Dobeck Performance GEN 4 - AFR PLUS

Which EFI controller would you suggest a new Rocket owner should purchase?


  • Total voters
    17
Even though we who have the mental capacity to mine data and or dive into tweaking programs via Tuneboy or TuneEdit do not like or enjoy that part of motorcycling. MOF, I'd rather drink bleach. The Dobeck does exactly what I want on my Roadster as it is not burdened with exotic augmentations. It only has K&Ns and a Jardine that has been customized into a 3 into 1. I can do whatever I want to it like changing exhaust, removing/installing baffles, and changing air intake configurations. And, don't have to keep running to a dyno with each change or addition. Just a twist of a screw and voila! I'm ready to ride.

My force fed Standard is of course a different animal that requires Tuneboy to get set up right. Luckily I have a good friend who is a machinist, computer geek, and 30 years of motorcycle mechanics experience. I would truly be lost without him and certainly not be riding as much.

My point is, I do not believe Dobeck is trying to mislead anybody at all. They are catering to people like me who would rather ride than crunch numbers.
 
I am not sure why guys are getting all huffy, Mr Dobeck invented the Original Power Commander which was an analogue system with 3 bands of adjustment he then sold the rights to DynaJet he then later decided to reintroduce his analogue system under a different name (probably after regretting that he had sold his rights in the first place).
Meanwhile DynaJet not content to stick with the Analogue system went on to developed it some more and came up with the Power Commander five a Digital tuner which give a broader seamless range of adjustment, it has also got an optional LCD module that allows you to change between maps or switch to a 3 band analogue adjust on the fly option and data logging and also the other optional module the Auto Tuner which works by following AFR values in a table and which doesn't require running of to a dyno every time you change a component eg air filters or exhaust it self adjusts you don't even have to get out a screwdriver and please remember this was released well before Mr Dobeck released his version of the much the same thing and called it AFR plus.
So let's stop arguing about which is better and enjoy both systems, The PCV +AT is a very simple to use and set up fuel management system and I am Sure the Mr Dobecks more recent unit is just as good but it wasn't around when was looking for a fuel management system so I got my PCV + AT. I love how easy it has been so I will stick to it and as most already know All Are Welcome to have my "AFR Map version 2" which delivers a good balance of Power and Economy just drop me a message (conversation) with your e-mail address in it
 
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getting ready to make my purchase in the next week or so once I get my pipes made up and adding the ramair filter...
 
Even though we who have the mental capacity to mine data and or dive into tweaking programs via Tuneboy or TuneEdit do not like or enjoy that part of motorcycling. MOF, I'd rather drink bleach. The Dobeck does exactly what I want on my Roadster as it is not burdened with exotic augmentations. It only has K&Ns and a Jardine that has been customized into a 3 into 1. I can do whatever I want to it like changing exhaust, removing/installing baffles, and changing air intake configurations. And, don't have to keep running to a dyno with each change or addition. Just a twist of a screw and voila! I'm ready to ride.

My force fed Standard is of course a different animal that requires Tuneboy to get set up right. Luckily I have a good friend who is a machinist, computer geek, and 30 years of motorcycle mechanics experience. I would truly be lost without him and certainly not be riding as much.

My point is, I do not believe Dobeck is trying to mislead anybody at all. They are catering to people like me who would rather ride than crunch numbers.

I agree with STRIPES, I am 60yo Aussie and new to Rocket 3, I bought it 2 months ago a long way from home and rode it 500klm back, economy was impressive, but I presumed the exhaust popping and erratic surging may have been a generic part of the beast. The Rocket is a 2005 with 23,000klm on the clock, had according to the receipts been ftted with TORS, Cat-less collector when bought new in 2005, still fitted with standard intake.I ordered the OS Bypass, Tune ECU cable as soon as I got it home and based on forum recommendations changed the map from 20228 to 20226, adjusted the speedo and the like, the mixtures got richer via 20226 and improved the surging greatly, but I had no idea to what degree. the changes and improvements derived by the above were noticeable and impressive.
I ordered AFR + from Dillon and after it landed, I spent 20 minutes fitting the wideband OS sensor and AFR Gauge before installing the control unit, a 30 minute ride alarmingly proved beyond doubt that the Rocket was running extremely lean throughout the entire throttle spectrum, another half an hour fitting the AFR+ control unit and injector jumpers and out for another ride, within an hour of the AFR+ install and a few roadside adjustments to all 6 zones, the AFR gauge was frequently reading healthy and strong 11.8>13.5 AFR depending on throttle twist, I removed the secondaries and fitted RAMAir and GIPRO with ATRE, made further adjustments with the AFR +, the Rocket 3 engine sounds nothing like the first 500klm ride, has since the AFR+ tweaks sounded smooth and solid throughout the operating range, I still have light throttle/cruise set for economy at just over 14.0AFR, but have the richer power mixtures Kick in earlier in the throttle twist. For my money, knowing what the AFR mixtures are up to at a glance and being able to adjust and recheck until I get them where I want them, is in my humble opinion and limited expertise, a HUGELY IMPORTANT factor and help towards a more pleasurable riding experience and peace of mind. I can help but wonder if and to what degree, unnecessary wear and or damage may have occurred as a result of running very lean mixtures since 2005 and during the past 23,000klm. I hope the above personal perspective helps other members.
 
I'm glad it is working well for you. Your story demonstrates well one of the great benefits of the DP AFR+. Simple versatility with intake/exhaust changes.
 
Just wanted to preface by saying this: using any tuning system without a good Wideband o2 is destined to fail, so in that aspect, the Dobeck at least seems like it could work.

<rant begins> WARNING: Get it out of your heads that "you can't damage your engine" "the dobeck is safe because bla bla bla" and other such mumbo jubmo. ANY device that lets you vary the AFR into the leaner than stoich range has the potential to cause catastrophic damage to your ring lands. Luckily, modern engines are highly tolerant of being lean, but, if yourr o2 were to drift in accuracy say... 5%, and your gas were only a couple octane points off, and the temp of air was say 10 degrees hotter that day than when you tuned the bike. You will be at very high risk of ping/detonation/pre-detonation. TL/DR: NO TUNING DEVICE IS "SAFE" OR "WITHOUT RISK" when tweaking AFRs in high power motors. </rant ends>

Not sure I really care enough to explain in detail why but will if I have to, for now:

All piggyback controllers (as in PC3, PC5, AFR 4, supermegaproductwahteverthe****itscalled), are inferior to TuneECU except one. That one, is not available for our bikes, and is not one of the products already metioned in this thread, so I shall not mention the product name for sake of avoiding a forum war.

TuneECU and TuneBOY, are, and will always be vastly superior to the piggybacks. There is no opinion here, no bias, no agenda. It is straight up fact that the piggybacks will never.... ever..... ever ever ever, using their current paradigm of signal intercept/modification, be as good as adjusting the base map in the ECU. There IS a good way to do piggybacks that improves fueling control, but none of these companies knows how to do it, and I suspect they will never figure it out.

THAT SAID:

Probably the easiest way to get your awesome custom tune is encompased in the easy steps below:
1: Buy TuneECU cable ($8.00 on ebay).
2: Download TuneECU and program your stock/nearly stock bike with the Power-Tripp map.
3: Buy PC5 and setup on bike.
4: Get a "Custom Tune" done on a dyno.
5: Go home and offload the map from the PC5 to your computer.
6: Use the values in the table to modify the trims in the Power-Tripp map in TuneECU, save as supermegamap.xxx
7: Install the new supermegamap.xxx into your ECU.
8: REMOVE the PC5 completely from your bike and enjoy.

Be happy. Now you have a "custom" tune for your bike. Is it safe for the bike? Yes. Will it run better than stock? Probably. Is there still more power to be had via tuning? Absolutely!

In reality, NO tuner who only uses PC3/PC5 and shoots for a target afr, will ever be able to make an optimal tune for your bike, but they can get pretty good tunes for your bike. Having a load cell dyno and a tuner that will use TuneECU directly, that knows how to program for power not target AFR is what you want to find. Currently I know of only one guy in the US that does it..... Power-Tripp.

NOTE: Having a piggyback so you can "lean it out on road trips" is so wrong I don't even have the words. If it is tuned right in the first place, it is already lean in cruise and doesn't have a lot of room to get leaner safely.
 
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