Cycle Connection Gaithersburg, MD Review

boostedspra

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I went to get my ECU tuned at cycle connection on my 2008 Hayabusa and my friend was getting his ECU tuned on his 2007 Hayabusa on 4/2/2010. We had both looked all over the place to find a place to get our bikes tuned. After talking with several shops and listening lies from other shops about what they can and what can't be done to or bikes, I decided to go to Cycle Connection. I decided to go there mainly because I called and talked to the tuner and owner Shawn (Might be the wrong spelling of his name...sorry). I am relatively familiar with FI tuning and he seemed very knowledgeable on the phone and his receptionist rose was able to work with my schedule and worked our bikes in for tuning sessions. I pulled up on that Friday and was greeted by Rose, who was very kind and she let Shawn know that we had arrived. At the time, Shawn was finishing up dyno tuning the ECU on a GSXR-1000. I will first note that both my busa and my friends have a K&N filter and a Yoshimura full system. So Shawn took my bike in first and let my friend and I go into the dyno room with him while he was dyno tuning. He was even kind enough to let my wife and son in there too. Shawn included me in every single tune change that he made and explained to me why he did it and what the goals were for the bike. Also, he let me video tape all of the tuning and such. From watching Shawn and knowing what I did from my past experience, I can say that he definitely knew what he was doing and was very good at it. He tuned my bike's ECU to the point where it gained loads of horsepower and made the AFR curve as flat as I have ever seen one. He tuned my friend's 2007 in the same manner. I picked up 10 hp from the tune alone and my friend picked up 17 hp and each of us picked up some extra torque. I was blown away by how much we picked up from only the tune as we brought our bikes in with the exhaust and air filter already installed. Shawn was very kind, knowledgeable, and fun. I had a blast being in their while my bike was getting tuned and Shawn made the experience wonderful. I would not take my bike anywhere else after dealing with Shawn and Cycle Connection. If you want to get a good tune and have a good time while it is getting done, then go to Cycle Connection near Gaithersburg, MD. I wanted to immediately post up this review after Shawn finished dyno tuning my bike however, he would not let me because he wanted me to take it for a good ride back home before I told others how good the shop was. So I did just that and went for long rides on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. I can truly say that not only does the bike pull twice as hard as it ever did, especially up top, but it also runs smoother than it ever did from the factory. To add to all that, my fuel mileage increased by 5 MPG over what I usually get and I was into the throttle all the time. I am truly amazed with how well my bike and my friend's bike runs now that the ECU got tuned by Shawn. I strongly recommend taking your bike to Shawn to get anything done to it. From seeing his tuning abilities, I can 100% vouch for his ECU tuning ability and can assure you that whether you have a Bazzaz, Power Commander, or whatever else, Shawn and Cycle Connection will make your bike come alive. Thank you Cycle Connection for giving me a day filled with fun and excitement and a tune for my bike that is just amazing!
 
Did you have a Bazzaz or PC on your bike before the tune? Was it tuned prior to the Flashing of the ECU? Just wondering about the power gains you mention. I can see the gain if you showed up with just mods on a stock ECU FI system but seems a lot if you compared a tuned Bazzaz or PC bike. I have been looking for someone who can tune the ECU in this area... thanks for the heads up.
 
Mine was just a stock ECU but I have a friend with the same mods who only got an additional 2 hp with a PC where as I got an additional 10 hp.
 
This is the type of person that I would take my bike to over and over again. I really liked the part where he allowed you, your friend, and your wife and kids to all stay in the dyno room.
 
Important note - Shawn will be first to tell you that his dyno is "stingy". On his dyno you picked up those numbers. On another you might get more.

I only wanted to point this out before someone compares the numbers.

I will be visiting Cycle Connect in about a week and half for my tune! I hope to see similar numbers over my stock configuration.
 
I believe that the fee's vary based on the work you have done. Best to let Shawn make that comment. Give him a call, they are very upfront with costs and stick with what they quote.

I picked up a GSXR 1000 over the off-season. I hope to get to them this summer for a tune.

Busa is still running quite fine. I was considering putting it on the Dyno to verify the tune is still accurate.
 
I might have him go into the ecu too... does turning off the timing retarding in the ecu help anything for real? If it does I might have him do that before the tune and take off the top speed limiter while he is in there...if we go that route.
 
Here is my review of Cycle Connection and Shawn... Shawn and his wife are extremely nice people ( dog too ) and they have a nice place to work on any type of motorcycle. His knowledge of bikes is very high and he will give you tons of information. Any question I asked he had a answer for and it was in detail... we did a flash on my ECU just to turn things off ( timing retard, top speed, pare valve, o2 sensor ) and then he went over my map that I feared was lean ( wich it was ). He did some tweaking mainly to the WOT area and brought the AFR to around a 13.0 area...
I have a weird issue after the flash, that the A,B,C mode is on when I start the bike and stays stuck on the A ... you can't turn it off or change it. I called Shawn and he will check and see what the glitch is soon. Waiting for the weather to clear up so I can get a good chance to see how good the bike runs now...
 
The issue with the A,B,C mode is because of the flashing software... it is suppose to be on the A now according to Greg from Boostbysmith :thumbsup:
 
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