How It Works: The Basics of ECU Tuning

Back in the grand old days of motorcycling engines had carburetors and only needed a kick-start to fire up. Repairs could be made with chewing gum foil and gum. You also needed to make these repairs, often--progress is generally a good thing. Today, we have ECU tuning.

There is something wonderful about turning a couple screws and getting a noticeable change in how your bike runs, altering the idle point, getting the fuel spot on and having a blast right after it's adjusted. It's a great part of the riding experience - until you need to adjust it again… and again… and again. One of the best parts of modern fuel injection is the "set it and forget it" stability and peace of mind it offers. That's not to say a carburetor couldn't be stable like that - they just weren't more often than they were.

So how do you get back some of the magical feeling of adjusting your motorcycle to make it run better than the factory settings? We explain the basics of ECU tuning.

ECU Tuning

ECU tuning is the art and science of cracking the code that the factory installs in your motorcycle's brain and giving it an upgrade. Tweaking your ECU means removing things like low RPM power restrictions, closed loop fuel maps, error codes when changing parts, and a slew of other options. It enables you to take a lackluster motorcycle with twitchy throttle control and turn it into that smooth powerful road monster you expected.

Cost

A typical reprogramming or "reflash" of your ECU can vary pretty wildly in price. In researching this for the 2014 Yamaha Ténéré project, we found that costs ranged from $200 to almost $500 for the work we wanted. We found out right away that the credentials of those who are offering to do ECU mods can swing wildly; there are people who purchased an ECU programmer and do this as a hobby. Be wary of these folks. In most cases, you'll have no warranty and done improperly this can really damage your motor.

Finding the Right Place

We decided to use a trusted brand and company called ECUnleashed. They program everything from motorcycles to super cars and came highly recommend on the Super Ténéré forums.

There are a couple ways to have this service performed. You can take it to an authorized tuning center and they can do all the work, or you can take the ECU out and send it to ECUnleashed and have it programmed. If you have a tuning center close by this is quicker as they can get the map prebuilt and sent to them. At most, the work will take a couple of hours. Sending it in to ECUnleashed can take a week or more, depending on how far away from California you live.