I put it on the bike and gave it a whirl, it seems to be easy to use and I think that it works properly. The gauge mode gives you the possibility of seeing the numbers, comparing the pull of one cylinder against the other, which is easier to get to than with mercury gauges. Seeing the free play on the throttle cables seems to be a bit easier than with my 1984 set of mercury filled gauges.
Other advantages might be the ability to stap the Harmoniser onto the tank bag and see what happens in the real world, it also has a tacho function and an LED light for reading in your tent at night!
It's the last one on my list in the first post Charles. I did have a Twinmax, which was fine, but it died and I sold it as a broken thing on ebay, just before the Harmoniser blew the arse out of the used Twinmax market!
For my learning ears The Harmoniser shits all over the Twinmax becuse of the visual feedback on the dial. It's $129 + post which I suffered, but it's so easy to use and it'll help me get to a point where just using my ears is easier too!
I have been using the $4.00 synchronizer since it was $2.00. I put very small orifice in the tube from carburetor to top of clear tubing. I used red automatic transmission fluid in clear tubing so if it sucks some in it just smokes.
Guy
I have not used a colourtunes, but UK be club members reckon that if you tune according to their colourchart you will end up with too lean a mixture at idle.
Charles
Replica 1070 R90/S (based on 82 RT)
1975 R90/6
Bing USA sell Colortunes, so they must think they work.
I don't think the mixture at idle matters much, as long as it ticks over evenly it will do most folks.
And I cant work out how they would know it was weak , without a Colortune.
What you will notice is the transition off idle to higher revs, and to get this at its best , without setting the tickover mixture far to rich, requires an understanding of how CV carbs work, and the skill to use this understanding.
And the BMW club guys obviously have neither.
Adelaide, Oz. 77 R75/7. 86 R80 G/S PD, 93 R100 GS, 70 BSA B44 VS ,BMW F650 Classic
Roy Gavin wrote:Bing USA sell Colortunes, so they must think they work. . . .
Hmmmm, I don't think I'd say that without some positive evidence, such as credible anecdotes from many happy customers. I'd think it's more like Bing USA sells Colortunes, 'cause they think somebody will buy them.
Ken, not in the trusting Christmas spirit yet in Oklahoma
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There's no such thing as too many airheads
I wasn't very impressed with colortunes back in the 70's. If you followed the instructions for a blue flame it tended to result in a weak mixture and loss of power.
I've often wondered though if they would be useful for idle mixture balance as it's the one thing that can't be done really accurately without a gas tester and even then you wonder if the balance pipes mess up the readings. I wouldn't be too worried how accuratley the mixture setting was indicated if it could be made to look the same side to side.
The grok Harmoniser could be used for idle balance as it can give a pressure reading for each cylinder, so you can adjust mixture so that each side reads the same.
Charles
Replica 1070 R90/S (based on 82 RT)
1975 R90/6
My experience with colortunes 40 years back was that adjusting Stromberg CV carbs with youthful experience (i.e. none) for a pure light blue flame with no signs of yellow/orange resulted in significant loss of power due to being too lean. But that wasn't just at idle.
On my Bing CV's at least, the mixture at idle does matter in that the mixture screw impacts significantly on fuel economy because it's still making a contribution to the mixture at 1/8 to 1/4 throttle which equates to 50 - 65 mph cruising. Bings own method for adjusting idle mixture as described in the Bing manual suggests "as lean as the machine will tolerate, yet provide smooth transition. Anything further ccw would be a waste of fuel.”
I don't know if Colortune flame color is any good for adjusting the idle mixture in an absolute sense on Bing CV's but it seems to me they might be useful for judging if there is a difference side to side. Balancing carbs is about getting equal mixture strengths as well as volumes.
Tuning by flame color works on the assumption that there will be a uniform homogenius mixture strength throughout all parts of the combustion chamber which perhaps isn't a realistic senario.
Last edited by barryh on Fri Dec 21, 2012 11:33 am, edited 1 time in total.
"Tuning by flame color works on the assumption that there will be a uniform homogenius mixture strengh throughout all parts of the combustion chamber which perhaps isn't a realistic senario."
Especially given that our large combustion chambers do not promote good even combustion, which is why the bike bikes can be prone to pinging.
Charles
Replica 1070 R90/S (based on 82 RT)
1975 R90/6
enigmaT120 wrote:Does anybody check spark plugs as a test of idle mixture? I don't. But I'm happy so long as the bike doesn't die when I come to a stop.
I have in the past. Usually to make sure my settings are in the right zip code. With unleaded gas, a proper running engine has a lot lighter coloured plugs than is old buggers are used to. By the time I get to a nice tan, the idle is too rich. So I just go with how the bike feels and leave the plugs where they are.
