Hi there..... I have an '09 FatBoy. I've just installed a set of V & H Big Shot Staggered pipes and a K & N air-filter with Screamin' Eagle back-plate. I have no plans in the near future for motor modifications. Will the stage 1 download from my local dealer be good? Or will I need something like PC V (which I hear is a pain to install), TTS, or Thundermax.....? Price is definitely a consideration. I'm leaning towards the dealer download... Any opinions or comments? Thanks, J.R.

 

IMO go with the PC-V it was pretty easy to install on my bones and should be very easy on your Fatboy as you have a lot more room under your seat. I dont think the download will get you what you want. When I asked the dealers around here they said no down load would work for me.

 

I had a dealer download on my bike with "stage 1" components. The bike was lean as all get out, and sounded like a bowl of Rice Krispies when I got off the gas. I did a TTS with a custom dyno tune; bike's smooth as butter now.

 

Hey thanks guys...... gaffster01, the PC V is extremely difficult to mount on the '09's, even verified my Jamie at Fuel moto. I saw pics and it was U-G-L-Y. I DO want to go with the PC V, but I'm not gonna velcro my ecm up the fender an inch up from where it is now..... and rthomp159, I like the TTS too, but none of the dyno guys up here (Canada) that I've talked to have any experience with the associated TTS software. I'm kinda stuck here. I'm ready to get-'er-goin', but won't even put gas in it until I make a decision. The T-max is looking better all the time... but $$$$$

 

I wasted $150 bucks with a dealer stage 1 down load after pipes and AC. Bike popped like crazy on decel and was real jittery at parking lot speeds. I then installed a SERT and educated myself on tuning. No decel pop, bikes runs cooler and pulls hard.

 

V&H BSS, SE Stage 1 and SERT. The local stealer didn't know what he was doing so I got in contact with Latus HD in Oregon. Mike Stegmann is their wizard.

 

I too wasted my money on the download, bike was LEAN! I had to upgrade to the SERT..

 

JR....I just put the BSS on my deluxe....I too have the "download"... the bike runs ok...no backfirign,etc, however is hot as hell...so since I don't want to cause any permanent damage... I've ordered the thundermax.... I have no room under my seat for pc or any other "plug-in".... I "thought" the download would be "good enough" since I had that with the SE IIs slip-ons....but the BSS really opened it up.... I'm sure I'll be happy once I get the Thundermax installed.

 

Another one who gave thier money away at the dealership with a lean bike in return. Ended up with PC III and now gettting custom tune to straighten everything out.

 

The plain old dealer flash will be somewhere around 90% to 95% for for most bikes. Rarely it may be closer than 95% of where you need to be. My bike was spot on (a very rare occurence) with a dealer cartridge flash back in '06 as a TC88 "Stage1". I did some motor work and had to purchase a tuning device anyway and opetd for a SEST. I did not like the PITA installing a PC or the fact that it was another piece of hardware attached. A unit like the TTS or the SEST is much more powerfull in my opinion than the PC due to the fact that it can actually flash the ECM and give you access to data tables that the PC might not have available in it's architecture. Don't get me wrong; I am not saying the PC is junk. Sooooo, the big differences between the flash, PC, TTS, and SEST; what are they? The flash is good for one time use may or may not be what you need and is $ that could be spent toward another tuning device; the PC is an external device, can be a PITA to stow, and can be adjusted on the fly (w/o shutting down the bike). TTS has it's own software that can get you pretty close to where you need to be w/o a dyno, has access to as many data tables that you probably could want to see or adjust, can flash the ECM as many times as your little heart desires, can log data but requires external hardware (laptop) to perform this task. The SEST can do just about everything the TTS can do, but does not have the V-Tune software like the TTS; however the SEST can log data w/o any other hardware attached to it. Hope this helps. Later, Calvin.