ECU Reflash vs. Power Commander For Engine Tuning | The Shop Manual 

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I’ve installed a number of power commanders and one flash tune kit. The flash tune is way less work to install but a bit more technical with the software. But I love the flash tune. The amount of control is amazing.

I've seen a hell of a lot of bikes with those power commanders and they almost all run super lean. They can be ALL OVER THE PLACE. My advise, get it flashed by a reputable shop and make sure its an unlocked tune so you don't have to go back to them if they mess it up. I got mine done at Moore Mafia and they did a great job.

Glasses vs Lasik is the best analogy I've heard yet. Great video Ari.

Good video! One thing that was not properly mentioned is how easy it is to revert to stock with a power commander. You mentioned removing it which works but is not even needed. With a power commander all you need is to connect your laptop or even smartphone to your bike and change to any map (even stock) you want. You can even have 2 maps on it and add an external switch to change between them.

so glad this dude is still making videos, i was an avid fan of mc garage

Slick new set and overall production. Looking forward to many more episodes

2:46 that's honestly the best way I've heard these two types of ecu tunes explained. Great job.

My favorite part of the ftecu kit on my FZ07 was lowering the fan temps. On slow rides on a hot day in a pack of running bikes, it helps keep the temps way down

Nice to see you again Ari. "Get Busy Living."

ive watched a handfull of someone explaining whats the point of dyno tunes, ecu, and power commanders. adn thsi is the first one where I feel like I actually got to understand what was being talked about. the analogoly about glasses vs. lasik was gold

If you fart in california you broke emission laws 😂

A comparison on benefits between the two would've been a huge help.

You do a great job explaining things without the bs and excessive product placements. Myself I have a fair bit of experience, but just manage to confuse most people. Thank you for a direction to point people in for reliable easy to grasp information. Again. (-; Revzilla's stuff just keeps getting better.

Hi guys. I had a k7 gsxr. Around 6 months after buying the bike was invited back to the garage in London where I had purchased my bike to meet the chef engineers about bike set up and help with R and D. Not sure if ECU's across the pond are different? But hear in the UK power commander's don't make a massive difference. In fact on this particular model the euc is already set up for this particular model. Was told by chief engineer from Japan not to waist money on a PC. As they are generally a con. Saying this did fit a power commander 4 to my honda sp1 which helped' smoother throttle control at lower revs. After re map a whopping 5hp. Goes to show a waist of £250 for 5hp. Smooth throttle control worth it. Like I say I know you're bikes are set up different and your cars because your emmission requirements are lower than ours.

What I'd like to see from Ari would be to take all the bikes Zac uses for Daily Rider on a ride through some faster twisty mountain highways comparing them more as a fun bike, separate from their daily use. To top that off, take them to a track and do a dozen hot laps and put them on a list for best lap, showing the fastest lap as a video ending.

TBH, the cost of EFI mods always makes me appreciate carburetors for their budget-friendly-ness. They can be fussy, and come with their own issues/learning curve. But you can re-tune carb(s) for $50, a shop manual (!) and some basic tools, and have $250-300 left for your other mods.

Feel much better now, this video came out just in time!! I just mailed out my ECU for a flash, it’s middle of winter so I got all the time in the world lol Thank you Ari for the video!!

Love that you have an R6 as background with this topic 🤣🤣

2:22 amazing how they've developed so much and so well

How he explains the glasses vs lasik was really helpful..thanks

Cool vid man. There is alot of new riders that this will help because when I started alot of people were stingy with info which meant I cost myself some money and heartache but I eventually got it all lined out.

please more content on re-flashing, tuning etc..

That R6 though 😍

I am surprised that you didn't talk about TuneECU. You download (and can adjust) tunes, and the app (on your phone even), can perform diagnostics, calibrate the speedo, help sync throttle bodies, etx

The end had me chuckling.

Hi Ari, good to see you back in a workshop! Greetings from Belgium!

PC5 doesn't do much. The O2 sensor in the stock system (closed loop) nullifies most of your fueling changes. Woolich Racing flash seems to best way to go, but it's close to $500 bucks. Send it to Moore Mafia.

one point that wasn't covered is when it comes to selling the bike you can remove the power commander and sell it separately. a flashed ecu may make the bike easier to sell but not necessarily add value brilliant content. glad to see you guys are back 👍

Vcyclenut flashed my fz09...best $250 I’ve ever spent

Your vids are super helpful and keep the spark going in motorcycling!

California: "NO MORE FUN OF ANY KIND!" Ari: "May I have ten thousand marbles, please?"

I had ECU flash on 1250 bandit bit of backfire from slip-on and air filter box mod cleaned it up nice and responsive down low pulls hard but still smooth and responsive very happy

best bike channel on this planet maybe this universe

Please ,keep on bringing episodes like these with ari

The optimal approach also depends upon the capabilities/design of the ECU. For example, the advanced ECU of the 2020+ BMW S1000RR/XR/R supports fully closed-loop operation and tuning (continuously takes readings from the exhaust sensors), which adapts dynamically to conditions (temp, humidity, altitude, etc.) and so you can get a flash that works for all bikes and configurations (e.g., exhaust and filter changes) of a particular model. Besides more delivering more/unrestricted power, they provide earlier exhaust-valve opening, better idle, faster QS shifts, rev limiter increases, etc. It costs most of $1000 but totally transforms the bike.

A professional re-flash is the way to go! It (which wasn’t mentioned) can be re-set to factory settings if required... 👍😎🇦🇺

We need a shop manual walk around

ECU reflash is the way to go

Just wanna say, loving the feel of the PCV on my 16' ZX6R. Can tell the difference night and day and finding the tune was easy enough. Only chose the PCV over an equal flash because if I wanted to change my flashed settings, I'd have to remove the ECU everytime and have it sent out compare to just plugging the laptop in the garage to the PCV

This was perfect timing Revzilla! I've been on the fence on whether to get a power commander or just get the flash on my R1 and now Ari drops this vid! Def think I'm going with the pro flash and mail it out. Especially now in NJ with all this damn snow my bike has a little bit of downtime unfortunately.

love thew new shop! hopefully this means we'll get a lot more videos from you!

You should add- Dynojet Power Commander can add on the 'autotune' box so the bike will tune itself at all times for the mods, elevation, weather.

Great to have you back, you always provide good information 👍

The video we’ve all been waiting for.

I Trust Ari So Much that I would hand over the keys to any of my bikes With Zero Questions whatsoever....Thank god he's back on RU-vid!

Great language and images. Looking forward to all new episodes of technical matters.

That's cool I did not know he had an identical twin. It's also cool that they have the same interests

Glad to see you made a full recovery! Love your videos.

I love how a custom tune increased my fuel mileage but yet it’s illegal

Flash are better for performance as you can remove all limiters. Most bikes doesn't give 100% gas then given 100% as ecu is limited. Power commander doesn't remove this limiters and usually just give 1-3hp and is mostly over 500$ for almost nothing. I would go for a full ecu flash with all limiters removed.

Always love Ari's tech videos!

Best motorcycle presenter in the business

Seriously love watching your videos man helps me Soo much bro

Im considering a PowerCommander on my GSXR 600 because I dont trust local shops to do it since they are know of modding SQUIDs bikes who like to flames 🔥 coming out of the exhaust and the don’t really care about performance

Glad you stated the emissions stuff. Most bikes are good enough from the factory for most applications. The factory exhaust compliments emissions, noise, and performance. If you alter the exhaust you must alter everything else. Most the time the throttle feels more responsive but not a lot of horsepower can be gained. Next time just buy a more powerful bike from the factory. Less depreciation with OEM vs add ons later.

Nice to see ya back on RU-vid Ari, long time no see.

I enjoy Ari's videos and podcast's very much! Keep up the good work.

You can use a Dynojet tuner that isn’t permanently connected to the bike.

FRPO...got it!

Glad to see you back in front of a camera!

Nicely explained sir. As an aside, anyone noticed that long established models that are tweaked to Euro5 tune are returning poorer MPG than previous Euro tunes? Point being that making a bike use more fuel seems counter intuitive to emissions endeavours (California).

Love this series, always learning something new. great production, script and presentation!

Awesome new set. Can't wait to see more episodes - and I hope that we can expect them more often as well :)

Great set up and a awesome video! I like this little segment and the dude is pretty cool

Definitely interested. Just got a GSX650F, and it surely is no monster. Sounds and rides great but I definitely want to bump up the 85hp.

ECU flashes are the way to go, but not all ECU flashes are created equal. Trying to squeeze as much power out of my 2020 R3 as possible, and after some research it’s pretty clear not all companies offer the same level of performance, skill, testing and development.

How common is it to have both a flash and a power commander? Also what's the benefits/drawbacks?

Can you guys do a session on suspension adjustments? ei: going over rebound, compression and stuff and what each setting would do.

Bauce all the way for flash tunes!

Great basics vid! Depends on the type of bike, pros & cons for each. For PC good if mods done Vs coming, & warranty. Piggy backs give you the option to continue to amend, start w/ pipes, but later add a cam, can change w/ no additional $. Also, new bike under warranty, if you have a piggy back & something goes wrong, you can go back to stock, flash is static & dealer may argue to void. Beyond the 2 options Ari mentions, Smart tuners w/ Autotune go further, sensing your elevation, temps, adjusting. & better than both a flash or PC, a true ECU replacement like a Thundermax Autotune. No piggyback, dyno tunable, larger O2 sensors than factory, then Autotune out of previous maps, revert back to old map at any time. V&H is simplistic Bluetooth option, quickly changeable in app, but limited, uses factory O2

I've recently read that clearing the stock ecu's tune and using a Power Commander 5 with an Autotune is the best way to get the most power out of some bikes. The Autotune added to the PC 5 allows the tuner to give parameters for the PC 5 to keep the bike in when there are atmospheric changes. Fact is, not all bikes have O2 sensors, one of which is my 03 R1, therefore adding the O2 and Autotune seems to be the best for my situation.

Ecu flashing is superior. Had both.

Awesome video and great explanation. Thanks🤙

Great explanation guys! Thank you

Very well explained topic. Well done.

Went with DIY and bought Woolich with the logbox to measure AF ratios with a wideband sensor. Seems much better, but gas mileage has gone down. So...

ECU Flash for me was awesome

How can you tell if a used motorcycle has had its ECU reflashed? Does it leave a trace?

Ive been using a Power Commander on my TL1000R and i have to admit i like it but it reminds me of setting up an AEM, MegaSquirt, speeduino, Haltech, Power FC, etc, type system on nissans, mitsus, Ford, etc... I guess growing up in the time period of "eprom flashing" turned me away as it was tedious work at times. Simpler to jump into a laptop and tweak injector duty cycle or scaling than burn an eprom and install it

Great work as always, love this kind of videos.So much useful information in one place ! Gg Ari, Gg Revzilla

Great editing on this one

Nicely put, Ari! 👏🏽

Brand new bike owners with warranty @4:57 this is highly recommended before getting your bike serviced. YOU'VE BEEN WARNED!

When it works, FTecu stuff is great. When you face a bug or a cable issue, you're on your own, they'll never reply your questions or help you. Also infamous for "Oh your cable suddenly doesn't recognized your linked bike ECU? Yeah we changed the way they are identified. Please purchase another $99 license..."

Thanks for this video, Trying to decide ??

I'll go tell my wife that we need a CBR600RR now that I understand the difference :o) As always, the clearest, no BS explanation on a topic in the shortest amount of time, free of crappy music overlay. Been following you from the beginning of my MC journey, glad to find you over here at Revzilla, Ari.

thank you for explaining

I ride a 1090R. Don’t know that feeling of needing more power or faster throttle response, just switch to sport mode and go.

Super helpful video. Thanks

Thanks and now I’m educated 🤙🏼

Thanks for your video. Well done!!!

I didn't know Chael Sonnen was into bikes! Awesome!

I got so excited...looked like an r1 in the thumbnail. I thought just Maybe someone unlocked the r1 ecu 🤦🏾‍♂️

I also love how flashing the ECU is illegal, but in order to get a CORRECT speedometer readout, you must flash the ECU. Its literally illegal to have a correct speedometer readout so you CAN follow the law. But its legal to have an INCORRECT speedometer so you DONT know your real speed. Logical.

love the set so far. looks nice!

My husky 701 is getting a baller exhaust and a pc 5!

Please make video for wire assembly for spoke wheel

my weekend is complete (:

So glad to see you and Zach doing what I loved with what used to be a stellar mag. That subscription renewal died long ago. Go Revzilla and screw Cali (govt side that is).