GS-Riders International

Here is a summary of my experience with the Dobeck TFI.

I bought this toy in January 2007 for US$ 250 at http://www.dobeckperformance.com . The price includes a US$ 100 instant discount. It was shipped from Dobeck within a week, no fuzz no hassle. At the original price of US$ 350 I had not bought it.




Installation

1. The model specific installation instructions are sparse, in particular the photos bad and of little help. I recommend downloading a copy of the Wunderlich instructions, which are far better. The device is the same. Download here . Once I figured what goes where, the installation was really easy. The amount of wires is confusing looking at the picture, but the actual installation is not. The cables are a bit long, and sometimes hard to hide.

2. Before I hooked the device on, I did a reset of the ECU. This is done by
- disconnecting the minus battery cable for a minute or so
- switch on ignition
- blip the throttle 3 times, full open
- off the ignition.

Now the ECU is reset.

Under the seat area


OEM style plugs, long wires harness



Summary of a using report I originally postet last January:

This gadget is one of those I had only mild expectations. But after installation my expectations had been exceeded by far. The main differences are
- smoother and more controlled throttle response especially at low speed
- more powerful acceleration
- roll-off power is stronger
- the mild exhaust popping with hot engine on deceleration with no load is completely gone.
- the low speed running is particularly smooth now

The throttle always reacted a bit jerky in the 1. and 2. gear, in particular in traffic and stop and go situations (certainly enhanced by the shaft drive). This is much better now. The engine sound changes pleasantly. It looses it's bright metallic hammering noise at low rpm and on acceleration.


Conclusion

Highly recommended, it's a bringer! My GS has not shown any bad running over the first 1000 km. And now it runs even better.

10 months later I have to redraw my statement from above.

I feel that in matter of about about 3 weeks the engine behaviour returns to its original condition. I suspect the FI of the GS balances out for all changes made through a learning protocol.

I'd say: Save the money. After all this months, to my experience the GS engine from 07 anyway runs excellent after the second service.

I posted a support question at the Dobeck website click here .

Today I disconnected the TFI. Should the FI of the GS have balanced out for the current TFI settings, it should run worse, right? Tomorrow I'll know more. Hopefully it does not rain too much.

Last night I completely disconnected the TFI, but did not perform a reset to the GS - FI.

If
- the GS FI indeed did balance out for the changes made by the TFI settings
- and therefore has readjusted FI parameters to a normal levels (despite settings made with the TFI)
then I can expect the engine to run too lean for a while now.


Result
As expected a change:
- Clearly audible exhaust popping when decelerating (= no engine load), and if the engine is hot. This was easily repeatable for me over the course of the day.
- Slightly weaker acceleration and roll-off power
- the engine stalled once when I was just steering into a corner. Another time I felt it was close to stall, it had a hick-up but then caught itself.

The exhaust noises are just burble with the occasional mild fart, usually no stumbling etc., except the two situations as mentioned above.

My fuel consumption should be lower as usual, in probably two days I will know. It should increase in a matter 3 tanks to a similar level as with TFI installed - if I am right with my theory about the GS-FI being able to balance out for the TFI settings.

The Akra does not much for the GS. The Dobeck does tune the burble out but then ..., yep you read the above. What you want is the Rapidbike device. Do you know it?

What is your mileage?

Aha!

This will disappear by itself. Do not do anything or buy anything until you have 10,000 km. Then we talk again.

From the way how I see things it is not necessary, unless you are going into performance tuning. The GS runs a bit rough first, and sometimes even crappy. Latest after the second adjustment of the valves it will be smooth, and it will be merely an occasional faint burble (with no engine load and small throttle opening). Which many even like.

Thanks anyway for posting the response!