I've been told by my dealer that in order to do a remap I HAVE to buy the race tuner. Is this true, or are they trying to make a sale on the part? I've seen some people just do a one time remap for ~$100. Is this possible with my bike. I'll be adding Rinehart slip-ons in the next week, but will be keeping the stock air clear for now. I know it's not usually necessary with a stock air cleaner, but I'm curious...

 

I know they offer a one time download if you upgrade the intake, but if you do both intake and exhaust, apparently you need the tuner. And if the rineharts you get are the same ones I had, you are most likely going to need a dyno tune, unless you enjoy hearing popping every time you decel. Those pipes are straight through large diameter pipes with very little low end and an insane amount of high end. Not to mention LOUD haha. Nice though : )

 

I have the Screamin Eagle Stage I A/C and V&H Straightshots. My dealer did the Stage 1 download (~$150) after I installed the exhaust and A/C. My bike runs good with the download.

 

A download is a waste of money as they only have maps that work with HD SE upgrades, anything else is guesswork.
Much better to buy a power commander now and you can get new maps for free every time you change something (including aftermarket non SE stuff) plus you can always get a dynotune to pinpoint an exact fuel map once you have the setup ypu want to keep for a while.

 

Some dealer's claim that they can no longer offer the download. Over on another sportster forum I got chewed out for saying that a person could go get the download. They all said that the dealer's no longer offer it. It might just be for the 2009-2010 as I'm pretty sure those years have different ECMs than the 2008 and older, Just a few weeks ago my Dad went in with his 2008 and got the stage 1 download.

My dad has the stock intake with Rush slip on mufflers and the stage 1 download on his bike. His bike ran very rough and hot with the rush slip-ons and stock a/c. He took it in to the shop and they did the stage 1 download to it and now the bike runs much better, so much so that it even sounds completely different.

 

A race tuner is the best way to remap the bike, But a PC III or V is good as well. I have the PC III with a dyno tune on my bike and I love it. The PC III is cheaper thenthe race tuner and can be sold if you want to later-one the race tuner is used on your bike it's only good for your bike. The base HD download is not too good at all. I have it in my bike and it did not help one pipes and AC was installed.