Hey Everyone,

I'm fairly new to the forum and have done some searching around on this and was curious what the latest consensus is for inexpensive EFI Tuners.

I have a bone stock 07 FXD that I just put a set of Screaming Eagle Slip-ons and an Arlen Ness Big Sucker Stage 1 Intake kit onto.

Now, I am aware my ecm needs to be flashed or tuned to adjust for the addition air flow.

I was taken back quite a bit when I started to call around to my local dealerships to find out that Harley wants to charge me $150 for a Generic Stage 1 Map that my local dealer could flash to my ECM for another $50

So, $200 for what should be a 15 minute ordeal seems absurd, so absurd I decided to read up on some EFI tuners. I would feel more justified spending that 200 plus a little more to get me something more than a quick one night stand and having no options or anything to show for it when all is said and done.

However I've now paralyzed myself by reading up on too many tuners from the Power Commander(s) to the EJK or TFI kits by Dobecks.

Let me give a little background on myself as I'm aware the answer could change based upon the knowledge of the technician or owner..

I am not a tuner, or feel my riding abilities dictate that I need to be one to squeeze every last HP I can out of my bike.
I have flashed the race maps to the ecm's of the Buells I used to own. So I'm aware of steps and technology in play.

I've also had my fair share of experience ripping apart and rebuilding my bikes so I'm not incompetent by any means.

I don't plan on doing any motor mods like cams or heads or anything but don't necessarily want to limit myself as we never know whats coming down the road.

I'm really looking for an easy device that I can install and with a few easy steps dial in a setup that would get me close to where I want to be.

Thanks in advance for any and all input..

 

From everything you have said, Go Power Vision - user friendly, not a piggyback, can be updated with a new map if you change your mind about further mods, and no dynos required. Probably a bit more than what you would like to pay, but I can tell you it has been my best money spent thus far. It gives you complete control of your tune, you can dig into all the details or just flash and do 3 Autotunes. Recommend buying from Fuel Moto and you will never have to worry about getting your questions answered.

 

There really aren't any inexpensive tuners, it will cost you some bucks if you want your bike to run to it's capability. If you are not going to do any other engine mods there are a few options for you. Keep in mind the cheepest "tuners" on the market are really not tuners and most will just adjust fuel and not timing, individual head tuning, ect ect. So the cheep stuff will make your bike run better then nothing but is really a half *** way to go about handling an expensive beast to be.

If you insist on going cheep..just get some XEID's for around $100 bucks and call it a day. They are resistor wires that go between your 02 sensors and tell the ECM that the bike needs more fuel and it the ECM adjust more fuel. No adjusting, plug and play, 15 minute install. Check out nightrider.com to read up on them.

The ideal situation would be to get a tuner and have it dyno tuned. I know you said your not worried about pulling the last hp out of the engine but it's not just about that. I bike that's tuned properly just runs better when your cruising. I would think the better your bike ran that it has a better chance of lasting longer even though I have no proof of that...just kinda makes sense.

I think both TTS and dynavision have a deal where you can buy the license fee for around 150+ and use your dyno tuners tuner to tune your bike. It is a one time reflash tune...If the right guy tunes it, it will be there for life and will be dialed in to perfection. It would cost you about 450-500 bucks. There are also tuners like powervision, TTS, and SERTPRO where you can download a map and tune yourself from there. I would not waste money with a harley download as they are EPA compliant and will do very little. I would recomend that if you go with a tuner that you get one that reflashes your ECM instead of one that is always hooked up to your bike and that can fail.

I have 550 total in my tune and it was worth every penny...I bought a TTS 2 bike tuner and split the cost with my brother (250@) and then I spent another 300 bucks on the dyno. Dropped it off the night before and picked it up the next day in the afternoon. No fuss, no down time, smiled all the way home.

 

Thanks for you input on the Power Vision Alan.. You are right in that it is a bit more than I'm looking to spend but it sounds like its a good choice.. And, I think you really kind hit it perfectly Rooti.. The point isn't to go cheap its about doing it right..

I saw the Xeid's and although I understand the concept, it seemed like the wrong way to go about it. Fooling the EFI unit into giving the bike more gas..

In all honesty wasn't too fond of the idea of piggybacking another device to my setup for the same reason you mentioned.



Guess I have still have some more thinking to do..

 

Well, I think I made my wallet and wife cry both at the same time... Power Vision was ordered 5 minutes ago from FuelMoto..

I'll check back in with my review after getting it and setting things up..

Thanks again..

 

MotoP, let us know how it works for you. I am in the exact same boat and your feedback would be much appreciated.

 

I've got a little more invested than rooti. And it took me a little while to get there. I went with the SE Pro Race Tuner ( Dynoed ), V & H exhaust and the Big Sucker intake. I was really worried that I was spending a lot of money for nothing. In my humble opinnion, the results are priceless.

 

Congats on the PV purchase! You will be amazed(and a bit overwhelmed) at what all you can do with it. Don't sit around waiting for it - go to the Dyna Jet website and look for Downloads under the Power Vision area. Download the Install Guide, Autotune Guide, Quick Tune Guide, and PV User Manual. Start reading before the PV shows up so you will be ready to use it when it arrives. Also, for some more great reading - go to the PV Sticky in this Forum and go back to about Oct 2012 and start reading the thread, thats about when Autotune came out and will be more important than trying to start at page 1.

 

Ok Guys,
My PV-1 showed up the other day and I didn't get a chance to mess with it until last night.

First mistake I made due to my excitement was only turning it half on.. I was a bit surprised to get the "Cannot detect ECU" message but since I never turned the ignition switch on the handlebar on the ECU never actually powered up.. Duh..

And that was about the toughest part to applying the map provided by Fuel Moto.
After I applied the map I started the bike up and ran it for about ten minutes. Due to the weather around here I wasn't able to go out on it and start data logging for the Auto Tune adjustments, but right off the bat I noticed how crisp the throttle response was and it seems to have cleaned up the decel pop that I had just after installing my screaming eagle slip-ons.

Temps are still in the 30's around here, it's supposed to warm up a bit next week so I'm hoping to get out and start the final tuning sessions.

The only thing that kinda left a bad taste in my mouth about the whole thing is the what they call the Marrying process.

This process renders the unit pretty much useless for flashing any bike other than the bike you bought it for. I know it's by design and I can even understand why the manufacturer does it, but that's not very consumer friendly. What if I had 2 EFI model Harleys and wanted to use it to tune both of my bikes? Or what if I sell my bike to get a newer one?

The Simple and Only Answer here is - You have to buy another one.

Luckily for me my wife's bike is not Fuel Injected.. When I do end up deciding to buy another bike I may take a closer look at my options and see if any of the other setups would allow use on multiple bikes. That being said if they all behave like that, I'd probably stick with getting another one..

I would like to say thanks for steering me in this direction, even though it is limited to my current bike, I have no need to be able to tune any other bike. This unit seems very simple to use and very compact.

I'll be back with a performance and auto tune review when I get a chance to get some seat time in..

 

You can buy a license to use your PV on another bike, not sure how much - I think around $150. Would be a bargain for the 2nd bike.