Gas smell after ride ?

[Raux]

Then taking off the charcoal canister was illegal to begin with

[wiggsmeister]

Do you fill up before coming home? Might just be a slight draining from the overflow hole at the gas cap when the bike is on the side stand.

Every now and again I'll notice a small overflow puddle under my bike once it's on its side stand, always after trying to get more fuel into the tank than it needs (slight over fill).

Should be nothing to worry about but, to be safe, check all your hoses and connections for leaks and/or cracks.

Here's a link showing my exhaust: http://www.ballerbolts.com/hco696moexun.html

The install was very poorly done (don't know if the previous owner did it himself or if a shop did it), as I said before. There is a support arm that was supposed to extend from under the seat to the top of the box. This was not installed. This result led to the dividers inside the box (look closely at the third pic in the link) to fall out probably because of excessive vibration, and the exhaust actually broke off the base where it attaches to the pipe and had to be welded back on.

It backfires excessively. I told the shop (bertsmegamall.com) that it was running too rich and they said they can't adjust the mixture because of regulations. They blame the exhaust for the backfiring.

If a powercommander or performance ECU are aftermarket products for a 2011 696 then I don't have them.

Maybe this should move this to its own thread... 

[Howie]

They are probably correct about the exhaust.  Adjustments to put a vehicle back to factory spec is not illegal.

[Heath]

If the exhaust is poorly installed and you have a leak somewhere then it can cause the popping. That exhaust seems like it would be hard to get it tuned right.  I am in California also. If your mechanic is not willing to tune because of regulations you need to find a new one.

[subin]

To OP, if you have the stock exhaust, you should not smell gas or strong exhaust smell while idling at the light, but if you park the bike in a closed 2 car garage after the ride, you would smell some left over exhaust.

To Wiggs, the exhaust you have should be a free flow one with no baffle in it. If there is no other mods to the airbox and ECU, then you are mostly running lean.

Bert's could not adjust the ECU and the canister due to CARB regulations. As for the backfiring (closed throttle popping), I rode a M696 with Termi slip-ons and it did that a lot. I am not sure if that bike has performance ECU in it, so I cannot say if installing the performance ECU would fix that. However, that bike also took a long time to warm up, so I would guess that it did not have the performance ECU installed. In general, the popping should reduce with a richer mixture.

There are a few independent techs around LA, I am sure you can find one who is willing to work on your bike.

[wiggsmeister]

Subin:

Do you have any recommendations on independent and qualified techs in the LA area? There's a couple shops I know about near me (the dealer is only 3 miles away, but i don't trust those guys) but if you know of any a point in the right direction would be appreciated.

[Howie]

How about our sponsor Valley Desmo Service?  Our very own Flounder-Administrator Speeddog will take good care of you.

[subin]

Subin:

Do you have any recommendations on independent and qualified techs in the LA area? There's a couple shops I know about near me (the dealer is only 3 miles away, but i don't trust those guys) but if you know of any a point in the right direction would be appreciated.

I have no experience with any of the shops around LA, but I keep reading good things about Valley Desmo and Motoservizio (Signal Hill) on this and other forums.

Ducati Newport Beach also has good reputation around here.