Good day,

Looking to get my bike dyno tuned. Getting ready to add V&H Dresser Head Pipes and Monster Ovals. I've been given lots of suggestions to skip the FuelMoto, Power Commander, etc. and go with a Sreaming Eagle and Harley dyno tune. There are lots of shops around me; anyone have any success stories or great dyno experiences with any of the shops around the Charlotte area? (Charlotte, ***, Blue Ridge, Tilley, Pat Rogers to name a few fairly near me.)

Thanks for the advice!

 

T-Man Performance in NC, however he will want you to buy his stuff. I personally would go away from the HD after market performance bolt ons...for the same reason your adding bolt on parts...the stockers just dont do it. Better upgrades are available than what HD offers.

Let me see...what have I bought from the MoCo since buying the bike ???? Absolutely nothing. Same with the Chevrolet / GMC dealership that I purchased my Duramax and wifes Yukon Denali.

 

I have complete V&H exhaust with throttle pack. Couldn't be happier and cheaper than S/E Tuner and dyno fees.

 

While I've never used their services, I understand that the top mod shop in the area is: Hollywood's Cycle

http://www.hollywoodscycles.com/

 

Contrary to popular belief I and several of my friends have had great experiences with Ray Price HD in Raleigh. His guys can dial your bike in on their dyno amazingly. When I had my night rod I took it to a small shop in Laurinburg who specialized in crotch rocket drag bikes, and he did an okay job, just not experienced enough with HDs to really get it spot on. When it comes to tuning your bike my philosophy is you get what you pay for, and every dollar spent at RPHD has been well worth it. I don't buy into all the hype about screaming eagle and HD branded tuners. I've run Power Commanders forever and have no issues with them at all.

Next time I have the SG out to Charlotte I'll drop a line on here and see if a few of us can grab a beer or something.

 

Azray,

I had a SE Race Tuner on an 04 Ultra I had a few years ago. In my opinion, that was a mistake. I say this because when you "stay" with HD on tuning, you are limited if you are not a tuning expert. Plus, their maps are not designed for anything much outside of the bolt-on equipment they sell.

Now if you visit any HD shop, they are in the business of selling their stuff. That's to be expected and it should be no surprise to you. Why would they recommend anything else? They want to sell you their cams and include in the same sentence the common threat that using anything else will void your warranty. They want to sell you their mufflers and air cleaners. And I doubt that they would want to remove a catalytic converter from the header prior to the tune in order to improve flow. They like to use the line "if you buy it from us, you know it is designed for your bike and it will fit". I don't know how many times I have heard that one. So expect this rhetoric when you visit any dealer. I am not blaming them for this approach, just making an observation to ultimately make a point.

In today's marketplace, you owe it to yourself and to your hard earned money to get the most bang for the buck you spend on your scooter. There are so many superior products out there that will get you up and going without the expense of paying someone else to take control of your bike and do it for you with strictly HD parts.

Now if that is what you want, then go for it. But if it is not, then slow down, take your time, do the research, and stay in control of the tuning of your own motorcycle. You will learn more about your bike, you will learn more about the hardware and what it does and how it fits, and you will receive an added benefit of personal satisfaction that cannot be found by turning it all over to someone else and paying them to produce for you what might be a disappointing product.

It is never a "must" to have a bike dyno tuned. Not saying that dyno tuning is a bad thing. But what you must realize is that although no two bikes are alike, there are probably several hundred if not several thousand bikes out there with your exact configuration and they have already been dyno tuned. Those maps exist and are yours for the asking if you choose that path. Others have already been through the dyno experience before you, experienced all of the fine tuning to eliminate popping, detonation, poor power delivery, hesitations, and all the other things than can develop after a so-called tune. So consider taking advantage of all that have come before you and don't fall victim to the HD kool aid. Your bike will be dialed-in so close to what a dyno would have produced that the difference in practical terms is absolutely insignificant.

Give Jamie a call at Fuel Moto. He will be glad to discuss many options that will have you up and running. You must remember that the HD guys are scared to death of companies such as FM and other reputable aftermarket tuning specialists. Why, because they don't want owners to have control of their tune.

 

Nicely said

 

I bought a power commander and air cleaner from fuel moto, ran good, changed cams called them and got another map. Runs great, cost to remap after cams 0.00. If the powervision was out when I changed the cams I would have bought it. Still happy with the power commander. In the end its your choice. Bens v-twins in Indian Trail is a dynojet tuning center, Im sure he uses other tuners too.

 

Thanks everyone for taking the time to respond and your awesome input!

One thing y'all nailed, I am learning about this. Outside of the ScreamingEagle, I was directed towards the Power Commander V or Power Vision. Whenspeaking with one of the mechanics yesterday, I thought I understood, but now Ibelieve I have another learning opportunity. When you purchase something likethe "Power Commander", you download the maps and load them into theunit. Are you done at that point besidesdownloading more maps? Is there asecondary option to have the bike dyno tuned with the "PowerCommander" attached? If so, whywould you do that?

Maybe this will help, here is what I am trying to accomplish. I am about 220 lbs and ride a RKC with theoriginal 88. I have the stock screaming eagle slip ons, K&N high flowfilter and have done some cosmetic enhancements to the paint and the normalHarley chrome parts. Now that my bike looks good to me, I want to do some improvementsto the exhaust appearance and increase performance. I would like to hit the throttleand get a little more sound (only slightly deeper and louder – don’t want tohave to ride at the back of the pack ‘cause my bike is too darn loud) and somebetter throttle response. The bike runs great and I don't want to do anythingto jeopardize that and I'm not quite ready to any major engine work. When I’m riding with other and the flagdrops, y’all know what I’m talking about; I would like to be at least with thegroup that pulls away from everyone else. (That’s the long term goal.) Itseems like the exhaust and tune are the easiest first steps.

 

taking advantage of all that have come before you and don't fall victim to the HD kool aid. Your bike will be dialed-in so close to what a dyno would have produced that the difference in practical terms is absolutely insignificant.

Give Jamie a call at Fuel Moto. He will be glad to discuss many options that will have you up and running. You must remember that the HD guys are scared to death of companies such as FM and other reputable aftermarket tuning specialists. Why, because they don't want owners to have control of their tune.[/quote]

Yesterday I was told this exact same thing and it came from a Harley tech. He did not appear to have any grief with the dealership that signs his checks, just seemed to be honest.