Review: Power Commander Honda RC51
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Review: Power Commander Honda RC51
Monday I placed an order with www.58cycle.com for a Power Commander PCIIIusb they shipped it yesterday (free) and I recieved it today. The installation was VERY easy and straight forward, all I had to do was remove my seat, unbolt the front of my tank and plug in a few wires. After installing the power commander with the supplied velcro under the rear seat, I hooked it up to a laptop to upload the fuel maps for my bike and pipe configuration, unfortunately none were available for my Yoshimura slip-ons, so I called Dynojet and asked them what I should do and they recommended I use the map for the Micron system. So I uploaded the Micron map disconnected the USB cable and went for a ride.
This thing definately gets from me, it smoothed out the throttle response greatly, the bike revs faster and it definately gave a good boost. At full throttle roll on in first gear the front tire just kind of hovers above the ground at about an inch or two and the same for second gear. In first gear now when you snap the throttle even with the stock too tall gearing the bike stands ups.
One of the problems with the stock RC51 is magnified when you add pipes on, at low speed the bike bucks a bit and the low speed throttle is very erratic, the addition of the power commander completely eliminated that.
I dont know how well this does on other bikes, but its a must have for the Honda RC51.
This thing definately gets from me, it smoothed out the throttle response greatly, the bike revs faster and it definately gave a good boost. At full throttle roll on in first gear the front tire just kind of hovers above the ground at about an inch or two and the same for second gear. In first gear now when you snap the throttle even with the stock too tall gearing the bike stands ups.
One of the problems with the stock RC51 is magnified when you add pipes on, at low speed the bike bucks a bit and the low speed throttle is very erratic, the addition of the power commander completely eliminated that.
I dont know how well this does on other bikes, but its a must have for the Honda RC51.
#2
Re: Review: Power Commander Honda RC51
Sounds good. I'm waiting for them to come out with a map for my Ducati S2R. I'm putting an Arrow full system on the Duc and also opening the airbox. Duc's are normally on the lean side so I def' need a Power Commander after these mods.
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Re: Review: Power Commander Honda RC51
You may be able to do like I did and call them for a recommendation of what will work, even a power commander in stock configuration will make an improvment.
Last edited by mnchvgs79; 05-19-2005 at 08:10 AM.
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Re: Review: Power Commander Honda RC51
We installed it on my stepdad's 2001 Honda VTX 1800.. My stepdad said it made a big improvement. He had a Vance and Hines staggered pipes, and the Powercommander. On the dyno it made 95rwhp and 101 tq. Thats pretty good if you ask me, but of course I don't know much about bikes.
The bike was fast for a cruiser. Woulda put his Harley he has now to shame.
The bike was fast for a cruiser. Woulda put his Harley he has now to shame.
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Re: Review: Power Commander Honda RC51
So will i need one too when I get a slip on(Yoshi/TRS.Race.Carbon) for mine? Different people tell me different things, some say that it wont help any if I get just a slip on, some say i need it anytime I change the pipe...I guess help!
#6
Re: Review: Power Commander Honda RC51
I run a Jardine RT-1 (slip-on) race pipe on my 600RR. No Power Commander and it runs perfect. I'm sure it may help smooth the power curve a little but not significant enough to show a major improvement. If I was to replace the exhaust with a full system, then a PC is def' required/recommended. Depends on the bike......check the forums for the individual make/brand. Ducati Monsters are typically lean from the factory so if you mod the intake and exhaust you have a big chance of becoming too lean and risk damage.
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Re: Review: Power Commander Honda RC51
I pretty sure that it cant ever do anything but help, its only $300 and if it make any improvment its pretty cheap compared to other mods.
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Re: Review: Power Commander Honda RC51
to me $300 is still pretty expensive... on modern GSXR's its really a waste of money because your factory ECU is programmable, so that would be like buying and installing an extra kick stand, the bike already has one, granted unless you have a yosh programmer box you can't adjust it at your leisure, but 99% of people that buy power commanders never adjust them after the initial installation anyways, also even if you have say a 2001 gsxr 750 with a akrapovic full system, and they have a map on there for that exact year model bike and system, its still probably not ideal, different bike, different mileage, different altitude, so instead of spending $300 on a power commander i would take it to a place with a dyno and for 120-250 get it dyno tuned correctly
on my 03' gsxr 1000 i had pretty much every bolt on you can do, including a full system and when i took it to Lee's Performance to have it dyno tuned, keep in mind he is THE man when it comes to tuning powerful motorcycles, he told me to unplug the pc and sell it on ebay because it made alot better power with it unplugged, and ran smooth as could be... but again each model bike is different, i know rc51's are more sensitive to modifcation and the stock ecu isn't programmable, so you don't have a choice but to run a piggy back system
also something thats really important to me more than how a product performs is how the company stands behind their product, like hotbodies, alot of guys on the net talk about how their paint on the undertails doesn't always match up to the factory paint exact, but they are probably the best company i've ever dealt with in terms of customer support, so i have no worries buying from them knowing if theres an issue it will be resolved, dynojet is the extreme opposite of the spectrum, they absolutely do no stand behind their product, atleast everytime i've dealt with them, in fact yesterday i had to remove my second quick shifter on two different bikes because its doing the same thing, killing the ignition randomly at high rpms, a serious and life threatening problem when your leaned over in a turn at 150 mph on a race track, dyno jet simply does not care... when i enjoy a product i'm quick to tell people about how great it is, but the rare time i have a problem with a company i'm just as quick to warn people, and having owned 5 power commanders on 5 different make and model bikes, and having problems with almost every last one, and having every issue go unresolved and treated like dirt i'll never make the mistake of buying a dynojet product again
my .02
on my 03' gsxr 1000 i had pretty much every bolt on you can do, including a full system and when i took it to Lee's Performance to have it dyno tuned, keep in mind he is THE man when it comes to tuning powerful motorcycles, he told me to unplug the pc and sell it on ebay because it made alot better power with it unplugged, and ran smooth as could be... but again each model bike is different, i know rc51's are more sensitive to modifcation and the stock ecu isn't programmable, so you don't have a choice but to run a piggy back system
also something thats really important to me more than how a product performs is how the company stands behind their product, like hotbodies, alot of guys on the net talk about how their paint on the undertails doesn't always match up to the factory paint exact, but they are probably the best company i've ever dealt with in terms of customer support, so i have no worries buying from them knowing if theres an issue it will be resolved, dynojet is the extreme opposite of the spectrum, they absolutely do no stand behind their product, atleast everytime i've dealt with them, in fact yesterday i had to remove my second quick shifter on two different bikes because its doing the same thing, killing the ignition randomly at high rpms, a serious and life threatening problem when your leaned over in a turn at 150 mph on a race track, dyno jet simply does not care... when i enjoy a product i'm quick to tell people about how great it is, but the rare time i have a problem with a company i'm just as quick to warn people, and having owned 5 power commanders on 5 different make and model bikes, and having problems with almost every last one, and having every issue go unresolved and treated like dirt i'll never make the mistake of buying a dynojet product again
my .02
#9
Re: Review: Power Commander Honda RC51
got a yos ems on my motorcycle gsxr 600.. my coz has one also on his gsxr 600 thats mapped. Both have no problems. I still need to get mine mapped... but justed installing it I got better throttle response and revs faster. Cant wait to map the EMS...
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