I am building a lightweight twins race bike. In past builds, I would use a power commander with a pre-loaded program. No one is selling a pre-programmed power commander for my application (Kawasaki 650 Ninja). I read that a properly flashed stock ECU with no power commander is as good or better way to go. Thoughts?
Tune through the ECU on a Dyno with someone that tunes track/race bikes not a mail in flash. The main benefit of adding a powercommander on that bike is it would be easier to change between 2 maps if you wanted to use 2 different fuels for any reason. If you do have a PC you can also fine tune the fuel maps with less time on the Dyno in most cases.
Flash is way better than piggy back . i use Hoffer Performance here in Michigan he dyno tunes with a flash
What year 650? I’m surprised there’s not a piggy back for it. But yeah, if there is the option, a flash is better, but a piggy back also allows you to more easily fine tune for different fuels and such.
Which is better really depends on the platform and tuner. Some flashes don't have all the tools needed to dyno well and some tuners don't know how to use the available tools. One tune I had done for a race bike, the tuner marked 25%, 50%, & 75% on the throttle grip and tuned for those throttle openings. That's not exactly a high-level way to do a dyno tune. I'm sad I actually paid for that tune, but I was pretty ignorant back then about who and what tools to race with. A map that was included with the flash was actually faster.
2022 650 Ninja. My local dyno shop tells me that the US EPA has mandated sealed ECUs that can't be changed or a plug in power commander can only make a few modifications to stock parameters.
