2013 V7 Stone - Dealer flashed new firmware

[sunbrother]

I had my dealer flash my v7 with new firmware yesterday. My bike was stalling a lot when cold and such. I know I have read that on the forums and it is common.

anyway....the update seems to have made that a lot better, but my bike feels different. When you are in first or second gear and go from low RPM to Wide Open Throttle....as it crosses 3500 to 4000 rpms it feels a little more rumbly or slight rough. I seem to feel a little more vibration in the grips.

Not bad just different. My bike is stock.

I was just curious if this seems right. I just want to make sure that seems normal since I don't really have a way to compare other bikes.

Thanks for any comments.

 

[GerryP]

I had my dealer flash my v7 with new firmware yesterday. My bike was stalling a lot when cold and such. I know I have read that on the forums and it is common.

anyway....the update seems to have made that a lot better, but my bike feels different. When you are in first or second gear and go from low RPM to Wide Open Throttle....as it crosses 3500 to 4000 rpms it feels a little more rumbly or slight rough. I seem to feel a little more vibration in the grips.

Not bad just different. My bike is stock.

I was just curious if this seems right. I just want to make sure that seems normal since I don't really have a way to compare other bikes.

Thanks for any comments.

I have the same vibrations in the same rev range on my 2015 V7 Stone (arrow exhaust, no ecu reflash) and so does my friend Jim on his new V7 Stone (agostini's with ecu reflash). Both our bikes were from Jim Hamlin's shop in Bethel CT.

Everything smooths out at 4k and she loves to run at 4.5K in fifth.

Regards,

Gerry

 

[jennygirl]

Factory ECU map (even the new updated one they are giving out at the dealers) is set to run very lean. As well, it is programmed for Euro petrol which is generally higher quality of fuel. Equates to even more lean for us.

The ECU reflash that Todd offers is a great idea to consider if you want to smooth out and richen up the 3.5-4krpm range in the powerband. That seems to be where the biggest difference is made (I had mine reflashed a couple of months back). After I reflashed, there seems to be much more power available in the midrange- where it really counts.

The vibration is probably normal, it is a twin after all. Not quite as bad as a thumper, but close

 

[GTM®]

I've combed through the "new" Map in every aspect, and its identical in every way to the 2013+ version.

 

[makarushka]

Hey Todd and all,

I can add to this with somewhat similar observations. My bike is a 2013 USA V7R that had the original map and then Todd's reflash for my mods on top of it. My bike originally did have the cold start issues that many report, and while the reflash helped a great deal, the fundamental pattern remained. Recently I had the throttle body replaced; the new one was flashed with the latest OEM map, and then Todd put his reflash -- the same exact one I had from him prior to the ECU/TB exchange -- on top of the new map.

What I can say is this:

1) The cold start issues are all but gone: start the bike and ride away, can blip the throttle, etc -- doesn't stall. However:
2) While still cold, and this may mean from 2 to 6-7 minutes or so depending on the ambient temp, there are two RPM ranges where the fueling is a bit rough and lurchy: somewhere between 3 and 4K, and above 6K to just over 6.5K. These were smooth with the previous TB/map even when cold after a minute, no more. Once the bike is fully warm, it is VERY smooth, and from lower RPM than before -- Todd's work on the fueling map for my bike produced a wonderful result, just wonderful. But the bike does FEEL a bit different with the new base map, and has that roughness in two spots where it didn't before, so it's kind of baffling why, if the maps are indeed identical in all regards.

It could be that in my case my previous TB/ECU was in fact defective in some way; there is no way to know for certain at this point. But I think that it is possible that there are some other control parameters/tables that companies like Dimsport/Rexxer/etc that provide the systems to access these ECUs simply have not hacked, and as such they are not accessible via their interfaces and that may be why the maps appear identical upon examination. Maybe there's simply still more to them?

My bike is not a good test case because of the ECU replacement and customizations but otherwise I see no explanation to people's reports of fully stock bikes being reflashed to the latest map and having things like cold start fixed and fueling feeling different. My dealer's mechanic has reported this same behavior as well on some fully stock V7s that have come through his hands.

Regardless of this, I would highly recommend to anyone doing any modifications to the exhaust to adjust the fueling -- that one is a no-brainer, and Todd's work here, as usual, brings great results. Personally, I'd recommend it even for a stock bike, although the V7s do run fine in stock configuration. The smoothness and the wider, flatter, torque curve that you gain with proper fueling makes the bike even more delightful. It is not about top end power... yada yada yada... let's beat this dead horse... If you get it, you have experienced the powerband change even these small engines show with proper corrections, you know for yourself...

 

[mnguzzi]

I have run into similar behavior after the GT-RX re flash, however I can start it up and ride off immediately without it stalling like before. It is a little strange but certainly less annoying than stalling when cold. Also the GT-RX re flash certainly makes the power more available and the kind that makes you want to twist the throttle more. I have run this bike over 5k way more than before.