We motorcyclists are born enthusiasts; we love to look and admire our machines, but nothing beats riding them and extracting all the performance that comes with a motorcycle’s renowned power-to-weight ratio. Electronics have helped us extract more performance out of our machines for decades, but unfortunately, it’s the same thing that’s beginning to limit us now. Yes, the student has become the evil master, and for the very few of us petrolheads that still enjoy extracting the wicked performance that our machines have to offer, it comes at a price and with a bit of admin too.
The limiting factor these days is related to the emissions laws known as Euro 5 and the soon-to-be Euro 6; these European emission standards are continually tightening every few years. Although they are supposedly saving and better for the environment, the restrictions we, as riders, have to deal with are truly frustrating, and as long as we hold on to our beloved fossil fuels, it will continue.
Just imagine buying a product, it could be anything, and this item that you’ve bought due to the convincing advertising, the kind of advertising that sold you the idea of what was missing in your life or how your lifestyle could do a full 360 on itself, if you only owned this product. Now, rather than doing what it says on the box and in the clever marketing, we receive a product that falls short of the dream and refinement we would come to expect from a premium brand. Manufacturers have to blame minor defects and irritations on something that they are not allowed to fix, and now you need to spend even more money to get what you were promised. Confusing, isn’t it, but that’s what these emissions are forcing upon manufacturers and, in turn, this is what the end user who buys a Euro 5+ motorcycle has to deal with.
Manufacturers have to deal with these issues in ways that are, in my opinion, just silly. I’m talking about increasing the displacement of their motorcycles to make the same power and torque of yesteryear. The Kawasaki Ninja 300 became a 400 and then a 500, KTM’s parallel twins went from 790 to 890 and now 990 and we see the same happening with every other manufacturer having to increase the size of catalitical converters, make air box restrictions and further ECU witchcraft to the point where Yamaha doesn’t even have a slip on exhaust on their MT-07 and ‘09’ range, just a massive ugly 2-stroke looking cat. What’s the point in refining if it’s going to be removed or replaced anyway? This is the new mentality: make those at the top happy and let the public, unfortunately, do what’s right and remove all the rubbish.
I’m not saying the general public has to go down the route of opening their own privateer race team to ride their Yamaha MT-09 to work and back, but some work can be done to get rid of the snatchy throttle, hunting idle, to improve the real-world midrange and for heaven’s sake, to hear our motorcycles. So, it’s easy, right? Buy an aftermarket exhaust and voila, right? Unfortunately, an exhaust isn’t going to fix it; it might even bring up other issues. What your bike needs is to be correctly tuned so it no longer speaks Euro 5, but rather the language we motorcycle enthusiasts enjoy speaking.
This is where Dimsport SA come into the picture…
Dimsport might sound familiar to many of you, as this Italian company has been in the tuning game for 34 years now, specialising in high-quality electronic tuning for the Automotive industry worldwide. Over the years, we’ve had Dimsport’s Rapid Bike systems installed on our machines at ZA Bikers, starting from the classic Rapid Easy to the Rapid Bike Evo. Since we last saw the team at Dimsport SA, a lot has changed, and so too has their technology, and with some new products on offer, and a bike that needed tuning, we pulled in to get our machine set up.
A very good friend of mine, Taylor, who rides a Gen 3 Yamaha MT-09, tried to mitigate or wrestle with Euro 5 himself by fitting a full system exhaust for both sound and, as we all know, “to help the engine breathe a bit better.” Working in the ‘IT’ world, Taylor might not be that mechanically minded, but he is smart as hell, and he very quickly asked me if tuning the MT-09 would help it run better, especially after fitting the system. This is another thing, most exhaust systems or fitment companies are quick to fit pipes but never to sell a tuning device with the exhaust, and most buyers simply ride out with a great sounding bike that hides its flaws thanks to sexy sounding decibels.
Dimsport, on the other hand, works very closely with exhaust manufacturers, some of the best in the industry, and they help develop downloadable software that technicians can download anywhere in the world and install via a cleverly wired-in harness and USB that plugs right into a laptop or Dimsport diagnostic system. Yes, your brand new bike fitted with an extra Akrapovič is probably running off of Dimsports software behind the scenes from the factory.
So, with a nod of approval from Taylor, he handed me his keys, and I rode up to Dimsport SA in Rivonia to see Dean Michau. Dimsport’s Rapid range has grown, seeing a new generation of Rapid Bike Racing 2, EVO 2 and Smart 2, which make all the clever stuff accessible through an App for the Euro 5+ bikes. With the Gen 3 MT-09 being a Euro 5 model, Dean suggested going with the top-of-the-range predecessor Rapid Bike Racing.
Why Rapid Bike Racing? Well, “Racing” just means that there are more parameters to play with; we see the Racing module build upon the EVO, offering more advanced features that can be adapted, and additional hardware that can be added. For Taylor’s MT-09, he was looking for better fueling for the full system exhaust, smoother throttle response and more midrange torque, which Rapid could fix in its sleep.
Installing the system is plug and play, but does require a few parts to be removed and in the MT-09’s case the tank, air scoops, seat, left handside radiator cover and airbox for the harness to connect to the Lambda sensor and each throttle body before running back up to the stock ECU and then into the Rapid Bike Racing Module.
With the module installed and the software running, stage one of our MT-09 journey with Rapid Bike Racing was complete. In real-time, Dean showed me how the bike was running off the laptop, explaining the details of the graph and how, in a nutshell, the MT-09, with a simple plug-and-download software from overseas, was already running better without having to dive into stage two. Dean was also explaining to me how Dimsport have downloadable software for most model motorcycles that helps fight Euro 5 and Euro 5+ without needing an air filter swap or full system exhaust installation. So, if stock ticks your box but Euro 5+ doesn’t, the Dimsport’s Rapid range still helps sort it all out.
You can have your stock bike fitted with a Dimsport Rapid Bike Module and not just feel gains, but rather discover the true potential of your motorcycle, the potential that “Euro” doesn’t allow you to see. If you want to dive into the different stages of tune like us, the Rapid Bike Racing will set you back R11,950, but if you are looking for a more road-biased system with similar features, then the Rapid Bike Evo will set you back R9,950.
In the coming weeks, we will be testing the MT-09 in real-world conditions to draw a more detailed comparison.
For more information on Rapid, contact Dean Michau at Dimsport SA.
Tel: 063 967 5069
E-mail: [email protected]
