New BMW ECU Flash?

[jammess]

Visited a BMW dealer yesterday to pick up some new crush washers for my ancient R1100RSL and while there I asked if they had any new RS bikes to look at and was told they sold their last one a few days ago. Then I asked about cost and in the course of the discussion it was mentioned that I could even buy an option that would allow me to reprogram the ECU to improve running and overall performance for a cost of close to a grand ($1K). They would do the initial reprogram then I could make adjustments to suit me. Have any of you guys ever heard of a dealer offering such an option? I didn't ask any specific questions like how would this affect the warranty. Just seemed odd to me if not kind of ridiculous. I mean if I got to fork over $1K to make my bike run good then not going there as in NOT in this lifetime! Pathetic!! Bike was around 23K with all whistles and bells which is a bunch from the base price of about 13K. No thanks!

I did mail the ECU from my '10 FJR1300A to a tuner in NC a couple years ago for an ECU flash which worked out very well and cost far less than the above described modification to a BMW. Also, the FJR warranty was long expired. The flash had the desired effect that being a very smooth idle with no detriment to fuel economy which remained at 46 mpg so worth the $300 to me although I could have easily lived without it as in I don't ride the bike at idle.

The world of motorcycles today kind of leaves me cold as in what a lot of horse *&$#!

 

[BC1100S]

https://forums.bmwmoa.org/showthread.php?103311-Grumpy-Old-Men-Thread&highlight=Grumpy

 

[jammess]

https://forums.bmwmoa.org/showthread.php?103311-Grumpy-Old-Men-Thread&highlight=Grumpy

Different strokes.. Hey, thanks for the link to the grumpy old man thread it's interesting reading and I pretty much agree with most of the posts. Probably for me my thoughts on this subject are age related but none the less I've formed these opinions over time and if I could I would probably turn the clock back about 50 years or so. I admit it.

 

[Omega Man]

Visited a BMW dealer yesterday to pick up some new crush washers for my ancient R1100RSL and while there I asked if they had any new RS bikes to look at and was told they sold their last one a few days ago. Then I asked about cost and in the course of the discussion it was mentioned that I could even buy an option that would allow me to reprogram the ECU to improve running and overall performance for a cost of close to a grand ($1K). They would do the initial reprogram then I could make adjustments to suit me. Have any of you guys ever heard of a dealer offering such an option? I didn't ask any specific questions like how would this affect the warranty. Just seemed odd to me if not kind of ridiculous. I mean if I got to fork over $1K to make my bike run good then not going there as in NOT in this lifetime! Pathetic!! Bike was around 23K with all whistles and bells which is a bunch from the base price of about 13K. No thanks!

I did mail the ECU from my '10 FJR1300A to a tuner in NC a couple years ago for an ECU flash which worked out very well and cost far less than the above described modification to a BMW. Also, the FJR warranty was long expired. The flash had the desired effect that being a very smooth idle with no detriment to fuel economy which remained at 46 mpg so worth the $300 to me although I could have easily lived without it as in I don't ride the bike at idle.

The world of motorcycles today kind of leaves me cold as in what a lot of horse *&$#!

It’s quite possible that the guy that mentioned this upsell previously worked for a replacement window company.
OM

 

[88bmwjeff]

Then I asked about cost and in the course of the discussion it was mentioned that I could even buy an option that would allow me to reprogram the ECU to improve running and overall performance for a cost of close to a grand ($1K). They would do the initial reprogram then I could make adjustments to suit me. Have any of you guys ever heard of a dealer offering such an option? I didn't ask any specific questions like how would this affect the warranty. Just seemed odd to me if not kind of ridiculous. I mean if I got to fork over $1K to make my bike run good then not going there as in NOT in this lifetime! Pathetic!! Bike was around 23K with all whistles and bells which is a bunch from the base price of about 13K. No thanks!

I view this differently, and I'm just taking a stab in the dark here why they offer this. Manufactures balance performance, fuel economy and emissions that hopefully appeal to the largest mass of people. However, there are those who might want their bikes tuned for maximum performance and be damned with fuel economy and emissions. Based on my extreme limited information, it appears that this option may do that. Now for most of us, this option probably isn't worth it. But, if you do a lot of track days, maybe it is worth the money.

 

[pauls1150]

J - Did you happen to ask about the source of this "option"? If it's not BMW or BMW-Approved (like Akropovic, for example), your warranty is instantly out the window.

 

[motodan]

This approach is part and parcel for HD owners. Has been for decades.

 

[jammess]

J - Did you happen to ask about the source of this "option"? If it's not BMW or BMW-Approved (like Akropovic, for example), your warranty is instantly out the window.

Yeah, I did ask and he told me but darned if I can remember the name but I'd never heard of the company before but then there's a lot of things I've never heard of. I would, out of curiosity, like to test ride a new R1250RS just so I might know more about what I'm talking about and maybe an RT would be my preference I don't know. What got me into BMW in '76 was the simplicity and ease of routine maintenance as well being very owner friendly which my R75/7 certainly was and I wish I'd never sold it. Technology has made fuel injection and ignition simplicity far superior to carbs and points but beyond that I have no interest. I remember once, on a long road trip, my R75 began to run very rough and lose power. I stopped and easily removed the front engine cover and oil poured out of the points enclosure. Obviously it had a bad cam shaft seal so I found a paper cup and drained some gas out of the left side fuel petcock to wash the points then strapped the front cover to the luggage rack and continued my trip home. Took the bike to the dealer at Federal Way, WA and the shop guy said this should not have happened. The bike's warranty had expired but no matter he replaced the seal and didn't charge me a dime. That was then and it is one of those things that endeared me to the BMW brand but that was then.

In the case of my FJR the overall performance didn't change other than the bike seemed to run very smooth especially at low RPM and, come to to think of it, the shifting became smoother I think because before the ECU would cut fuel delivery when I dipped the throttle when upshifting as other owners have also reported. My generation 2 FJR now runs as smooth if not smoother than the generation 3 machines which are smoother than a typical gen2. Hey, I forgot, this is a BMW forum. lol..lol.. Sorry.