Has anyone here hooked up a power commander and tuned their quad or motorcycle with their laptop?

If so, How hard is it?

I watched a few YouTube vids on installing a power commander V on a Yamaha Raptor 700R and it looks pretty straight forward. How hard is the tuning/ fuel map part? If I’m understanding it correctly it’s basically you just selecting a pre set tune based on the specific mods you have on your machine correct?

I don’t have one....yet...but I want one for my 2016 HD Roadster & for my 2012 Honda NC700x.
Every one that I have researched comes with preset tunes for a particular engine, intake, exhaust.
I don’t know that I would WANT to Dick around with the raw data in the fuel/spark maps.

Hooking up a PC unit to a motorcycle is simple, it's plug and play
basically interconnecting the PCU into the harness.

Programming is based on the model and your ability, some come with preloaded maps, you install the unit, upload a map designed for the model and mods you made and off you go.

Other units allow you to ride and tune, filling cells with data and adjusting the fuel map, then of course theres timing etc. That takes
a bit more time, PC has a standalone tuning module or self tuner you use to get the base map tuned by riding the bike with it in self tune mode.

If you are doing heavy mods cams, pistons, heads, exhaust etc then finding a good tuner in your area that can put it on a dyno and tune will get you the best results

It is very easy. You can load many premade maps for your bike that people post.

You will need a dyno if you want a truly custom map for your exact bike config though. That typically runs 80-150 bucks but if you invested money in your bike then its just a drop in the pan to get the full custom multi maps for max power/torque and fuel economy then just switch maps on the fly.

I’m not going to need anything crazy. The quad I got had a horrific exhaust that had been gutted and looks and sounds awful. The backfires are a tell tale sign that’s it’s runnig lean. It’s getting a new full exhaust from FMF and a proper tune since it’s fuel injected.

The blown out exhaust is surely leaning it out
A good system will help it and if it's not too open the stock ECM might run it ok. A power commander will make it better

Been doing it for 20 years. You need a Dyno session. I’d also recommend running an auto tune module in addition to the dyno tune so it can make small corrections. I’ve used dynojet and powercommanders for that duration and the game change was the auto tune. Just change the Bosch sensor every 15k miles. Good luck.

I've just used a Boosterplug in most of my bikes. No custom mapping or dyno needed. It's basically a sensor that fools the computer into thinking it's colder than it is, so it runs a little richer. I've never noticed a difference in fuel economy when I've installed one, but throttle response was improved. Now I have a BMW S1000R that's terrifyingly fast and doesn't need to be faster. But if I can make the very lean running engine happier with a Boosterplug, I might do it.

Would the Vance & Hines FP3 work for this?
I put one on my Harley and the results were great.
Totally programmable through your phone for exhaust, air and other things.
I just don't know if it's compatible.

I'm looking into various tuners for my '02 FLHTPI. My efforts so far have been chassis related, Progressive Suspension front and rear together with a Touring Link for the powertrain. Tires, so far have tried the Dunlop 402PT's, Metzler ME880's, Pirelli Night Dragons and now on Michelin Commander II's. Dunlops did too much wiggle in the rain grooves around here. Positively loved the Metzlers especially in cornering until I had a tread separation despite being real careful on watching my tire pressure. Pirelli's, at first they were fine but as they wore down the traction seemed to go away especially in cornering. So far the Michelins are meeting my expectations.

I put my raptor on a dyno and it made a difference. After all the mods trying to tweak performance, that extra money was an after thought. I got 9 hp with the tune. 39 hp stock to 48 I'm sure just tossing the generic map for my pipe would have increased it but whats the sense of investing money in the pc if your not gonna fully use it.

Don't go through the cost and trouble of modding without a custom map. It's like buying a brand new exotic sport car and putting used tires on it.

NickelSig229,

The Raptor is getting a full FMF titanium exhaust mainly due to the previous owners horrific “bubba mods” and the overall rusty & awful condition of the entire exhaust. I’m not too sure I’ll do much more in regards to performance....the thing is dang fast as it is right now. From what I read the Pc V gives me the best chance to mod and tune it in the future if I do decide to further modify the Raptor. It will need some sort of tune once the new exhaust is on to deal with the lean fueling issue.