Maintaining a balance between your bike’s fuel consumption and the overall performance is a daunting task. Irrespective of your mechanical abilities, model and make of your bike, or financial constraints, a perfect fuel manager situation goes a long way into saving you time and cost in maintaining your motorcycle.
Many gadgets exist in the market, and they promote the performance of your bike, and an auto tuner is one. It is on of the essential items your bike ought to have, and you may want to do a remap on your bike if it does not have this part.
So what is a motorcycle auto tuner? An auto tuner is a unit that helps in adjusting air and fuel, for bikes that use the fuel injection technology. An auto tuner monitors the performance of a motorcycle and constantly tunes the air and fuel ratio to an ideal capacity, hence allowing excellent full delivery and optimum performance of your motorcycle.
An auto tuner gives the biker a piece of mind, assuring them of having a proper amount of fuel in the tank at all times. It also offers a better throttle response, increases the bike’s power hence give a smoother cruising and in most cases give improved fuel mileage.
Motorcycle manufactured are nowadays incorporating the electronic fuel injection technology to the latest units before releasing them to the market. Dynojet is the leading the market in making dyno auto tuner kits, which collaborates with Power Commander plugs to give an automatic fuel adjustment and editing of the auto tuner. It comes with an O2 sensor, similar to the conventional sensor synonymous with modern day bikes.
When to Add a Tuner
There are lots of conflicting information regarding the best time to add a tuner to your motorcycle. However, different bikes have changing times for this essential gadget on your bike;
- If you wish to increase the air inflow to your engine, begin by adding a slip on mufflers on the motorcycle. Alternatively, use a higher performing air intake gadget to increase that amount of air your bike breathes hence increase its horsepower.
- After changing your bike’s exhaust, you may need to add a tuner to it. It comes as a great option to putting an aftermarket air intake. Most tuners will come with an additional map download when you change the pipes.
- Apart from increasing your bike’s horsepower, you can adjust the tuner for a better throttle response while also eliminating cases of backfiring. The tuner allows the engine to run cooler hence offer a more satisfying run in the end.
Why Add a Tuner
Many reasons necessitate the addition of a tuner to a motorcycle. They include;
- Promote fuel economy- Tuning your bike comes with an extra horsepower, allowing smooth rideability while enhancing the throttle inputs to suit different riding conditions.
- Build confidence in the rider- Adding a tuner to your motorcycle fixes issues such as chugging, the vibration of the handlebars or stalling when taking off from places where there are restrictions on the speed limit. Through this, you will have the confidence of riding at a constant speed, relaxing and enjoying the ride rather than struggling to stay on one right speed.
- Less Service and Maintenance- Adding a tuner prolongs the time between maintenance and servicing your bike. Oil change, tires, tune-up parts, throttle cables, brakes and engine and to last longer thanks to smoother riding.
Cost of Dyno Tune and Installation
The engine is the motorcycle’s heart and plays a critical role in following executing instructions from the rider. It creates coordinates with the rider, to propel the rear tyre and increase or reduce speeds in different riding conditions.
You will need a dynamometer to tune a motorcycle. Most people call it a “dyno”. It is a diagnostic tool, which allows you to simulate riding the bike on the road in a controlled setting. When the bike is on the diagnostic tool, your bike is hooked up to numerous computer systems to allow you see what is going on with the engine and engine management system.
Use a few extra gadgets, to make changes to your bike’s engine, to ensure it runs efficiently. By dyno tuning the bike, you are making changes to the engine management system, until you find the perfect run for the motorcycle. The goal of tuning is to connect your wrist to the bike’s rear tire, getting it to do what you wish it to do, picking speeds smoothly and without hesitation.
You have the option of choosing from a Power Commander and Thundermax Auto Tune. These two tuners are easy to install and tune. They are currently the best performing tuners on the market, and you can easily create custom maps depending on the needs of the motorcycle. You can map Power Commanders for modifications and later on, re-map it with a dyno. Thundermax tuners constantly tune your bike as you ride. You can re-map them without a dyno for all modifications you wish to change.
Re-tuning of your engine varies greatly in price and time it will take to tune it. Fuel-injected motorcycles typically take four hours. Carbureted bikes take two hours, as there are fewer adjustments on the carburetor engines. Additional costs depend on the method used; the price of adding a Race Tuner, Thundermax and Power Commander among others. The service costs range from USD 250 to almost USD 400. Be wary of the warranty as in most cases, many mechanics may not do tune your bike properly, and this may damage your engine.
There are other brands of aftermarket tuners suiting different needs. Additionally, there are slang references for this gadget, and most bikers may be unable to understand these terms. An auto tuner referred to as a fuel tuner or full programmer. Some bikers refer to auto tuning as “twisting the force on an engine”. Auto tuning or “grunt” increases the engine’s power band, felt at low revs, especially in single and twin-cylinder engines
An auto tune will make an analysis of your bike’s performance, continuously optimizing the air and fuel ratio for ideal fuel delivery and optimum performance. It is vital for bikers to do a research of available tuners as some are expensive and may not meet all your tuning needs.