjoyed through endless ice-cold winter weeks, honed into a slick process to illicit the most benefit from the least input.

A working bike, one you put food on the table with ….. has to be as reliable and resistant to the degradation by the elements as is possible. To that end I’ve lived by the mantra of checking a bike over daily ….. battery, bearings, chain, electrics, suspension, steering, tyres  etc …. there are numerous mnemonics kicking around to work with. Washing the bike was just as much a way of helping do those checks as it was presenting a clean bike to the world at large and sailing under the radar of bored Metropolitan Police officers, whose sole existence appeared to center around the idea that any dirty motorbike was undoubtably an illegal one.

Yes it’s fair to say that cleaning a bike for me has long since lost any interest, it is simply a means to an end …. jetwash the main muck (avoid bearings and seals), hose pipe and Aprilia Caponord ETV1000 Rally-Raid & Auel Wax Fix softbucket of sudsy-wudsy car shampoo and rinse off. Air line some bits and chamois the others ….. then coat liberally with ACF50, either sprayed directly or wiped on with a soft clean cloth. Total time, less than 30 mins or I’m slacking. This method has stood me in good stead for many a year – and let’s face it, snake-oil cleaners come and go, just like gimmicky brushes or wonder sponges.

That of course was until Manuel from Motrag stuck his oar in! He’s tried for ages to convince me about this amazing product he uses – in fact he says he hasn’t actually washed his bike since Moses was a little boy. Instead he uses ‘Auel Wax Fix Soft’ – wipe on, wipe off ( no silly Karate Kid impersonations please)….. and when he recently sent some dashboards for repair, he snuck a can in the box to try out. Hmmmmmm.

So yesterday, I took a notion into my old numb-skull to give it a go on the Capo windscreen. Spray on, wait 30 seconds, wipe off ….and …………….. JEEZ! This stuff actually works!!!

Residual bug splat going back years just wiped away – over 95% of it. The other 5% just took a second spray/wipe. So out came the hex-key, off with the windscreen and I did the inside as well, no smears, no waxy (forget the misleading name on the can) residue, noAprilia Caponord ETV1000 Rally-Raid windscreen apparent static build up either. Just one unbelievably clean windscreen, so much so, that I can see the stone chip damage that once hid among all manner of splattered bug guts. Afterwards I tried it on mirrors, hand guards and panniers …. anywhere buggy-bits accumulate. excellent results every time.

Manuel tells me he’s been using this stuff since 1996 and I can see why. No, it won’t re-write how I clean my bike, but I think an extra 5 minutes tagged on using Wax Fix isn’t going to break the time-bank either. The downside seems to be getting hold of it ….. Ebay has a couple of suppliers (approx €10-€13 a can) – not cheap, but Manuel says a can does go a long way when you get used to using it. Hopefully he’ll be able to supply it through Motrag in the future.

Meanwhile all these smooth and polished surfaces must be worth an extra 5mph! 😀

TuneECU (Android) update to V2.2

TuneECU Andriod app V2.2 - Aprilia Caponord ETV1000 Rally-Raid Sagem ECUStop the Bus (or your Caponord) and grab yer smartphones again, TuneECU has just been updated to V2.2 ………… worthy of mentioning? Oh Yes! Alaine has addressed the poor connection (cable) AND the screen freezing if you swiped it when logging issue. Now TuneECU connects to the Capo quick as you like, just as it used to. I tried it numerous times and never once had a problem – fantastic! All-in-all a positive step forward …..

Back in 1921 …………

Aprilia Caponord ETV1000 Rally-Raid tax disk holder removed after abolition of paper disks on 01/10/2014 by HM Government (UK).While the weather’s been holding up, I decided to wheel the Capo out and give it a wash. As I soaped, sponged and lathered my way down the left hand side something caught my eye and a hollow feeling opened up in the pit of my stomach ……. something broken or rusty? No, worse – the bloody (road) tax needed renewing!

In October 2014 after 93 years or so the tax disk was resigned to history, unlike the annual payment! So I went online, did the deed – and felt like Dick Turpin had just shoved a pair of musket barrels up my nostrils and fleeced every pocket for cash – now we don’t even get a humble little disk to display anymore, just an email acknowledgement that we’ve been rolled by yours truly, HM Government.

So now what do I do with the 6-bolt Über-aerodynamic MotoGP/NASA inspired titanium tax disk holder eh!! 👿 OK, it’s an aluminium carbuncle really, and they’ll be coming to a car-boot sale near you soon enough (by the thousands!). Well I’ve decided to cut the ‘ear’ bit off and use it in the workshop as a coaster for a tea mug! 😀

making a tax disk holder into a coaster

TuneECU (Android) update to V2.1

TuneECU Andriod app V2.1 - Aprilia Caponord ETV1000 Rally-Raid Sagem ECUTuneECU app for the Android was updated again  last week to V2.1 – Google store says bug fixes and adding the Ducati 848/1098 & 1198 are the reason. Time then to give it a whirl on the old Capo and see if the experience has improved from last time. So with the sun shining brightly and making the barn a nice cosey sun trap to work in, and the road devoid of the sound of machinery and promised workmen, I rummaged around for the cables charged the phone and set about pulling the seats off.

Bluetooth (ELM327 V1.5)

elm327Connection was the same as before and data is still slow to update – tacho and TPS seem quick enough but the side-stand takes a whopping 5 seconds to change state. Still no side-stand or Fan status indicator like the PC version. The datalog facility worked, but seems to have a bug, more on this later.

Cable (Samsung Note 3)

Connection is now very poor, taking 2, 3 or 4 attempts to get it to connect. Each time I get a flashing red indicator, sometimes going orange then back to red followed by a dialog box telling me to recycle the ignition. The connection worked fine with version 1 and 2 so something has definitely happened in the latest release. Oh and the Samsung was tried with two cables and both cables tried with old faithful – the Asus EEPC901 and they worked just fine with the PC version. Once connected however, the data seems to be displayed quicker than Bluetooth and the connection was stable even when starting the engine.

Datalog

TuneECU app datalog via cable not Bluetooth on Samsung Galaxy Note 3 from Aprilia Caponord ETV1000 Rally-RaidGetting this to work took a bit of time, simply because it turns out I have to touch the ‘REC’ icon in the bottom left hand corner of the Diagnostics screen for something like 4 or 5 seconds for it to toggle to orange and begin recording. Once recording I can’t change screens, but if I swipe left or right as though trying to get to ‘Adjustments’ or ‘Map’ then data on the screen freezes and you wonder what the hell is going on …… but the data is still being logged in the background. Swipe in the opposite direction, as though going back to ‘Diagnostics’ and the screen starts working again.

Disconnect from the ECU and ‘Datalog’ now appears at the bottom of the ‘ECU’ drop down menu, click and select the log file to open and a new window opens with the data displayed as a graph. TPS, RPM and Engine Temp are logged, but apparently no way of selecting other data to log other than TuneECU app datalog data file diasplay on Samsung Galaxy Note 3 from an Aprilia Caponord ETV1000 Rally-Raidthese three. The TPS and RPM are a nice distinct line with good contrast to the background, however the Engine Temp is dark blue dots on black background …….. difficult to read clearly in bright light. The data is stored in CSV format so it’s easy to bring the files into your PC and use something like Microsoft Excel to display it. Incidentally the screenshot of a data file on the TuneECU (Google) page shows additional information – Speed / MAP (Manifold Air Pressure) and what looks like gear position …… so there is certainly scope to allow more (bike model specific) information to be logged and displayed.

Conclusion

I so want to like this software. Building in the datalogger is great but in the light of the connection issues and slow performance when in operation, I’m reluctant to use it at the moment preferring to stick to the old PC version and my TuneBoy based datalogger. Of course this is only one persons view with a specific combination of bike/phone, but if others are experiencing the same or similar problems, then maybe addressing these issues to make a solid and robust platform before adding any more new bikes or functionality would be the way forward …… just my six cents worth. Let’s see what V3 brings.