Yesterday I had the pleasure to visit the Cycle Doctor (a fellow colleague) in Costa Mesa for a Dyno tune of my 95" build with S/E 203 cams, PCIIIR and a D&D fatcat.

Geoff Gaites keeps a very nice and neat shop and is extremely personable. He normally likes people to drop off their bikes and pick them up when they are tuned, but he let me stay and watch him tune the bike. The tune took 3 hours. He did countless pulls during these 3 hours and needless to say it runs better and stronger than it ever has before.

AHe used 02 sensors as opposed to a sniffer in the exhaust for more accurate readings. He spent a lot of time explaining exactly what he does as he was doing it. He also asked that I do not get into too much detail as his tuning process is his and he has spent many years perfecting it. I found out about him right here on the forums from jasusc in the touring section who is also one of our customers and he found Geoff to be the only person who was actually able to tune his bike accurately.

I did learn that my older PCIIIR only allows the front cylinder to be tuned. On the rear cylinder all you can do is set the trim values. But...Geoff took the readings off the rear cylinder and informed me that the D&D fatcat had to two cylinders running so close to each other that it did not make a difference. I was ready to run and buy a TTS as that is his personal favorite, and mine as well. Maybe one day soon.

The TTS is the most tunable device on teh market according to Geoff, and he explained that he has spent 3 days on 1 bike with a TTS in the past. Yes, TTS is better than SERT, SEST, SEPST, etc. However it needs to be tuned on a Dyno to run perfectly as opposed to using the mastertune software.

With the amount of time Geoff spends on each bike, he will run it at every possible combination of rpm and speed in each gear to ensure that no matter where you are in the power band you will have maximum torque and HP.

I had my bike Dynoed twice in the past at a "quickie" Dyno and it never ran anything like it does now. Granted it ran better than before, it now is running at it's full potential (with good gas mileage) in a streetable fashion. I told Geoff that nubmers are not nearly as important as the streetability of the ride. He agrees and we spent a fair amount of time discussing how a tuner has the ability to manipulate the numbers a certain amount to achieve the magic numbers that people are after, however that is not how you are going to obtain a good tune.

Pull after pull after pull and having a lot of adjustments made to the fuel map is what he does. After about an hour in the Dyno booth with his I had to step outside as it was hotter than hell in there. He just looked at me and said, I am not even close to done yet. I laughed.

Geoff is the only other person who has ever ridden my bike with the tank shifter and foot clutch. I am impressed although him another guy and myself were laughing at him as he was trying to get it rolling from a dead stop.

He came back with a big smile on his face and that meant it was good to me.
Anyone in The SoCal area looking for a good Dyno for their ride, I highly suggest Geoff and his services. We also use a shop called Firebreathing Industries out in Sun Valley, but they do not tune power commanders hence my search continued.

The ride home was amazing as I had access to so much more power and the bike ran so smooth that I was not sure if I was on the same bike. No matter what gear or RPM I was at, when I gave it some serious throttle the bike took off like a rocket. I think I got home in half the time it took to get there as I was really goosing it the entire way.

Once again, I highly recommend the service of the Cycle Doctor in Costa Mesa, CA for an excellent Dyno tune (949)645-1235 and will not hesitate to return should I change my tuner, cams, or anything else on my ride for another tune. If you go for a Dyno, let him know I sent you!









Thanks!

Drew

 

It's always interesting to hear others describe their dyno experience. Mine wasn't quite a good as yours. Not many indies up here.

 

I am sorry to hear yours was not as good. I searched high and low until I found a highly recommended shop and spoke with the owner several times before main a decision. Geoff really does not like to explain stuff to people as most people understand nothing and 80% of what he was telling me was way over my head, but I am happy I found him and he treated me right. He is a great guy who went so far out of his way to accommodate me and explain what he was doing.

Drew

 

Hey Drew- I've been to his shop myself and was impressed, by him and how neat the place was kept. My bike is in bad need of a dyno right now. Thanks for the input. It's hard to know who's really any good for the time and money.

 

No problem. Yes, the shop was neat as could be. I could have eaten off the floor.

Drew

 

Hey Drew,

Nice write up! I have also talked with the Cycle Doctor, I live not far from them. Very nice people. Below, I am quoting a reply to another thread in the softail section regarding dyno tuning. Please don't misunderstand my point, I do agree with you that dyno is possibly the best tune in todays technology.

Quote:
I don't have the TTS master tune yet but I am planning on getting one in the near future. As an interim, I am running the FuelPak with decent results, but again, just until I get the TTS. I plan on trying their tuning software first before I go out and spend the bucks on a dyno.

I understand and agree with what you say Drew, dyno is the best. The only problem that I have with it is that the Cycle Doctor quoted me around $800.00 just a couple of weeks ago and I can't afford to do that every time I do an upgrade to the engine. It's just not practical.

I have read here from plenty of TTS customers that are very satisfied with the results that they are getting with the tuning software module that comes with the TTS package. Is it as good as the Cycle Doctor's custom tune? Maybe not, but I think it's the next best thing. And.... not to take anything away from the Cycle Doctor, I spoke with the gentleman there and they are extremely nice and knowledgeable people. I personally can't afford $800.00 every time I do a mod.

Thanks and regards,
Larry

 

Larry, I agree that it can get expensive. Don't misunderstand me, I am not saying you cannot get a good tune with the Mastertune software, just that you will get a much better tune from a Dyno. Half of the appeal of the Mastertune is the Vtune software that allows you to make your own maps from recorded data of your own bike and setup.

I don't have TTS so everything I say about it is second hand information. The reason I do not have it is that Vtune is not available for my 2002 bike. I felt that spending the money on it and not being able to use the most appealing feature was useless.

Drew

 

Good point on the Vtune and earlier scoots!

Thanks Drew!

 

I am on the phone with Geoff right now. He never quotes 8 hours for a tune. Every tune is quoted at 4 hours.

Drew

 

I just got off the phone with Geoff, who called to see how my bike is running. I don't think I have have ever had a vendor call me to see how things were after the sale. Simply amazing. i am thoroughly impressed by this. As far as the 8 hour tune quote, he told me he never quotes 8 hours but could easily spend 8 hours tuning a bike depending on the set up of the bike.

He continued on to tell me that since my PCIIIR does not allow for a full tune on teh rear cylinder that were I to get a TTS he could make the tune even better. I asked how much of a difference I woudl see. He looked up my charts and siad it would not be night and day. he said for the moeny it is probably not worth it, but if I wnated to do a comparison he woudl gladly throw it on the Dyno when he had time for a minimal fee.

I do not have the funds for a TTS right now, but am seriously considering getting one just so I can do this comparison for everyone here as it always great to have all the information before making a a purchase.

He in no way knocks any tuner, simply points out the differences which most folks don't really understand.

I really like the way Geoff does business and recommend him even more now as this follow up was a compete surprise and very welcome to me. He actually pulled my dyno charts and went over them to see if the TTS would make that much of a difference. He told, me that he was not going to sell me on this as he could but he would rather be up front and honest.

Drew