FJR-1300A POWER COMMANDER

by Troppo

Are they white spots on the floor? Must get around to cleaning the garage.

Like most of us, I get probably 95% of my bike information off the Internet these days.

There are web sites catering for just about every make and model of bike - some popular bikes even have multiple web sites, so one can be even more narrowly focused in their obsession.

The FJR is a very popular bike in the US and Europe - approximately 10 thousand feejers were sold last year in US. Unfortunately, the USA eco-Nazi's emission laws have meant that the fuel injection system is run very lean on US bikes, with the result that the bike surges quite badly.

The Australian model is nowhere near as bad as its US cousin, but it is not perfect, like say the K6 Gixxer, which has an almost direct connection between the throttle and the rear wheel, so flawless is the fuel injection mapping.

Many USA FJR owners have added a device called a Power Commander to their bike, and are unanimous in their praise of the mod.

For those of you not familiar with the Power Commander, it provides an interface between the bike's fuel injection system and an external PC via a USB port. The Power Commander is installed on the bike (usually under the seat), and wired into the fuel injection system with snap on connectors - no messy cutting and splicing of wires is required.

In conjunction with the appropriate computer software, the Power Commander enables the bike's fuel map to be modified to defeat the over lean conditions required by the latest emission laws.

The Power Commander: a black box that's not as orange as the ones in aeroplanes

While there are various 'standard' Power Commander maps available for different bike models, by far the best way to re-map the fuel injection system is in conjunction with a dyno run - this enables a savvy tuner to develop the perfect map for your particular bike.

I had a Power Commander on my Blackbird - it did make a difference, but I only had a 'standard' map loaded.

Despite all the raving of the Yanks about the wonders of a Power Commander for the FJR, I was sceptical - my bike was relatively smooth, and exhibited none of the horror symptoms spoken of in the land of the brave and home of the free.

That was until an FJR-owing mate of mine told the story of how a fellow Aussie FJR pilot went the Power Commander route. I started to weaken... well, yes, the FJR is a bit snatchy in the on/off power transition, it does surge just a little bit at low RPM, and it does produce a tingly vibration when you get excited with the go handle.

The final clincher was the availability of a Power Commander authorised tuning centre right here in Cairns.

So, I bit the proverbial bullet, and got it done.

Was it worth it?

Oh yes.

The bike is transformed. It starts instantaneously and settles into a perfect idle. Drive line lash is eliminated, as is all surging, at any RPM.

The midrange punch is much stronger, and the annoying vibrations at high RPM are gone. The bike is smooth as the proverbial silk all through the rev range.

Apparently the stock fuelling was quite lean at cruising RPM. The custom Power Commander map has defeated this eco-Nazi inspired lean condition, producing almost perfect fuelling from idle to red line.

Viva la revolution! Troppo's FJR is no longer repressed!

On the Dyno, the FJR produced 129 HP at the rear wheel and achieved a (theoretical) maximum speed of 285 km/hr. Very respectable figures.

Many thanks to Russell at Bike Craft in Cairns for a superb job.