A 2008 Yamaha R1 that’d been bought all the way from Middlesborough by its owner Damian; he’d heard good things about BSD via word of mouth so when it came time to get his bike tuned knew where he was going. The bike arrived fitted with a ‘de-cat’ pipe, Akrapovic cans and Power Commander PC III running a stock map. It made 168bhp; by the time it rolled off our Dyno it was putting out 172bhp, most of which came from the little tricks that R1s really respond to (what you see on the curve as you’re mapping is only a part of the story). Adding fuel in closed throttle areas completely transforms the way the bike feels, really helping the on/off throttle transition, and the PC III’s accelerator pump is a bonus feature here as well. Interestingly the post-Dyno test ride out in real-world conditions threw up a problem that many owners fail to spot and get used to over time; the throttle cable had loads of slack in it which really hinders smooth delivery.
Damian travelled a long way to get his R1 on the Dyno and set up; the trip was worth it.
