American Motorcycle Dealer AMD 224 March 2018 | Page 58
“Stop tuning fuel – let the Tier 1 do it for you”
Words by Robin Bradley
[email protected]
ver since the 1980s the Dobeck name
has been inextricably linked to the
motorcycle tuning market.
The connections with the early carb jet kits
and subsequent development of fuel
injection tuning, especially under the
Dynojet name (and others), has left an
indelible mark on the performance market -
the Harley aftermarket and custom V-twin
sector included.
The brain child of Mike Dobeck, the brother
of Mark - the Dobeck most usually
associated with the history of the Dynojet
name - the Tier 1 Tuner is the latest iteration
of a family mathematical prowess. Now, I
may be wrong and willingly stand to be
corrected, but in many respects it appears
(to this technically less than adept observer)
that by using unique amounts of fuel to
determine the correct calibration with
which to manage the fuel injection, is a leap
of lateral thinking that takes Harley
aftermarket tuning in an all new direction.
The theory of using the motorcycle’s own
acceleration (as an alternate to the
intermediary of a dynamometer) to
calibrate the performance of fuel injectors
is not new as such. Indeed, in Europe such
tuners available on the market.
Such systems may be using a stock narrow
band O2 sensor rather than wide band O2
sensors, and unlike the +CCT still require
human intervention to select target values
for the O2 sensors to track. So these appear
to be “semi-automatic” at best.
Dobeck says that in many ways the +CCT
process is “identical to the acceleration
measuring and tuning procedures used in
today’s most popular tuning dynamometers,
such as those made by Dynojet and other
companies. But the important thing to
remember is that the time between
consecutive cycles of power and between
fuel adjustments on a dynamometer are
measured in minutes and are based on one
style of load or acceleration simulation at
any given time.”
The Tier1 Tuner I saw for the first time at
the 2018 WPS/HardDrive vendor/sales rep
product seminars at Boise Idaho in January
appears to be a real-world application of
that ‘dynamic’ theory. One that bypasses the
immediate need for a dynamometer and
conventional sampled power curve and fuel
ratio maps by using real-time riding data,
while riding, so-called ‘dynamic tuning’.
At a stroke the advantages and
disadvantages of both the main types of
dynamometer used by motorcycle tuners –
eddy current or inertia – are replaced by
what Tier 1 calls CCT (Consecutive Cycle
Tuning). This is measurement of the
acceleration of the crank inside the
motorcycle’s engine as the bike is ridden,
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AMERICAN MOTORCYCLE DEALER - MARCH 2018
Feeling out of his depth in this puddle, Robin Bradley reports
on a new fuel injector tuner being sold by Boise, Idaho based
distributor HardDrive
The Tier 1 +CCT adds a ‘Closed Loop’ control to a currently installed fuel injection
system and “takes the rider from an estimate that doesn’t take account of the
conditions and circumstances in which he is riding - to an optimum state of tune
that does”
and using the data to instantaneously tune
the fuel injection “on the fly” when in
power mode operation.
The +CCT is acceleration optimizer
technology, and has a time between
consecutive cycles of power and tuning of
fuel that is measured in milliseconds and is
based on real time/real life constant riding
feedback. This feedback allows for the
changing conditions and will optimize
acceleration by compensating for the
constantly changing real life riding
conditions – what gear the rider is in, rider
weight and riding style, solo or two-up,
luggage, head/tail winds, altitude,
temperature, uphill or downhill – factors
that are otherwise constantly and
substantially affecting the performance
mode operations of the motorcycle and the
effectiveness of the conventional open loop
power mode map.”
Functional base maps are still needed for
the +CCT to work with, but Dobeck says
that “fuel maps, be they stock or custom
performance maps, are made by people.
PARTS AND ACCESSORIES
They represent the best efforts of a person.
For the first time ever, we have advanced
the technology to require no human
interactions.”
“In effect, +CCT adds a “closed loop”
control system to a currently installed fuel
injection system. The oxygen sensors in
common use today use this kind of system
in cruise, but not under power. Existing
open loop technology typically achieves
only around 70 percent optimization under
power. The +CCT closed loop technology
cuts this 30 percent margin of variability to
5 percent or less, resulting in 95 percent
optimization under real life conditions.
“Performance and emissions are two
different issues, and taken with the three
percent margin of error built in to the stock
ECU, the outcome of conventional fuel
injection tuners can only ever be, at best, an
estimate. The +CCT moves the needle – it
takes the rider from an estimate that
doesn’t take account of the conditions and
circumstances in which he is riding - to an
optimum state of tune that does.”
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