Being the bike newbie in the office, my first response to most information is to nod. So when they told me the MT-07 was getting taken for a dynotune to Dynobike – aka Dyno Dave’s – for a flash tune, I thought it was a great idea.
But then the doubts began to surface. Our yellow wonder already has plenty of mumbo for a learner, so why were we going to try and squeeze more horsepower from it? Was there perhaps even a wink-wink nudge-nudge office plan afoot to remove the 38.3kW restriction on the engine, and unleash the full 55kW? To me it made no sense, but I’m learning that many riders have this weird obsession with MORE POWER!!!
When the call came to say the MT-07 was ready, I went to Moorabbin to pick it up and ask Dyno Dave about ‘the job’. Dave’s got the look of a man who has spent a long time in sealed rooms with bikes – you can see it in the wild hair and the piratical glint in his eye. And when I asked him why we bothered tuning a basically new bike when the manufacturers would have surely got it perfect already, his glare was withering. “Your thinking is incorrect,” was his response.
Bikes are generally manufactured in just one form for a global market, he explained patiently, but they must run in different local conditions. Petrol in Australia, for example, is higher octane than in the US, so the fuel-air mix can benefit from being reduced here. And that has knock-on effects in terms of throttle response, and yes, peak power. Dave works painstakingly through the engine maps on the CPU, tweaking them to smooth out power and torque curves – no random internet downloads in the Dynobike workshop. “I need to see the data,” he says. “Then I know the facts.”
So, did I notice a change on the short ride back to the office? Most definitely – I didn’t stall once. But seriously, pick-up out of first and second was certainly smoother. Now I need to take it on a longer run to really feel the difference. Bags the MT-07 this weekend!
by MARK VENDER
Dynobike
2/1 Winston Court
Moorabbin Vic 3189
(03) 95530018
www.dynobike.com
