[re:RE]

OK... brand new bike... following the break in advice keeping the speed slow and varying speed and stoping for 15 - 20 minutes after every hour of riding.

First 100 or so miles it ran perfect then I parked it for a few hours.  Then for the next ten miles the bike was chuggy, surging and wouldn't stay running when in N.  That was last night, so I parked it for the evening. Starting out this morning, the first ten miles was again chuggy, stalling, etc.  Then it was fine again for the next 80 miles (the rest of the way home).

Any ideas?  Speck of something in the fuel line that is now burnt out of it?  Something else more alarming??? Any help would be greatly appriciated!

[motorat]

i would check the bolts holding on the pipe at the head...mine came loose and the bike ran funny...after tightening them it was fine....i check them often now.

[BRADEY]

Which model of RE are we discussing here.....?

Few things to check, spark plug connections, battery connection, you may want to raise the idle by a few 100 rpms (the idle screw is in a well, and if you turn it anticlockwise it raises the RPMs and clockwise lowers 'em). If this does not solve the issue, I will open the spark plug to see its not very sooty, if so replace with a NGK BPR6ES plug. Still not on the spot, take it to the dealer or at least talk to him...

[jartist]

replace with a NGK BPR6ES plug

+1

[gremlin]

i would check the bolts holding on the pipe at the head...mine came loose and the bike ran funny...after tightening them it was fine....i check them often now.

+1

[Pauly]

spark plug

mine was shot at about 400 miles

[Maturin]

My 5 cent: check the connectors around the injection system, the battery and behind the headlamp. Sounds like a loose connection to me.
Best regards
Maturin

[re:RE]

Thanks for all the suggestions... I tightened all the nuts and bolts yesterday, checked the connections everywhere and replaced the stock plug = NGK BR8ES with a NGK BPR7EIX... and today it ran fine.

Yes you read that right, the original plug from the factory was a NGK BR8ES! 

[Ducati Scotty]

BR?  Not BPR?  THe P is for projected, meaning the electrode projects farther into the combustion chamber, and that's been thought to be important.  I think 8 is a hotter plug, so it wouldn't foul as easily, but not being projected would change the flame front dynamics at ignition I believe.

Ace?

Scott

[Arizoni]

With the NGK spark plugs, the Higher the number the Colder it is.
This is the reverse of several other companies where higher equals hotter.

For NGK Plugs
Low numbers = Hot
High numbers = Cold

For a nice little chart which compares several different brands of plugs and shows the cold/hot relation go to this link.

In the upper left hand side is a tiny chart that will open if you click on it.

http://www.sparkplugs.com/sparkplug411.asp?kw=Heat+Range+Interchange+%28NGK-Denso-Champion-Bosch%29&mfid=0

[barenekd]

replaced the stock plug = NGK BR8ES with a NGK BPR7EIX... and today it ran fine.

Yes you read that right, the original plug from the factory was a NGK BR8ES! 

There in lies a tale. A BR8ES is too cold for your bike. I guess it's a UCE since you just got it. The right plug is a BPR6ES, The EIX  might be OK, but still may be a tad cold. But the extra expense for the EIX is unnecessary
The plug that comes from the factory is a Bosch, so someone swapped yours out and didn't know what he was doing. The Bosch plug is known for it's unreliability. The wrong NGK isn't any better.
Bare

[Ducati Scotty]

Arizoni, thanks for correcting me.

[re:RE]

Hmm... the spark plug issue makes sense... I wonder why someone would change it?  Yes UCE with 10 miles on the odm when I picked it up.

So 1 more thing I noticed today, that I did wrong the other day when it was chuggy... when I first turn the key the red check engine light comes on for a few seconds and I hear what I imagine is the fuel injector being primed.  Once that goes out, it starts and runs fine.  I think the other day I was trying to start it during that "warm up" phase.

[Ducati Scotty]

My guess is that's not factory.  Maybe the insulator broke and they swapped for what they had on the shelf.  Isn't that a common plug for the old bikes?

Scott

[Arizoni]

I know the factory in India has changed the Indian version of the 500cc fuel injected UCE's computer programming and it seems I remember someone saying something about them changing the spark plug when they reprogrammed the bikes computer.

It's possible that the RE factory is shipping the new models without the old crummy Bosch twin electrode plugs.

I would be interested to know from any of you who have the new 2012 C5 with the 19" front wheel and no offset in the front axle, what spark plug did they install on your new motorcycle?
It would only take a minute with a screw driver to pry the metal spark plug cap up off of the plug to see what is written on the ceramic insulator.
Knowing this might help us in the future when we hear of a problem with new UCE's here in the US.