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In today’s world of fuel-injected motorcycles, there’s a lot of uncertainty about tuning your own bike. Like if and when you should add a FI controller to your motorcycle. And going a step further, how do you go about tuning said controller once you get it installed?A lot of companies have the “set it and forget it” philosophy, whereby they do the legwork for you and build fuel-injection maps and pre-load them into a given unit. Then it’s up to you to select the map that’s closest to your setup. Others offer units that are more “tunable,” where custom maps can be written using dynamometers with air-fuel sniffers that simulate road conditions and allow your bike to be tuned across the rpm/throttle position range.
And that’s just the beginning because bikes no longer have simple ignitions. Instead, they’re equipped with ECMs that control virtually everything on the bike. This can not onlymake it difficult to tune your bike, but tough to service it in general. Most people end up just taking it to their local dealer because they claim to be the only ones with the tools to cure your bike ailment. This trip is usually accompanied by a substantial bill.
Lucky for us there are a couple of smart guys over at Daytona Twin Tec who have developed some tools that enable you to perform the maintenance of your motorcycle in the comfort of your own garage.
The Twin Scan II is a tool that your dealer doesn’t want you to know about. It can read and clear diagnostic codes from the ECM, turn signal/security module, speedometer, tach and ABS system. There’s a real time display of engine data and built-in data logging that stores 45 minutes of data and is automatically triggered when the bike throws a code. This bad boy is compatible with 2001-20011 HD fuel-injected models as well as 2003-2006 carbureted models with a 12-pin ignition module. It also has two analog inputs for air/fuel ratio, which brings us to our next piece of wizardry from Daytona Twin Tec.
It’s the Wego III wide-band air/fuel metering system. This little marvel is like having your own on-board dyno. It comes with a Bosch LSU4.2 five-wire wide band O2 sensor that allows you to take highly accurate air/fuel readings from 10.3-19.5 AFR with less than plus or minus .10 AFR error. It will log more than two hours of data including AFR, rpm and it has a 0-5v analog input for sensors such as throttle position or manifold pressure.
And this isn’t just for fuel-injected bikes either. Carb guys: No longer will you hear, “Just go up two jet sizes and call it good.” Also gone is the practice of judging the tune by the color of the pipes. This system will tell you exactly where your tune up is and allow you make the necessary adjustments without guesswork. And for you fuel-injected bike owners, you can take your FI maps into your own hands without having to rely on a shop with a dyno to tune your bike. For little more than a custom map would cost, you can own the tool to do it yourself.
Don’t let the electronics on your bike scare you. Here are two tools that allow you to take the tuning of your bike back into your garage. With the bikes that are being built, these two tools are as necessary to your toolbox as a ratchet and sockets.
