Sitting around a camp fire with 8 guys all on their second or third harley and all over say 35. The conversation came up about tuners and tuning your bike. Here are some of responces,
There are piece of shit,
I'd rip that off my bike,
Depends what mods you do to the engine
They dont adjust ve or spark tables
You have to be Bill Gates to use those
The Stage 1 download is all you need
My bike done 80,000 km with after market mufflers and a/c, and I have'nt got any type of tuner
If you have'nt got a flash type tuner , your farting against thunder
Dont those things only work on one bike
Fuck me, I ride, I dont give a shit about that stuff and nothing gone wrong with my ride,
And so on etc, !!
The someone "piped" up and said, If we were in a perfect world with no EPA regulations, and the stock Harley FI system and ECM were progammed for, say a afr in closed loop of 13.5 - 14 and open loop afr of say 12.5 - 13 would we be having this conversation about tuners ??
The responses were basically as follows,
Fuck, arr, arr , hmm, hmm, does that mean, arr, arr, fuck me, yea maybe, what about, hmm, hmm , there would be a lot of people out of work, and so on,
Ok guys , what would your response be !!!!!
Cheers
Agreed. Plus too many points raised and too many variables. In a world without emissions requirements they would run with more fuel in factory tune and with this extra safety margin of error, many people with minor mods or who just want it running better wouldn't necessarily need to retune. I've done enough homework to satisfy myself of the need to retune for my circumstances. I couldnt care less for people who don't need or think they need it. There are lots of tuner options for lots of different circumstances.
Its a lot of money for not much of a power gain, but each to their own
As long as it starts everytime and it gets you from A to B that is bonus
. Bought new pipes for the 07 Softy and was informed I needed a new fuel management system to run them. News to me. EFI is bit of mystery to me and with the internet, a lot of info to sift through. After a lot research I bought a Thunder Max with auto tuner, so I could have control of what I do. Just under a grand delivered and programmed for my setup. At 100 for each stealership visit to tune one of theirs I figure it'll pay for itself eventually because I like to change things. SE slip ons, then V&H shit shots, now BUB straightaways.
The manual was a head hump 'cos I'm a bit of a dumb shit, but the bike runs well and I do a lot of long trips, Adelaide perth brisbane.
The thing is......I am in control of my ride...mostly.
I'm far from an expert when it comes to tunes, but my bike popped on decel with a slip on and high flow filter without a tuner and it got hot. I wasn't game to get the cams fitted without having a tuner so the tuner went on before the cams and the bike was tuned (didn't have the money to do both at once). After the tune the bike didn't seem to have much if any more power but it ran smoother and the flat spots were gone. Then after I saved some more the cams were fitted which gave me a bit more in the mid range and higher revs but took away a little down low (and the bike was tuned again to suit the set up with cams). I'm older and I understand cams and filters and carbies and I don't claim to be up to speed with EFI and tuners but I'm happy to say I've never had a bike that runs as well right through the rev range as this one with EFI and tuner, all the carby bikes always had a 'best' rev range (which was often quite wide but it never covered from go to whoa). So yeah I'm a convert to tuners.
Gday all, I ride a 2008 flhtcu that I bought round march this year at what I call a fair price, the thing is I am not happy with the fuel econyomy (or rather the lack of economy)...
I like some one else on this forum somewhere stated am suprised at what some people say here and overseas at the milage they get.
Hell I cant get more than 7.02 L/100K
Granted that is mostly town riding with one or maybe two trips of 37 kilometres there and back thrown in.
This bik has what looks like Vance and Hines ovals and a k&n air filter, and yes it pops badly when the throttle is slackened orf. My question is will one of those tuner thingys get me better milage. I am 62 years old and it has enough grunt for me and is a tad loud but gees I love riding that thing.....
Any help in advising what type of tuner etc would be taken in and mused over muchly.
The other thing that perplexs me is that when the idiot light comes on to say "your low on fuel, sonny jim" and the approx how far to go on the remainder is saying round 70 k to go is all, I pull over, fuel up and I am yet to be able to put more than 19 litres in it, usually round17 to 18 litres will see it to the top of the tank.... This thing has a 22 litre tank on it and I reckon I should be getting at least 300 k round town but when all systems ay fill up it works out at 29-32 mpg. or for the younger set approx 7.02 l/100k -7.98 l/100k
Happy riding peeople OMR
Not in Perth mate,on the other side of the country, up northern Queensland...... Only a five hour plane trip though if you want to come over for a yarn......
OMR
I have no idea what you said in that blurb, Dynoharley.
Sorry mate I do not understand all that mumbo jumbo stuff you wrote, means as much to me as a japanese speakeing portugese....
Gday Hilly, as you may have noticed I am new to the harley world and also this tuner or no tuner extra gizmos, and have never been any near a dyno machine that I am aware of.....
I am in Rockhampton, but will travel a short distance if need be to try a dyno tune thingy. By short I mean maybe Gladstone or Mackay or Bundy even in a pinch...
Will start asking round if there is one here..... My remarks about the text of Dyno's whas not in any way meant as an affront, just the truth of the matter.
dynoharley's text with my highlights.....
"If you get bike tuner with dyno , you can set your fuel 13.0 , but at the throttle position say 10 % , you can then lean bike out to 14.+for economy between say 100 ks ans 120 ks if suits , my 103 is tuned this way , makes 120 rwhp but when on open road 110 ks still returns 18 ks per litre ,that were dyno handy for fine tuneing for power and economy soon as bikes hit 15 % throttle position then is back at say 13 for rest of range , you can have your cake and eat it ,"
I do not understand the speak as follows....
Yellow <<<>>>I have no idea how to do this.....
Green <<<>>> I think this means the fuel mixture gets leaner when one gets up round 100 klms/hour speed....
Blue <<<<>>>> I had absolutely no idea what "rwhp" is.... Untill I googled it.....
Forgive an old fella, but I just want to ride and enjoy knowing I can at least get a decent milage, as I said this machine has plenty of grunt for me, but the milage is atrocious. Anyway I am going to put a brand new air filter in tomorrow morn and see if that may improve the economy a little. I have a brand new K&N sitting on the chair beside still in its plastic bag from the shop. I bought it when I first got the bike and when I took the air cleaner cover orf etc. I discovered the identical filter in there but it does look a bit dirty and dry, so will try the new one as of tommorow as I am planning a trip to proserpine the first week in November, me on my Harley and an older brother on his Gold-Wing.
Thanks for the input fellas, it is really appreciated, I am also new to forums etc.
OMR, just read your first post here regarding you problem. Seems your fuel mileage is of major concern. From your figures ( i'll take the highest number)., at 32 miles per gal, (x 6 gal tank), = 192 miles. That equates to 318 kms, = 318 divided by 22.7 ltrs gal tank , = 14 kms per ltr , I would'nt be happy with those figures either, I have a 2009 FLHT , stage 1 , (mostly country riding ), and i average 17 kms per ltr = 385 kms, sometimes a bit more but never less.
You have probably done this, Fill tank right to brim of tank, (stand bike up to get every last drop in), check kms , and do exactly 100kms , then fill up as before , check how much fuel goes in. That will get you at a good base line for your fuel consumption.
You mentioned a old and dirty Air filter, changing that would be a start , plus check you plugs for colour !!!! Other than than, as the guys have said go to a reputable tuner close by.
I know some of the tuning jargon can be a bit daunting, my advice is do some reading and reasurch and get to understand the basics, there are very good articles on the net that explain it in layman terms if you search around. When your upto speed with everything, you will be able to go down the Pub and match it with all the other experts.
You may have a bike that was finished on a Friday at the factory, and they wanted to piss off early and they put a smaller tank on by mistake !!! Only Joking !!!!!!!
Good luck .
Gday markwoumla, Thanks for the reply and the info and must say I got a good belly laugh at the "finished on a friday....", reminds me of the Wednesday car sang by Johnny cash...
Never have I gotten more than 254 klms before the idiot light comes on and or the reserve left reading says 70 odd klm to go..... Which brings me to another question for all to ponder, will it harm the motor any at all if I was to run the tank completly dry ( I know sweet FA about fuel injection motors). That way I could see how far I can get without a top up. I have two avenues of doing this, either wait for my REDA fuel containers to arrive from the states or call the RACQ and sit on the side of the road and listen to the wildlife for a 1/2 hour to an hour or so.... I have a feeling that I got further to the tank on my 1973 Honda 750-4 which I bought new back in 1973. Did a lot of miles all round the south and south eastern part of WA on that bike.
Thanks Hilly, I use to do all my own maintaince etc once.... Where I live I do not have the facilitys to be able to do much. But I am willing to learn and if this TTS tuner is an easier and cheaper way to utilise, I will go and have a yarn with the mechanics at the Harley shop here and see what they say, and yes they have already tried to sell me on the screamin eagle tuner when I first mentioned the popping and milage as it has the ovals and k&n filter attached. But if I can use a simpler item at a smaller upfront cost and achieve the same results, then I am all for that way.
Will do some research on the net tonight and see what develops from there. I am not a comlete dunce but these electronic gizmos I have thus far read up on really scare me a little. I remember as a 17 - 20's year old having my bikes completly stripped down on a weekend just to clean it up a bit. As I said I am willing to learn new tricks, but being where I live, in a dept of housing complex makes it very difficult to spend time running and servicing a vehicle.
Thanks for the help thus far, Mate, enjoy your day.....
OK! Thanks to all for your help/input... I will not continue with this any longer and do some shopping round for dyno tuning etc....
Once more, thanks heaps fellas.
