ECU reflash

ECU of Streetfighter S, a photo by Speedy Chung on Flickr.

After 250 miles of break-in run, I concluded that I must fix the both the flat spot and power surge issues. These issues are nothing new to Streetfighter owners - same topics had been bought up in the forum many times without any total fix. Most of the solutions are expensive and yet not very reliable. The root of the problem is the Euro3 Emission Standard - the standard is so high that in order to meet the requirements, the bike has to be running at extremely lean condition at lower RPM - as high as 14.5 AFR. To make the matter worse, anything below 5200 RPM is locked - meaning the bike has to run in close loop with the narrow band oxygen sensors' input. It makes the bike run very sluggish in respond to throttle input; and the power delivery is far from smooth because of 'on-off' input from the oxygen sensors (Detail here). The only way fix these problems without any third party deceive is reflash the ECU and put a new map on it. However it is a lot easier to say than done. After more than a year, the after market solution finally finger out a way creak down the locked ECU. However not everyone done well... some are OK, some just work for few hundred miles. After many research and many success stories, I decided to give Redline Performance Motorsports a try. Spoke with Dave over the phone, and he told me they will remove the power restriction for the first 3 gears, disable the O2 sensors inputs, and put a map that would work with my exhaust. Sounds like a plan to me - just sent it out today, and hopefully it will solve all of my ECU issues when I get it back!