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Tuner Rental

6K views 20 replies 15 participants last post by  SlowGuy 
#1 ·
I came across something earlier this week that seems like such a good idea that it'll surely catch on. I have one on the way and will report back if anybody here is interested.

The skinny of it... Dobeck Performance has come up with an instrument to help the avarage guy set up their motorcycle to run the way that it should. From the description the user removes the cover and then drills a small hole in the exhaust headpipe and installs a riv nut of sorts with a puller and with parts supplied. A sensor is then screwed into this driving a display that clips to the handlebars or similar which is powered by a plug that can go into a cigarette lighter in the fairing of our bikes. Then while riding the fuel air mixture can be measured giving the ability to tune the bike and get it spot on.

Once finished a small bolt with a washer is screwed into the rivnut to seal the hole.

Okay, here is the best part. The rental is $20 per week beginning when the tuner arrives, and ending when the box is postmarked for return. It should be here tomorrow... Excuse me a moment... I'm back after taking a moment to moon walk across the room and then do cartwheels all the way back. Can't wait to play with this thing.
 
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#2 ·
Sounds interesting. Makes me wonder what they are using to read the exhaust. Are they using an O2 sensor and if they are I'm wondering how it is going to work out when the ECM is reading off the original sensors. Like I said, sounds interesting. Keep us posted.
 
#5 ·
That appears to only tune one cylinder. Do you have to do this twice? I believe each cylinder has a set of trims. My Power Vision just plugs into the ECM outlet.
 
#6 ·
Almost looks like its a good enough deal to just buy one and rent it to friends and others. Could be fun having your own sniffer
 
#7 ·
From what I see it is simply a diagnostic tool, only allowing you to SEE and monitor the air/fuel ratio, NOT actually change or "tune" anything.

AND, I see an analog gauge with a range of 11-15 AFR, when in reality the difference between a correct tune and an out to lunch tune may only be in a range of .5 AFR, not easy to sort on an analog gauge.

You still need a tuner, and the good ones allow you to do the same thing, permanently if you'd like.
 
#9 ·
I agree.
It is not a tuner merely an AFR reader. It might be ok for an older bike but for a new TBW ecm that analog guage isn't even close.
Then you still need an actual tuner to make the adjustments. Nothing here that would replace my Thunder Max....
 
#8 ·
I personally would not even think about drilling a hole in my exhaust and then plugging it. Exhaust systems are to costly to drill a hole into IMO
 
#10 ·
Calvet

I'm sorry but this is not a tuner only a very basic diagnostic tool to read afr. You will still need a tuner to make any adjustments to a efi bike. Not to be rude but this looks more like a waste of time, money and just leaves you with a extra hole in your 600 dollar exhaust.

I run a power vision and it has the ability to run Nd log data and rewrite the tune n it's own or for even more precise tuning it can be used on a Dyno.

If I were you as soon as it arrives send it back and do more research to get a real tuner that will help you out. There is a lo of good info on this site
 
#14 · (Edited)
+1, I completely agree. Also, a proper tune involves a lot more then air/fuel ration. The air/fuel is necessary when you put on a new pipe and breather. Your motorcycle is already designed to self tune as you ride right out of the factory. The goal is to bring all of the parameters together so they adjust themselves equally as you ride. You should also have both cylinders tuned to run together properly. Your engine can do things that you don't know about. There are some things you can't detect without a dyno tune or v-tune, such as pings. Even a professional tune can be done wrong if the person tuning your bike doesn't have the skills to properly interpret the datat. I'm not a technical guy so I may not be explaining this eloquently. Hopefully Frank (Drago) or Doc can chime in and better express my point. Bottom line, don't waste your money.

Edit: If you're looking for a gauge that will accurately read your air/fuel ration I would recommend the one made by RB Racing.
 
#11 · (Edited)
Okay, bad wording calling this a tuner. I have a tuner on my bike, this will let me see what it is doing as I make adjustments. If not, well twenty bucks isn't a big deal. You guys are rough. ;) BTW, it is sitting on the dining room table. Not a chance of it going back without trying it out.

(Isn't it pretty much the norm to get a hole drilled in your pipe when getting it dyno tuned? This seems like the least of my worries. ???)
 
#12 · (Edited)
No holes drilled in my pipes to Dyno a sniffer is used or you can swap out to wide band sensors

I'm glad you have a tuner and understood what this product is. I'd be worried that a gauge won't give you the reading accuracy to make fine adjustments but have in with it and let us know the outcome.

I'd be interested how from an analog gauge you will be able to read and adjust for wot, load, no load, open and closed loop just to start , the ecm is making hundreds of adjustments at a time
 
G
#15 · (Edited)
Just FYI, most shops drill a hole in your headers if they use a sniffer and you dont have O2 sensors or even if you do have O2 sensors and they are located below the trans area or if they use a probe type sniffer and you have a baffle that is not straight through to allow them to put the probe straight up the tail pipe. The closer to the heads the sampling can be done, the better. Harley sells these rivnuts out of their SE catalog. This is the best way to tune if you dont have the large O2 bungs near the heads or if the shop tunes with anything other than the large wideband O2 sensors. If you've had your bike tuned on a dyno, theres a good chance you have holes drilled in the front and read headers and a rivnut installed or the hole has been welded back up. Something like this....
 

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#17 · (Edited)
Yes I have. Sorry for not getting back sooner.

Overall the thing worked pretty well. It had a Bosch O2 sensor, a little box that looked similar to the Dobeck tuner that I have on my motorcycle which converts the digital readings to analog, and a gauge that suction cups to the tank. It also has various cords to provide power depending on if you have a cigarette lighter, or need to connect directly to the battery, or into a battery tender plug, etc. It comes with the proper sized drill bit, the rivnuts, as well as all hardware needed to connect the thing as well as clear directions on how to set up and use.

The readings on the gauge were easy to work with, and seemed to pick up even the smallest changes that I could make with my tuner. Overall I got it running to a point where I'm very happy with it.

Before I sent it back to Dobeck we installed it on my father in laws Harley. He has done quite a bit of work to it, such as heads, pipes, cams, and God only knows what else. He's a bit of a cheater in this area. Likes to go fast, but look stock. Sort of old school I guess. Anyway, his bike was set up on a Dyno so it seemed like a good check of the tuning system I rented. Ready for this, the gauge was pretty darned accurate. I could see that when tuning my motorcycle that each adjustment on the Dobeck was changing the mixture in about .2 increments, IE 13.7:1 to 13.9:1, etc., but just didn't know if these readings were indeed accurate. We were able to confirm that they were indeed by comparing it to the way my father in laws bike was set up.

So now my bike is running good, and frankly like it should have from the factory. It isn't the fastest out there, but that isn't what I was going for. It just runs clean, is responsive, much cooler, and has power that feels linear when twisting the throttle. It is tractor like in the mountains and requires little shifting on twisty mountain roads even two up. It revs to redline quickly when getting after it which was only a dream when I started this journey. I'm calling it done. Time to ride.
 
#20 ·
It seems like these guys might know a thing or two about about tuning and performance Ive been doing some research & I haven't found a single bad review about there product.

http://www.hotrod.com/thehistoryof/113_0603_dynojet_chassis_dyno/viewall.html
Interesting article. I was looking into one of their tuners but my new to me bike had the SERT already installed when I got it. They gave some pretty deep discounts to Military, Ex-Military, FD, and PD employees.

Seem like really good people. I think it was John that I talked with.
 
#21 ·
I just seen this thread after making a post asking if anyone has tried the Dobeck Gen4 tuner... I spoke with Chris also at Dobeck Performance. You have to ask yourself what would Mark Dobeck know about tuning? He was the founder of Dyno Jet and tried to implement the technology used in the Gen4 tuner into current Dyno Jet tuners he developed, was met with marketing opposition and ended up selling the company is what I was told. I am awaiting delivery... Let you know how it works out.
 
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