It seems that performance tuners have become so proprietary that it would be impossible for a performance shop to adequately train for this. Thus...if for instance you a tuner that is a Power Vision but the local dynoguy does not or cannot breech its software, you might have to travel several hours to one that does or be forced to buy an inferior unit that can be dynotuned locally. Let the manufactures establish a common interface for dyno tuning and let the best product win...

 

We shouldn't be surprised that each one is different! When buying a tuner we have to choose between: learning to operate it ourselves; or visit a local shop to get it set up. In the second case buy the tuner the shop recommends! That way they will tune your bike and not turn you away, because they have no experience with the product you bought as the 'best'.

 

not too sure about your local tuner but most reputable tuners will use pretty much any device to tune with. Ed, for example (The Dyno Difference) in Dallas. Makes no matter what tuner (not sure about TMAX) you bring him, he'll tune the bike with it. PC, PV, TTS, SERT, SEPST.

 

My guy tunes em all. He does like one better than the rest but doesn't twist your arm into buying that one or anything like that. If a person is selling his services as a tuning expert he damn well better be trained in how to tune using all the available tuning interfaces.

 

I agree but depending on the type of Dyno being used and the tuner being checked. I understand that some of the tuner companies supply more sophisticated software to the dynotuner using primarily their product. I think not having a common interface is counterproductive in the long run

 

got to invest in your trade to keep it alive. I know ex-tuners that would tune only Power Commander devices and never invested time or $ into anything else. Now that the flash tuners are so popular, they are merely mechanic shops now with very few people wanting PC tuning done.

They all do have a common interface. It's called J1850 and CANBUS and that is supplied by HD not the tuner or tuning device.

 

Competition is key to innovation. Keeps everyone striving to be better and the market gets a better product.

 

Tell that to Apple & Microsoft. Or Ford & GM. Or John Deere & Kubota. Or Honda & Harley.

No way I want Big Brother stifling innovation by mandating interfaces.

 

My 2 cents. I have never seen a dyno other than pictures, but have learned to make maps and tune with TTS, Power Vision, SERT, SEPST, and PC III, and PCV. The flash tuners are very similar to each other and mostly use the same tables for the same grouping of bikes such as touring 2010 to 2013 being mostly the same. There are excellent videos and manuals on learning to use them. The biggest thing you have to know if you don't have a dyno is what the engine needs and are the changes you make doing what you expected. If you can't tell if it is rich or lean you have a problem. What causes hesitation or stumbling or surging or pinging or detonation. Making changes to the maps is easy, making the right changes is the difficult part. It also helps to understand if the issue is tune related or hardware related, such as air leak, bad plug, poor compression etc. You can tune all day and not fix any of these issues. If the map was working yesterday and you didn't make any changes to the system and it is not working today something mechanical is wrong. If you plan to learn them you need to have plenty of time as it takes many hours of studying and using the various tuners and that could get expensive. I build maps for lots of people and get a chance to work on lots of different equipment. The autotune features and canned maps aren't a means to an end but will help get you there. No where did I say you don't need a dynotune. Some dyno tunes are better than others and if you learn to tune the ride ability area you will be way ahead. I like the J1850 but the CanBus has it beat with much better resolution and speed, but still tunes the same way.

 

I tried the canned maps from TMax but was disappointed, and you are right...the installation is easy, it is the interpretation that is the difficult aspect. I did not see the full potential of my cam upgrade until it was dyno tuned..the difference being remarkable. I would imagine that in the not too distant future the autotune aspect of tuners will evolve exponentially allowing maximized performance after any upgrade, with a simple command. I can see the day when dynos will be irrelevant..and not that far off.