I've got a PCIII usb and will be upgrading (when my shipment arrives) to the PCV with autotune. Even with the PCIII, it will allow the rpm limit to be raised from stock, you can adjust both ignition timing advance and fuel on a cylinder by cylinder basis. It has an acceleration pump feature which can be timed by the number of cylinder revolutions. With dyno tuning, you are leaving nothing on the table. The same ECM knock features, elevation and temperature modifiers remain intact. The PCV with autotune and it's wide band O2 sensors have even more capabilities. You can have your power performance map that can be continuously optimized by leaving the system in autotune (which you can enable or not), you can add a switch so that you can chose on the run between your performance map (approx. 13.2 to 1 AFR) and an economy map (14.2 to 1) for better fuel mileage. If it's hot, the bike will run cooler with the performance map. I call that versatility that leaves nothing on the table which will adapt as new or different power modifiers are added. If you so chose, you can verify the tune by having a dyno pull with the exhaust sample so you can get the fuel trace. That would be much cheaper than 2 or 3 hours of dyno tuning and less wear and tear on your ride too.

 

+1 on that! We saw it with the 09 tire issue. It's the Dealer's that are different. I ask the service guy about this when I bought my extended warranty. He said if I installed a PCV it wouldn't effect my warranty unless the problem was directly caused by it.

 

Let me say no matter what you tuning device you use the bike will need to be tuned. No matter what people say that are trying to sell you a product a professional dyno tune will yield the best results for maximum efficiency, HP/TQ, and most of all the driveability and smoothness of the bike through the entire RPM range. It does not matter if you get a canned tune file from me, Fuel Moto, DynoJet or Harley Super Tuner your bike will not have the same feeling as if your bike is professionally tuned correctly. It is amazing to me how people will spend $20-40K for a motorcycle, spend more money on performance upgrades then just accept the way there bike is running on a canned map. I have yet to see a canned map that did not have lean spots and rich spots with in the same tune file. The bike may run but no where near what I call acceptable. Maybe someday I will be suprised.

PC5 shortcomings in my opinion:

They should not be used at all on a Fly-by-wire throttle bike because they can not adjust throttle progresstivity, throttle lag, slow throttle at all. None of the addon products can adjust this. You may not think you have this issue but take your bike through a safety course with cones or ride some "twisty" roads aggressively and you will feel the lack of throttle during the decel to accel transition. Can be very un-nerving when the throttle is slow to respond in this situation.

Why do you want to eliminate the factory O2 sensors especially on a new 2010 bike? These sensors can be setup correctly to maintain correct fuel in a lightload cruise area to optimize fuel mileage. In this mode they work quite well.

On your bike specifically the entire tuning now has changed to RPM/MAP, no longer using TPS as the PC5 uses. There is not a direct correlation between TPS and MAP so the only way to get a 2010 bagger tuned correctly is using the tuning software that will tune it for RPM/MAP. This can be SEST,TTS, or Direct Link.

Short Comings of SEST in my opinion:

Harley has come a long way with their tuning product. I believe the TTS guys and Direct Link guys have put some pressure on them to produce a product that will have more tuneability. The SEST software works just fine, ths issue is that the majority of the Harley dealers do not know how to use the product or tune with it on a dyno. They can flash a tune file from the CD but really can not deal with fine tuning the product on a dyno. This makes it more frustrating for their customers as they pay $500 dollars for the SEST and the bike still does not run correctly. I am not complaining as this keeps me very busy tuning.

Send me a PM if you have more specific questions.

 

A thought from a fellow Californian who won't offer an opinion on which is the better tuner because he's not educated or experienced enough to go there without getting hammered... We'll be the first to be smog tested, you can bet on it and I've read that it's coming in 2012. So, for the bike to be tested, I understand that the sert would have to be remapped as it changes the information in the ECM. Which means another day on the dyno and another hit to the wallet. With the PC-V you can just unplug it(it's between the bike and the ECM) before testing. I went with the power package from fuelmoto and am very happy with the results. The bike runs much stronger than it did stock and I can have it back in stock configuration in about 2.5 hours. I tend to keep my stuff a long time so five hours wrenching every couple of years doesn't sound as bad as paying the piper over and over again.

 

So bottom line re: SEST is to contact local dealers and see what their experience is ? Worth a shot to contact the service guys and inquire. The current version of SEST is available at EBay for around $226/shipped. I'm guessing that buying this item and just having the dealer load a canned map for my set-up ( 09 FLHT with SE intake/V&H slip-ons/stage 1 download) would be a good upgrade and then get into more serious tuning when I do a cam/.030 gasket build ? Any idea what a basic canned download is ? I am not competent enough to use the software to tune my own set-ups....

 

My dealer wants a $180.00 for a stage one down load.

 

This is not correct. The Race Tuner can be tuned by anyone with a dyno machine and the Race Tuner Software. There are indies that will tune the Race Tuner. Additionally with the software you can adjust the base calibrations yourself (not recommended without some sort of sniffer).

 

I didn't tell the whole story b/c I didn't want to hijack but it sorta happened itself. The pcv along with the high comp pistons and se heads have the checkered flags next to them in the catalog and says "not street legal". About 5 months later I started experiencing hard shifts so I took it in (still under warranty (aftermarket)). The dealer said everything was fine have a good day. I was not satisfied. I went home and changed the trans oil to find chunks. I then took them back and the service mgr said I should learn how to shift. The chunks were a soft metal not gear pieces. I was able to find a piece of a needle bearing before they would dig in under warranty. When the dealer dug in they found what I thought, bearing failure. According to the service Mgr, the warranty company had to come out to verify the dammage due to the extent. The answer I got was that ext warranty declined b/c I had non-street legal parts in there. The souped up motor added stress to the trans in turn grenading it.
The dealer said either pick your bike up or pick out a new trans. I went in there ask asked why my bike was not street legal. They souped it up and they let me drive it away "on the street".
I better not authorize any work till I contact my lawyer. Claude the owner called me himself and offered to deliver a rental untill they could replace the trans "on the house".
Hmmm..... I took the replacement, and sold her shortly after. guess where I didnt go for my next bike? WOODSTOCK HD

 

So when you install a 103" or 110" stage 3 kit, you have to replace the tranny too? I don't think so.

 

Your are right on that. But how often do you see them break? Because if you do the math and ask some of the other guys here that build motors with a good amount of tq/hp. I have bikes out there making 150 hp plus with 140 plus tq on them and no probs. They are designed to handle weight load factor. Now the clutch on the other hand is a whole nother issue.
What I dont understand why a dealer did not warranty his trans a PC3/5 it can not break a trans it controls fuel and time. Yes it will help add power but it adjusts the afr not shifting points. and how he or she shifts.