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How can I tell if my C14 has been flashed already?

mrinnocent

Member
Member
Hi! I'm new to owning a C14, and I bought mine from a dealer so I don't know its history. I'm thinking about getting the ECU flashed, but it occurred to me it might already have been flashed.

My question: how can I tell?

I searched the forum to see If this has been answered already and found nothing, but if another thread answers this question, feel free to link it. Thanks!
 
Ivan stencils his and also puts a sticker on the ECU. Not certain if Steve does the similar.

Guessing only - you could get SN off the ECU and call Steve and Ivan to ask if they have in their records.

Do you have pronounced jerky on/ off throttle - that is an unmistakeable telltale of the stock ECU programming..
 
Shoodaben Engineering puts a sticker on the bottom with the name, date and flash installed.

Another way to tell if it's been flashed... if it feels like it has to wind up below 5000 rpm with heavy throttle, then at 5k it takes off... it's likely stock.

Steve
 
Ivan stencils his and also puts a sticker on the ECU. Not certain if Steve does the similar.

I will check the ECU for markings, thank you for the tip.

Do you have pronounced jerky on/ off throttle

if it feels like it has to wind up below 5000 rpm with heavy throttle, then at 5k it takes off... it's likely stock.

For both, it's hard to tell honestly, all my other bikes have been very different. But I'll think about these next time I ride.

Thank you both for your helpful responses!
 
Pull up beside a Connie {that has been flashed}, nod, and grab a handful of throttle.
You'll know if yours has been flashed in about 1/2 a second... <sly grin>

Ride safe, Ted
 
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I've not had a chance to look at the ECU yet, but I've done two rides since posting, one two-up. Here are my observations:
  • The bike takes off nicely around 2.5k
  • The bike comes alive after 5k but tbh I can find myself in too high a gear at like 3.5k and have enough power
  • I managed not to get my wife's helmet to smack into mine
  • The throttle is touchy and hard to modulate at low speeds, but I don't notice heavy deceleration when letting off
  • Average MPG is reported to be in the low 30s
The only other bikes I've owned up till now are a KLR 650, a V-Strom 650, and a CB500X, so it's hard to tell how much power I should expect or what the throttle should feel like on such a different bike. I'll check the ECU soon and get back to you. Thanks for your help!
 
U have not been flashed....
I'll second that motion. My bride of 47 years chief complaint about the C14 was helmet smacking. My 47 tear old Kawasaki Z1 900 shifts much much smoother than the C14 ever did. Hard to believe old school wins the shifting contest. Even trying my best the shifting on the C14 it was jerky. Throttle cables were adjusted to take all the slack out too.
 
I'll second that motion. My bride of 47 years chief complaint about the C14 was helmet smacking. My 47 tear old Kawasaki Z1 900 shifts much much smoother than the C14 ever did. Hard to believe old school wins the shifting contest. Even trying my best the shifting on the C14 it was jerky. Throttle cables were adjusted to take all the slack out too.

You may be blaming the Connie for the behavior of ALL shaft drive bikes which is absent in chain driven bikes. The direct nature of a drive shaft is unforgiving and is not unique to Connie's. The engine to wheel speed match when shifting has to be perfect or it will be jerky, that is typical shaft drive stuff. Even my old and slow 82 Goldwing did it! Chain drive bikes are definitely more forgiving due to the additional play in them, but they are a pain in the a$$ to maintain. So I'll keep the near maintenance free shaft and just feather that clutch more when shifting to compensate.

If you are talking about the transmission, I'll just say that's not been my experience and I have ridden my share of KZ-900's and other vintage rides. As I recall, most were somewhat smooth, but a little clunky at times. In my experience the "vintage" bikes tended to be ratchety when shifting and their trannys are quite noisy with a stock exhaust. Aftermarket exhausts like a a Kerker 4 to 1 or a Vance and Hines tend to cover up the singing tranny.

My 82 Goldwing was pretty smooth, but my 75 Triumph felt like I was changing gears on a rusty old 10 speed bicycle - some called that personality. I just recall it was VERY rough. My Connie had what I would call a "coarse shift" until started using Motul 7100. It made a huge difference and the transmission is dead quiet. Some don't believe that, and they are welcome to their opinions. All I know is it works for me and I will keep on, keeping on, when it comes to the Motul going forward.
 
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A gear shift on a shafty doesn't keep the wheel speed the same? I do know that modification's made to my C14 has made the jerky shifting a thing of the past. Better gas mileage too.

"my 75 Triumph felt like I was changing gears on a rusty old 10 speed bicycle" I have never had that with my 47 year old Z1b. Or back in the day my 74 Z1a or the 73 S2. Now that S2 had other problems. I could only ride it for 200 miles and I was done for the day. It was like riding with a weed eater in each hand. To bad it was not as smooth as it's big brother the H2.
 
As I understand it, the jerkiness was a result of the throttle cable not actually controlling the whole fuel/air but rather the ECU cutting it when the throttle was fully released. Doing that on a motor running at 5k RPM basically means the engine braking is massive, thus pitching the rider forward. So the shaft hasn't been an issue from my experience, it was getting rid of the child-proofing Kawa factory folks coded into the engine mgmt software. Once I got the MRP back from SISF the shifting and engine braking has been much more natural. No more helmet smacking. I'm happy!
 
With the wife on board shifting at 5k was not something that was going to happen. More like 3.5k. I didn't shift the 900 at 5k on the tach either. Not very often anyways. With the wife on board I tried to be as smooth as possible.

I'm saying riding the C14 alone in the same manner as I would the 900 the 900 shifted much smoother. The 900 has a push pull throttle cable too.

I will admit the 09 is the first shaft driven motorcycle I've ridden for any length of time. But one would think after a few months shy of 12 years of ownership I would have figured it out. All I know is the jerky shifting went away after a ecu flash.
 
You may be blaming the Connie for the behavior of ALL shaft drive bikes which is absent in chain driven bikes. The direct nature of a drive shaft is unforgiving and is not unique to Connie's. The engine to wheel speed match when shifting has to be perfect or it will be jerky, that is typical shaft drive stuff. Even my old and slow 82 Goldwing did it! Chain drive bikes are definitely more forgiving due to the additional play in them, but they are a pain in the a$$ to maintain. So I'll keep the near maintenance free shaft and just feather that clutch more when shifting to compensate.

If you are talking about the transmission, I'll just say that's not been my experience and I have ridden my share of KZ-900's and other vintage rides. As I recall, most were somewhat smooth, but a little clunky at times. In my experience the "vintage" bikes tended to be ratchety when shifting and their trannys are quite noisy with a stock exhaust. Aftermarket exhausts like a a Kerker 4 to 1 or a Vance and Hines tend to cover up the singing tranny.

My 82 Goldwing was pretty smooth, but my 75 Triumph felt like I was changing gears on a rusty old 10 speed bicycle - some called that personality. I just recall it was VERY rough. My Connie had what I would call a "coarse shift" until started using Motul 7100. It made a huge difference and the transmission is dead quiet. Some don't believe that, and they are welcome to their opinions. All I know is it works for me and I will keep on, keeping on, when it comes to the Motul going forward.
It has nothing to do with the shaft. In fact my Concours shifts smoother than my chain driven versys, unless the chain slack is perfect. My beemer is the same as the concours, and it's shaft drive.

The issue is in the stock secondary throttle mapping. Imagine that you're doing an upshift. All you're going to do is "blip" the throttle to unload power to the gears, and slide a gear over on the shaft into the next gear. it's almost instantaneous. if you're doing it long and slow like touring riding, it's the same deal, with the clutch to smooth the shift even more.

Now imagine doing a shift where you completely close the throttle, do the shift, then jerk the throttle back open. it would be a lousy, helmet banging shift... like a stock Concours has.

How is that happening? simple... a lousy secondary throttle map. When you blip the throttle, the secondaries take time to close ---- then jerk open. The helmet banging and abruptness going into the next gear is "tuned in" by the ECU. You cannot overcome it with the stock tune. Yes, you can try and maybe get better, but until you've got the engine to 5000rpms, this is the kind of shift you'll get, and the lower the gear and rpm, the worse it will be.

Here's some info from "behind the curtain"... some will tell you this is due to the factory fuel cut shutting off the injectors. Not true. I was able to completely tune that bad shifting / helmet banging out with just secondary mapping, to the point that when I added fuel cut delete, it had virtually no effect of shifting or helmet banging. It's the secondary throttle map, pure and simple.

Steve
 
Steve, you know more about tuning with an ECM than I will ever know. But I do know that ALL the shaft bikes I have owned tend to be helmet bangers if you do not closely regulate the engine speed and the rear wheel speed when releasing the clutch. if you lazy shift them they will give you immediate feedback. And that is true for the other shaft driven bikes I have ridden extensively or owned in the past. And most had carbs and no ECM. Come to think of it, I think the C-14 is my first injected bike. The carb/shaft bikes that immediately come to mind were a V65 that I rode often because a riding buddy wanted to ride my FJ1100 all the time in Germany, and my 82 Aspencade that I owned before I went to Germany. In my experience the chain drives are less as prone to this. Please note I did not say they don't do it, only that it is less noticeable. When you get on a shaft driven bike and ride it, you immediately know it has a shaft without ever looking to see by the for lack of a better term, "torquey" feel. Or at least I can tell immediately from the feel.

To be honest, while I was an MSF instructor, I rode a lot of bikes and never looked that the drive or the badges to determine EXACTLY which bike it was. I just did it to show the owners it "could be done" on the range and didn't pay a great deal of attention to the models and sub models for detail. The MSF frowns on instructors riding student bikes and that is probably another reason I did not renew after my first 4 years.
 
ursharkfuel, All I know is after the flash MY C14 sure shifts a lot smoother with out any jerkiness or helmet bumping. Period end of report. I bought this bike Dec 2008. I have gone through a number of gear changes both up and down and know what was going on. Getting the flash is probably the most satisfying single one thing I've done to it so far.
 
ursharkfuel, All I know is after the flash MY C14 sure shifts a lot smoother with out any jerkiness or helmet bumping. Period end of report. I bought this bike Dec 2008. I have gone through a number of gear changes both up and down and know what was going on. Getting the flash is probably the most satisfying single one thing I've done to it so far.
+1
 
For the curious, it turns out I have no markings on my ECU and I plan to get an MRP flash after the holiday. This will let me have the bike for the long weekend, as well as get sone mileage readings to see the effect of the 15k service. I don’t expect much of a change but you never know. At the least it will help to isolate the effect of the flash.
 
Sed previously....

IF YA really WANNA KNOW IF YOUR BIKE HAS already BEEN FLASHED;

Pull up beside a Connie {that has been flashed}; nod, and grab a handful of throttle.
You'll know if yours has been flashed in about 1/2 a second... <sly grin>

Ride safe, Ted
 
From your reaction I can tell you've not viewed my thread on this bike:

 
Your right. I hadn't seen it.
Does CCP (Contra Costa Powersports) assemble the bikes for the police, or just maintenance/tune on them??

The reason I ask is; they may be interested in the Flashes that we've discovered.
ie; Flashes for the C-14 are not commonly known.

Ride safe, Ted
 
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From your reaction I can tell you've not viewed my thread on this bike:


Contra Costa Powersports? They are a dealer that services the SFPD and local CHP C14s, so they are pretty experienced with them and have an expert and parts on hand.
 
For the curious, it turns out I have no markings on my ECU and I plan to get an MRP flash after the holiday. This will let me have the bike for the long weekend, as well as get sone mileage readings to see the effect of the 15k service. I don’t expect much of a change but you never know. At the least it will help to isolate the effect of the flash.
I got the MRP flash not too many miles after the 15k service (well, mine was actually performed at 24k), and noticed a big difference. I always thought the bike pulled well at low RPM, but the flash really enhanced this. As a result, for regular riding I typically shift at 3 - 3.2k RPM, and can easily pass cars in OD from as low as 50. I still generally ride in ECO mode when just cruising at 55+ or as a "rain" mode to keep the power delivery soft on slick roads, but the low end power and short-shifting capability the flash provides lets you get mileage that's comparable to ECO mode in urban riding, while being a lot more fun!
 
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