I bought a new-to-me 2010 Street Bob with pre-fitted Vance and Hines short shots a few weeks ago, and have been loving it ever since. Now having worked on many motorcycles in the past I know that once you fit some free-flowing pipes on a bike, it will generally run worse than stock until some sort of fuel management/rejet is applied. I have had great success with the Dolbeck unit in my bandit, but ordering another and waiting the forever until it shows up (via snail mail) was out of the question for me. So, I went to my local tuner shop and ordered up the Wiseco - a rebrand of the popular Dolbeck with nearly identical functionality.

Now before you crazy guys all start barking at me "YOU SHOULD HAVE GOTTEN DYNO TESTING" or "WHY NOT GET POWER COMMANDER AND GET SWEET MAPS", what works for you is great, but I don't like the idea of overwriting the factory tune with maps that may be way off or swing way wide in certain areas, I like what the dolbeck units do, very simply just add slightly to the already existing factory maps with a few button pushes. I'm never going to put in 'hot cams' or exceedingly complicated modifications, I just want to rejet it as if it were a carb. Simple, changable, and fun to play around with.

Install was a breeze other than one aspect. The "quick disconnect" fitting from the HD tank to the fuel rail. OH, MY GAWD. Please don't call it a quick disconnect line if you can never reach it nor disconnect it quickly. Once the tank was propped up as best as I could get, I managed to eventually pry the clip out of the fitting after about 2 hours of needle nose pliers, flat screwdriver, and general blood sweat and frustration.

The quick disconnect fitting is buried underneath frame cradles that make sure you will never have an easy time putting even on finger on the line, but it can be done. Once the clip was released and removed, the fuel line comes off with some wiggling and firm tugging. The fuel line from the tank did not leak out fuel at first, but after about 10 minutes when I was nowhere near the bike, someone said they heard a "peeing sound" and the tank was draining out via the disconnected line.

Having no idea why this was happening - my old bandit self purged and stayed closed, and for the last 10 minutes it didn't run any gas at all -I just assumed Harley Davidson made it as difficult as it could for DIYers and just pressed one of the gas tank bolts into the end of the fitting, being careful not to spoil the O-ring seal inside. One the bolt was in, the pouring slowed to a drip.

Once the unfathomably difficult part of the job was over, I just pushed the tank up, shoved an oil filter box underneath to hold it up, and the injectors popped out with barely any effort at all. A squeeze with two fingers for the front, and for the rear I had to hug that tank and push in from each side and pull up and it popped out as well. Once I piggybacked the lines into the Wisco unit and tucked the lines around to make sure nothing was going to melt on the heads and reassembled to the point where I could fire up the bike.

With the ignition on the unit blinked its self test up, and the bike fired up as if nothing happened. Good, no fires, no explosions, no problems. Wraps of the throttle sounded angrier than usual, no black smoke out the pipes though, and after buttoning everything up I went for a test ride with the base recommended settings.

Third gear 40 mph pulls now definitely knock you on your butt, and the it lugs out of corners with authorative honk. Stop light and low-throttle first gear movements were more responsive, lacking the lean-stumble that I normally get with no backpressure. High RPM actual horsepower still seems to taper off around 55 mph in second gear, but this bike is not about big power anyways. 6th gear feels about the same, but 5th gear drive on the freeway seems more impressive. Rolling off the throttle in low gears now gives decisively more engine braking - something that Harley probably intended to soften with a more aggressive DECEL MAX FUEL settings (the Wiseco has that down to 0.5, which is probably less than factory). However its not an issue in anything above first and not scary or anything, and adjustable via the tuning module in a snap. I noted absolutely no popping on deceleration with the Wiseco tuner installed, its just gone.

I haven't had a chance to play with the settings yet - probably be very mild changes from the recommended since I only have just the pipes, but I still prefer a safer cooler and smoother running engine with restored grunt over leaned out factory settings with aftermarket pipes. I'll post updates if I find settings changes that make a difference.

Bike: 2010 Street Bob 1584cc
Modifications: VH Staggered Short Shots (quiet baffles)
Settings: BASE RECOMMENDED
G3.5 Y2.5 R2.5 DMF*0.5 YB**4.0 RB**4.5

notes:
- Off-idle response and acceleration superb
- Mid RPM punch improved
- High RPM no perceived improvement
- No decel popping on overrun
- Increased engine braking (reduced DMF?)


*decel max fuel **Cutoffs for yellow and red 'jets'

 

Thank you for the write up.....I don't know exactly why but I'm starting to look into these turners.

 

So, you leave the O2 sensors in-place and connected with this tuner?

 

I was worried about this as well, but the installation manuals don't mention any use of an O2 bypass. Once the system was hooked up and running, it did not trip the EFI light or any warning lights. I believe this bike is running in an open loop system that does not report back to the ECU, or the O2 sensors were already bypassed when the pipes were installed.

I did see two O2 sensors buried into the header portions of VH pipes, so they are definitely there.

The harness did have two types of piggyback connectors, and I only used one set. The other I tucked in under the seat.

 

If its just fitted between the ECU and the sensors then it can't be running in open loop all the time. Well, not unless someone also fitted a programmable tuner and altered the tables accordingly, which seems unlikely.

So, this tuner probably works similar to the V&H Fuelpak.

You might find the tune isn't quite so good after a while if that's the case. The O2 sensors and the ECU will read the richer AFR being set by your tuner and drag the AFR back closer to stock.

 

I'm confused. if the o2 censors and ecu drag the mix back to stock what do these add ons actually do? I thought they tricked it into thinking it needs more fuel.

 

They still add fuel, its just that over a short time its not as much as it was at installation. Particularly they tend to be poor in closed loop.

 

The tuner itself claims it does not scramble the factory signal or overwrite it, so I wonder if the ECU system just doesn't see a problem. That being said there was an entire other harness that I didn't hook up that had no instructions, could have been some sort of O2 bypass. I'll contact Wiseco and see what they say.

 

So basically you installed something to your expensive Harley of which you are not entirely sure how it even works and there is another component you did not install which you may or may not need?

 

This is the part of the Harley community I'm still getting used to: people who obviously never turned a wrench before and are caught up in brand mystique and their image.

The other "manufacturer" forums are less posers and more serious folks with problem solving skills. Its a motorcycle with some injectors. It's not an alien spaceship. Obviously the harness has universal adapter styles to fit other bikes with other injector connectors.

If you're not going to be productive in any way then please refrain from posting.