At this point in my life, I’m not one to abuse my vehicles. If I want to go fast, I take out one of my Tridents. The Ultra we bought for comfort, and everything I had done so far was to create more “useable” power in normal driving range. It has seldom seen RPM’s above 4500, and seldom would I apply full throttle in any gear. However, the erratic times I got in my previous runs have me intrigued, and I can’t wait to get out on the same road and repeat the tests. The first one was a simple full throttle roll on, in fifth gear, from 60 mph to 90. The previous best time was 14.5 seconds., with a worse of 17.5 seconds. Now, with the PowrPro installed, the best of four passes was 12.4 seconds, and the worse was 14.0

From 40 mph to 90, using third and fourth gear, shifting at 5500, the best I timed before was 15 seconds.
After installing the PowrPro, I got that time down to 12.4 seconds. That’s a significant difference.

I also cracked the throttle wide open in fifth at 50 mph, which is only 2050 rpm, and experienced no lugging or detonation.

We realize that there is a lot of possibility for error in any of these homemade tests, but after four passes at each test, just taking the averages and comparing shows a definite gain in power. So far, I’ve only put on 90 miles since installing the PowrPro, and from this point on I’ll be driving like I normally do, and check gas mileage. I believe that I’ll get slightly less mileage, and here’s the reason why.

A member of the M109 forum was nice enough to forward to me a letter he received direct from a Cobra rep, that answered his specific questions. This last paragraph explains the difference between the PowrPro on bikes with or without Ox sensors.

"CVT is a continuous mixture-correcting process, not a fixed set of values “in a can,” like that of the stock EFI system or previous EFI tuning systems. Instead, CVT operates continuously, detecting throttle movement that indicates significant acceleration, and there is a threshold below which it switches to one of two other modes. If the bike has an exhaust oxygen sensor, this data typically controls the mixture in steady cruise or during slow roll-ons, and the PowrPro system adjusts this to 14.2- to-1 air/fuel ratio, giving maximum-power operation. If the bike has no oxygen sensor, the system observes the range of variation of mixture over several cycles and sets the mixture to the rich end of that variation. "

Based on my spark plugs and exhaust coloring, I think my TC88 has been running about perfect at cruising speed. It appears to me after reading the above, that may change back to being a little richer.

 

Summary

In corresponding with Anthony from Phat Performance, and speaking with him by telephone, I was very impressed with his overall professionalism and willingness to “take a gamble” on having a couple of forum members do a review. This is what he wrote to me:

"We are looking for an honest review. If you are unhappy with the product, feel free to share your opinion. Hopefully you will enjoy this product and share that info with the forum.

"Per your HDForum private message: "I can do a review complete with pictures of the installation, comparison of gas mileage before and after installation, "seat of the pants" dyno, overall performance, positive or negative. I can also do a roll on acceleration timing before and after installation, such as a third gear hard acceleration from 3000 - 5500 rpm."

"The above test are exactly what we are looking for. We greatly appreciate your help on this. We've been selling a lot of these for metric bikes and everyone has loved this product, I'm sure you will too!”

So, let’s start with the negatives. There’s only a couple, but something I noticed. For it’s price, it seems to be lightweight in construction. I was expecting something more “hefty.” Joe Minton mentioned that fact as well in his review of the original Fi 2000. As I mentioned earlier, I was reluctant to follow the directions and mount it under the seat where I couldn’t easily keep an eye on it. The single ground wire was light in gauge as well. On the other end of the harness, however, the wires and connectors appeared to be made as heavy as the original Harley ones they plug into, and unlike the original Fi 2000, there are no doors or hinges or snaps to break, as this is a sealed unit.

Cobra should also have not named it so similar to their previous, still produced Fi 2000. Having two products with such similar names has obviously confused many people, especially when they think they are getting a "deal" when they find a Fi 2000 for $200 and think they are getting a Fi 2000 PowrPro that sells for $500 and up.

Positives: As I had already done a Stage One download on a 2006, when it still actually enrichened the fuel/air mixture, I was pleasantly surprised at the additional gains. The “seat of the pants” dyno is fantastic. There is no hesitation, missing, decel popping, or other issues. If a customer were to install this unit on a completely stock Harley, along with freer flowing air cleaner and pipes, I believe they would really feel the difference, with the added benefit of a cooler running engine at cruising throttle.

The biggest benefit, however, if it continues to work as claimed, is that it is “plug and play.” It was simple to install, and the user does not have to learn and deal with mapping issues that many of the other tuners have. If you have a newer Harley with the quick release gas lines, being able to easily take off the tank would make the install a snap. Bikers can now change out parts, such as air cleaners, pipes, or increase displacement, and the design of this product will automatically adapt without additional cost for remapping or dyno time.

 

"If the bike has no oxygen sensor, the system observes the range of variation of mixture over several cycles and sets the mixture to the rich end of that variation. "

Well, I went for a nice easy, 104 mile ride yesterday, driving at 60-65, and used 2.5 gallons, which is just barely 40 mpg. Being it was a perfect day for riding, I would have expected around 45 on my Ultra, based on five years of riding it and checking my fuel mileage at every fill.

Reading that quoted sentence over and over, I'm wondering what Cobra means by "several cycles." Is a cycle each time you turn the bike on and off, or a cycle based on time or revolutions of the engine? While I was doing the acceleration tests, I put on 32.4 miles and used 1.6 gallons. If that WOT driving was figured into the "cycles", it would then be a major factor in its calculation of cruising A/F . I'm hoping that each time I ride, a more true average of how I ride will factor in and raise my cruising gas mileage back up to what I was getting.

As far as the 100 mile ride...my favorable impression remains. Everytime I had to slow down, and then speed back up, there is a very noticeable difference in power, and an equally noticeable difference in sound when accelerating. We'll be taking another ride today and I'll post results.

 

this has been my reservation on this product..this really seems like it does nothing more than change the average target AFR from 14.6 down to 14.2.

Is this not correct? Can the tuner go outside of that target AFR? If not then this is no better than a $40 pair of Xieds.

Also, 14.2 seems very lean.

 

No, the main benefit is in the acceleration features of the product, giving the ideal air/fuel mixture under power or under load, with the 14.2 ratio at cruise (for the units made for the ox sensor equipped models).

I just returned from a 200 mile ride, at how I would normally ride. I would expect before installation to get around 45 mpg, driving at 60-65 (I live in an area where 99% of the roads are posted at 55). As my last fill of 2.6 gallons was 10% ethanol, I'm now running an appoximate 50/50 mix of non-ethanol/ethanol. I stopped today at exactly 100.2 miles, and put in 2.3 gallons of 10% ethanol, which would be 43.6 mpg. At this point, with a five gallon tank, I now have a mixture of about 75% ethanol. Arriving back home, with an additional 106 miles on the clock, it again took 2.6 gallons, giving me 40.7 mpg. I should mention it's been a long time since I've gotten less than 42 mpg, except on our trip when we got some really bad gas in Wyoming, dropping us down into the 37-38 mpg range, and lots of detonation.

On today's ride, I passed through several small towns where I had to either slow down to 30 mph, or stop at country intersections, and again, the power difference accelerating is very noticeable. It will be hard to keep my hand from twisting the wick, just as I experienced when I first installed the Andrews 21 cams. That will affect my gas mileage as well.

Here's a pic of my pipes after about 300 miles. The right one has gotten a little darker.

 

The other thing I hadn't thought to mention is oil temps. I ran today for 200 miles with the vents on the lowers closed, as well as my Freedom wings on the fairing. Air temps were around 70-72 this afternoon. At my first gas stop the oil temp was right at 200, and arriving back home it was at 210.

Later this week, temps are supposed to get close to 80. I hope to be able to get out and see what happens. My Ultra usually runs at 230 with the vents OPEN, not closed.

 

I had a nice visit by telephone today with Anthony from Phat Performance. He asked me one more thing to add to this thread....Would I now buy this product if I knew previously the difference it would make?

My answer to him was, "At a price of $500 for a totally new product, I would have been reluctant to purchase the PowrPro without having some feedback to go on from other users. Now that I was able to test the PowrPro, the choice would now be easy for me. I don't want to have to teach myself how to understand mapping that some other products would require, and I don't want to incur the additional expense of adding new head pipes or welding in bungs to install Ox sensors that other products would require. The ease of install and the totally automatic features of the Cobra Fi 2000 PowrPro, along with the very noticeable increase in power, would make it a very desireable product for me." Yes, with what I now know, I would spend the money.

One thing I didn't mention earlier in this review is that at the end of the afternoon of running the tests, I did some full throttle runs, and taped them. You can see for yourself the results by clicking on this video.

Video removed for legal reasons ! See last post !

Note: Due to the mounting of the Droid X, the video is upside down. Note also a higher speed is attainable remaining in fourth gear.

 

14.2 is still too lean. And you saying that the 14.2 is only used during "cruising" is misleading. The Power Pro and the bike's ECM have no idea when you are cruising or not, the 14.2 value is a target value that the Power Pro will always try to target against. I'm not saying that when you go WOT it won't give more fuel, but so will the bike's computer as anything over 50% (is considered WOT and the O2 feedback is ignored).

Also, another reason the O2 sensors are needed is because the Power Pro uses the them for feed back. I have confirmed this by speaking directly with a Cobra engineer weeks back. The power pro's ability is LIMITED to the range of the O2 sensors (about 14.1-14.6 AFR). The only exception to this is if you are going WOT in which case the Power Pro will kick in, and this is ONLY because the ECM allows the O2's to be ignored whenever the throttle is opened up past 50% (or it could be even higher -someone else may here may know).

So knowing that the Power Pro is ONLY viable in WOT and basically does NOTHING for regular cruising and and riding, $500 for this does not seem worth it, IMHO. It's an over glorified Fuel Pak.

I had wanted this to be different, but as I said I had a lengthy conversation with the engineer, and was very specific about the feedback it uses, it's abilities, and most importantly, what the exact AFR ranges it was capable of, which isn't much.

 

Also, technical disagreements/opinions aside..this was an excellent review. Great job man.

 

Thank you, neocontra...it was fun to do it. Especially the full throttle runs to top end !

I do believe, however, that you may have misunderstood how the PowrPro works. It doesn't work at just WOT, but any time you accelerate.

I also have a non-ox sensor bike, which requires a different model than those with ox sensors. My concern, as I tried to explain above, is what is happening to my "cruising" air/fuel mixture.

In the next post I'll copy and paste the entire letter written by a Cobra rep, answering all the questions raised by the M109 riders. After you read this, you may have a better understanding of the technology behind it. It is my understanding that it would know whether or not you are cruising or not, by measuring the input from timing the injectors.

Also, please understand, I am as skeptical as they come when it comes to "hype." I've been reading all I can all over the internet about this, and have seen both positive and negative comments. Phat Performance wanted an honest review and opinion, negative or positive, and I'll give both. So far, the only negative to me is a noticeable drop in fuel mileage, which is opposite of what the Suzuki riders are reporting, but I don't know if they have non-ox sensor bikes or not.