repoman
0
Anyone use one on the NT, there one for sale here and I would like peoples thoughts on them. Good, bad or in different. I have had great luck buy stuff of members here so I hope to keep that good luck rolling.
Power commander
- Thread starter repoman
- Start date
Warren
2
I am not sure what the point would be. I think the poster admitted the NT ran worse with it than without. If the idea is that your are going to get a better performing motorcycle than I think you should save your money.
repoman
0
true but admitted he did not do the dyno tune needed to maximize the unit.
That is the key... If you are going to do it you need to find a good dyno shop, who knows the NT and how to get more power out of it, that can tune and then upload the files to the Power Commander. I've never had a bike dyno tuned but my Mustangs ran around $400-$700 with the hardware. I've seen Harley's go for around $500. I don't think there is enough performance hidden in a NT's software to warrant those dollars...
repoman
0
Small local shop that has a bike Dyno will do a custom map on the power commander for my bike for $230-$280
When I had my NT I did a bunch of research on how to get more power from the engine. In the end it was going to take a lot of money for little improvement, ie, 10-15% for $1000-2000.
Unless you are going to do something with the exhaust and intake then using a PC will probably get you about 5%, and that might be stretching it. Most people I know have used it on other bikes to 1) smooth up a stock system or 2) compensate for upgrades they have made to the engine. My experience was the NT did not need to be smoothed up.
I'd look at some of the forums for the Honda Hawk (IIRC) the one with basically the same engine as the NT. When I looked though them they were 'improving' their engines to get the amount of power that the NT has as stock. That was with carbs and custom exhaust.
Many dyno shops will tweak the engine to run hotter to get a few HP to justify their expense. Reliability is not their concern.
Unless you are going to do something with the exhaust and intake then using a PC will probably get you about 5%, and that might be stretching it. Most people I know have used it on other bikes to 1) smooth up a stock system or 2) compensate for upgrades they have made to the engine. My experience was the NT did not need to be smoothed up.
I'd look at some of the forums for the Honda Hawk (IIRC) the one with basically the same engine as the NT. When I looked though them they were 'improving' their engines to get the amount of power that the NT has as stock. That was with carbs and custom exhaust.
Many dyno shops will tweak the engine to run hotter to get a few HP to justify their expense. Reliability is not their concern.
I have a friend who installed one on his wife's NT. He's technically adept, especially when it comes to electronics and his knowledge of the mechanical end is also way beyond the norm. He said it improved acceleration in some RPM ranges but fuel economy suffered. And it was a whole bunch of money. Leave it stock would be my advice. 
Speaking of miles per gallon, on Wednesday I took a 90-mile trip to meet friends before starting our Thursday ride to Lewisburg, WV to attend an MSTA event. I needed to get to Columbus before the start of rush hour so decided to slab it all the way. I topped-off at home then once again in Columbus. There was very little wind and I wasn't in that big a rush so set the MC Cruise for 65 mph and just enjoyed the ride. When I calculated the mileage it came to 67.7 mpg!
Speaking of miles per gallon, on Wednesday I took a 90-mile trip to meet friends before starting our Thursday ride to Lewisburg, WV to attend an MSTA event. I needed to get to Columbus before the start of rush hour so decided to slab it all the way. I topped-off at home then once again in Columbus. There was very little wind and I wasn't in that big a rush so set the MC Cruise for 65 mph and just enjoyed the ride. When I calculated the mileage it came to 67.7 mpg!
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My NT didn't run any worse, My mileage went down a bit so it was doing something. I decided to take it off to see if I could feel a difference, the only difference I found was improved mileage so I left it off. If anyone asked me, I'd tell them not to spend the $300 on a new unit. An expensive lesson for me results in an opportunity for you to get one cheap. (guess I'm not much of a salesman!!)
Warren
2
Since most stock engines are set very learn to pass emissions testing most of these devices enrich the mixture to try to improve performance which is why the gas mileage goes down. In the case of the NT is does not appear the enriched mixture improved performance enough to be detected if at all.