Modern Tuning
It’s not all grinding ports, changing jets and polishing heads anymore, oh no...
These days modern tuning is very different. Now you have pipes, air-filters, Power Commanders, the Bazzaz, Motec, the list goes on and on. Most road riders will do some of those items, and then want to move on and explore other options, but costs are a big limiting factor now. Modern engines are very good though, you can’t just wang on an exhaust or fit a set of cams and get ten horsepower, those days are long gone. The best known tuning aid is the Dynojet Power Commander (PC) for adjusting fuelling. It’s a fantastic piece of equipment, cutting edge in terms of support and they’re reaching forward all the time, especially with all their different modules – they’ll be doing some direct access ECU stuff soon, too.
Bazzaz is the new kid on the block. It’s a great system and you get a form of basic traction-control (if your bike doesn’t already have it), a quickshifter and map switch thrown in. Costs work out about the same, but overall you have some good choices available.
You don’t instantly get 10bhp from an exhaust anymore...
Working on the bikes is getting harder though. Like bikes now having eight injectors, which generally entails getting the airbox off, plus you must tap into crank sensors, gearbox sensors and so on.
There’s also performance aids like slipper clutches which help. Many bikes have a form of one as standard, but that said, Neil Spalding makes a lovely one at Sigma which you can adjust and play with.
Most tuning these days is electronic though, and many don’t realise that with a PCV or similar you can seriously improve the connection between the throttle and the rear tyre. It’s not necessarily about getting outright bhp power at peak, it’s about getting it through the entire range. Bikes are so good now. Kawasaki’s range are finished by hand and I don’t know of another big manufacturer who does that. That’s one reason why they’re so good in standard form. But you can still spend time on a dyno and get great results for not a lot of money – including better fuel consumption, which these days is becoming more important.
We always recommend that before you make any changes to get a base run on your bike. We see it all the time when people book in for a custom map, but they have a problem somewhere. So we do a base run, then fit the relative items and then do a custom map. No two bikes have the same air-fuel ratio outputs, be it the same model or different ones, and you must consider what and how you use your bike, too.
Fitting exhausts is fine. A lot of the top brands do a huge amount of R&D, like Akrapovic and Yoshimura, if you’re just putting a
can on. But if you’re talking de-cat pipes or full systems you have to sort your fuelling as you’ve changed an important part. A lot of exhausts have baffles and with the Bazzaz, for example, you can have two maps via the supplied switch. A good dyno operator can do that for you, and overall you should get much better drivability. This is all before we even think about getting inside the engine and changing anything if you’re after a lot of extra horsepower.
Blueprinting That’s an old term now, which first came from the old Manx Nortons. You’d buy a set of blueprints and strip your engine and match it to them. Now, blueprinting is a word not used much, although the principals still apply in some regard as you still try and get rid of any casting marks even if they’re not so pronounced nowadays. Less friction means more power, so if you have oil clinging to items you
Fit a full system and you’ll need a custom map...”
need to get it off, although it’s not about polishing, that’s a big myth. Finishing combustion chambers and the like is a fine art, and there’s also stuff like weight matching pistons and con-rods, balancing big and small ends and your crankshaft. You can go through everything meticulously if you want, but it’s not cheap and most don’t – unless you’re racing. However, one thing that’s started happening is we’re getting customers with pre-2005 bikes who want a lot of tuning done – including internals – probably to keep up with modern bikes’ power figures. Otherwise, unless you’re racing, modern engines in stock forms are good enough.
Tuning DIY Yes, you can do some work yourself, like fitting a Power Commander, but it depends on what bike it is. Some are absolute swines to fit things on, like BMWs, it’s not fun at all. It’s a major job as the whole seat and the airbox has to come off. The injection system is hidden and it’s a lot of work, you must be prepared for it. And do you have the tools to get to it? BMW uses a lot of Torx stuff, for example. Honda’s Fireblade is reasonably easy, though everything still has to come off, it’s a fair bit of work and it’s easy to get into a pickle. And then you still don’t have a base run to see if what you’re fitting will improve it, and you can only have a generic map downloaded off the internet and still have to pay someone to do a custom map.
If you bought it from us, nine times from ten we don’t charge to fit the item, it’s free to make sure it goes on properly. There may be tricks of the trade where we may not put the unit where the instructions say, due to an item like an alarm or other mods that prevent it. We have seen people fit them, and not a single injector has been fitted right, so we have to do the whole lot again anyway to find where the problem is, and that’s by the hour! It’s easily done where folk don’t read the instructions properly. We see it a lot with Hondas where people have lifted the tank, seen the injectors, unplugged them, plugged in the PCV and it doesn’t work. They’re the wrong injectors! Or they’ll unplug the secondary butterfly plug, rather than the main throttle position plug, and wonder why their bike won’t start. We see it a few times a year.
Although some bikes are reasonably straightforward, like Yamahas, that still doesn’t stop folk from cutting the wrong wires by accident. You can do it yourself, and I know some people who have done it themselves with an Autotune system and a laptop. But most people just want it done and want to see their dyno printout. It doesn’t hurt to save yourself some money, but when it comes to a PCV where we fit it free and then set it up, why would you bother? But if you must, take your time, do it one bit at a time and for goodness sake, read the instructions – RTFM!