BT-Moto ECU Flash with Hand-Held Tuner

 At one time, motorcycles were fairly simple. Chassis, wheels, engine, fuel, some way to mix air and fuel, and then light it on fire, causing some horsepower to be created and sending us on our way, and some brakes to safely stop us, too.

There are few motorcycles these days that are that simple. The Yamaha Zinger, maybe?

Today, with fly-by-wire and ECU and the advent of more advanced technology, motorcycle power management, throttle control, braking, and suspension have gotten much better, but at the cost of being almost out of reach for those looking to tweak what the factory rolls out onto the showroom floor.

Almost.

The brain of most modern machines is the Engine Control Unit – the ECU. Basically, these are just computers that handle an untold number of events, tasks, and systems all at the same time.

Although most of us mortals do not have the skill, brains, or technology on hand to play and adjust the parameters of today's ECUs, there are some folks who do – and have been doing it for a long time.

In this particular article, we will be focused on late model BMW R 1250 machines – our GS, but every other version of the R 1250 can be tweaked as well. In fact, almost every machine that has an ECU probably can be made a skosh better.

There are many companies that offer these mapping upgrades for various machines. But, and this is a big but…. doing so will probably void your warranty. With my warranty in the mirror, and looking to take care of some of the tiny niggly things about the 2020 R 1250 GS, I made a call to BT-Moto.

BT-Moto has been doing custom ECU Tuning for more than a decade, starting with automobiles and then quickly moving into the motorcycle world.

But, again there is a but, the process to 'Flash' your ECU is just that. Process, that involves purchasing their BT-Moto's Hand-Held Tuner. This is not an easy purchase, as it is pricey, but we want you to keep reading, so we will get back to this and discuss its benefits.

The BMW R 1250 GS rolls off the showroom with 136 horsepower. That is a lot of ponies, and me… I am not a horsepower guy. I have long stood by my need for only 'usable horsepower.'

But, like when I played my first high-end guitar, spending a few weeks on a Ducati Multistrada V-4S, a bike that has 170 horsepower available, was a bit of an unfortunate eye opener. Suddenly, I realized my Guild and Ovation were not a Taylor, Martin, or Breedlove. (The high-end wallet burners keep on comin', I tell ya!)

My BMW was perfectly fine till Japan, and the Ducati – then I began to nitpick.

Truthfully, I think BMW knew they could do better, too – and the new R 1300 machines have addressed a few of these issues. 

The long list of changes that the BT-Moto Tuner will do range from subtle to sublime:

Smoothing of part throttle and low RPM rideability to combat bucking and jerking with proper fueling. Removed top speed limiter (125mph), lower fan-on temperatures, power, and torque gains due to unrestricted throttle and removal of limiters, in each gear. Removal of known flat spots in the RPM range.Exhaust valve adjustments for best sound, maximum torque, and horsepower. Removed top speed limiter (125mph). Full-throttle limiters to 80% at low rpm to 100% for instant response. Updated engine braking in all modes. Cold and warm start issues eliminated. Lambda limiters adjusted for maximum power.

That is just a small part of the changes that will be made with BT-Moto's new mapping.

If you are a PC Windows rider, then you can most likely go through the updating process yourself.

I am a Mac guy, so I looked to some pros, somebody who had the experience and was super confident that we could do this, and I would not end up with a 500-pound German statue.

I made a call to Brian Ballard at A & J Cycles in Hillburn, New York. Hillburn is right on the south end of Harriman State Park, and about a 60-mile ride for me. I explained to Brian what I wanted to do, and an appointment was made. A & J have become known throughout the U.S. as a premier Triumph motorcycle customizer and performance center. But, they work on other brands as well, and were well acquainted with BT-Moto and how to upgrade machines with the Hand Held Tuner.

Still, although I am a Scot, I am not the First Engineer of a Starship, and I fear anything tech-unknown; it is still sorcery to me.

I asked Brian if he had this? He smiled. He did. Okay, let's do this.

The process goes like this. The tuner reads the current OEM program from the bike's ECU and stores it EXACTLY on its drive. That original OEM program is then uploaded to BT-Moto, located in Emerald City, Oz.

There, the wizard will read the program and compare it to the plethora of stock programs they have seen and vastly improved on. The reason for actually having BT-Moto see your stock mapping is that even though you and your friend have the same bike, same year, same livery, there could be subtle updates done to the bike while servicing, or even from Berlin, in BMW's case. Also, having the stock mapping on hand might be of benefit, especially if you need to reload it before going to BMW if your bike is still under warranty. Would this be breaking the rules? Technically. But, so what?

It took about one long lunch break to get the message back from BT-Moto that the new mapping program was ready for download to the Tuner, and then Brian slowly, and methodically (and this is why we pay him) sent the new, better, faster, smoother, way cooler "Flash" to my ECU.

During this process, the TFT screen basically said that nothing was being seen engine management-wise, and though Brian was smiling and talking about the shop, their work with cigars.com, and the very sexy Triumph Scrambler 1200 XE they are building for them, following a series of turning the bike off, turning the bike on… I kept looking at the TFT with an unsettling churning happening in my gut.

Then it was done.

Brian smiled, began to unhook the connection, turned on the BMW one final time, and said to start it.

It all seemed… well, normal.

Brian is a busy guy, so I thanked him and suited up and headed home, wondering if I would feel anything different on my Supertramp Take the Long Way Home ride?

Well yes… I surely would.

Let's be upfront here, as I love my GS – it pretty much does and acts the way they all have. Smooth, with power. Steady and confident.

But, I want to make another guitar analogy – and you riders who are guitar players might agree – when you change your strings, and they finally settle in, and stay tuned, your guitar, which was great before, is more greater. Right? The bike just played better.

This is as close as I can come to what I wish to get across here, and I think it is spot on.

The GS was far smoother, and the throttle and response very crisp and confident. One tiny thing that I thought was most excellent is the cooling fan coming on far quicker than before – something that had me perplexed on some hot rides with this bike. 

I do not have a Dyno, but my guesstimate is about maybe a jump from the 138 to 155 +. That is significant and far superior to buying a new Ducati, as my BMW is paid off.

In every power mode that the GS came with, the bike was simply better. Much better.

So, let me circle back to the cost of this whole deal. 

A 'not so cheap' $800. But, here comes that dreaded Brian Rathjenal.

The new GS costs about $30,000, considering the $3,275 Premium Package and the additional $675 'destination' charge. Given the opportunity to make your bike work that much better, for a tad more than a 'destination' charge, well then, this starts to look like a more doable thing, does it not?

BT-Moto has Hand Held "Flash" Tuners for a wide number of makes and models – Aprilia, Ducati, Honda, Kawasaki, KTM, Suzuki, Triumph, Yamaha, and others.

They have been doing this for years – they know their craft, and when done properly and methodically, your bike will be a far smoother and better-running motorcycle.

If you think this is something you would like, look BT-Moto up on their website, and if you are worried about getting this done, and not killing your machine, we highly recommend giving the folks at A & J Cycles a call – I am sure they can help you out too.