RapidBike EASY - initial thoughts

From day 1 i have been constantly irritated by the hunting/bucking/lurching at 2-3 thousand RPM on my ´14 GSA.
Keeping a constant throttle at any of those RPM was impossible.
It is stock apart from and official Akra Slip-on & GSAP.

I have tried premium fuels & full akra system (granted i could not remap as we have no such facilities here in Mallroca). Neither made a difference. The full system was too loud for me and i put the OEM collector back on.
City riding was a PITA and a constant battle trying to keep things smooth.

Last week i made contact with Mark from Cymarc after reading a post here on the forum.
He was very patient and after some discussion told me that an ´easy´RapidBike module would significantly smooth out the bike and make it run as intended.

So, today it arrived and after a quick install with my mechanic (unit simply connects to both lambda sensors without fiddling with the injectors) we went out for a test ride.
I have 30,000km on my bike and i would like to think i am ´in tune´ with it.
But after 500 meters from the garage to the traffic light, i will echo my first thoughts: IT IS LIKE A DIFFERENT bike!!!
Utterly smooth from 1000rpm in any gear, no hunting or hesitation and even when left in 1st with zero throttle - it will just carry on calmly and predictably without the weird chugga-chugga-chugga-hesitation it had before. Incredible.
Filtering in 2nd without rear brake or clutch ---- easy and glass smooth.

I will put more KM´s on and take it for some morning-time city commuting this week - but if the 100KM i put on today (solo & 2 up, low speed & highway riding) are anything to go by, this little module is going to bring many more happy KM´s!
Even my passenger (the mechanic who knows the bike & has ridden with me before) mentioned how smooth it is. THAT alone is a huge compliment.

A big thanks to Mark, Liam & Martin @ Cymarc for their support, great service and patience.

Anther happy customer!

Thanks pal ride safe and enjoy it.

Hootie Baby how much of yee old shekels nay make it Pounds Sterling would said module be costing ?

eisen77 said:

From day 1 i have been constantly irritated by the hunting/bucking/lurching at 2-3 thousand RPM on my ´14 GSA.
Keeping a constant throttle at any of those RPM was impossible.
It is stock apart from and official Akra Slip-on & GSAP.

I have tried premium fuels & full akra system (granted i could not remap as we have no such facilities here in Mallroca). Neither made a difference. The full system was too loud for me and i put the OEM collector back on.
City riding was a PITA and a constant battle trying to keep things smooth.

Last week i made contact with Mark from Cymarc after reading a post here on the forum.
He was very patient and after some discussion told me that an ´easy´RapidBike module would significantly smooth out the bike and make it run as intended.

So, today it arrived and after a quick install with my mechanic (unit simply connects to both lambda sensors without fiddling with the injectors) we went out for a test ride.
I have 30,000km on my bike and i would like to think i am ´in tune´ with it.
But after 500 meters from the garage to the traffic light, i will echo my first thoughts: IT IS LIKE A DIFFERENT bike!!!
Utterly smooth from 1000rpm in any gear, no hunting or hesitation and even when left in 1st with zero throttle - it will just carry on calmly and predictably without the weird chugga-chugga-chugga-hesitation it had before. Incredible.
Filtering in 2nd without rear brake or clutch ---- easy and glass smooth.

I will put more KM´s on and take it for some morning-time city commuting this week - but if the 100KM i put on today (solo & 2 up, low speed & highway riding) are anything to go by, this little module is going to bring many more happy KM´s!
Even my passenger (the mechanic who knows the bike & has ridden with me before) mentioned how smooth it is. THAT alone is a huge compliment.

A big thanks to Mark, Liam & Martin @ Cymarc for their support, great service and patience.

Click to expand...

I'm interested in this......how much does it cost..??

Mark Hooton said:

Anther happy customer!

Thanks pal ride safe and enjoy it.

Click to expand...

I'd like some info on this Mark.....could you pm me please...

Cheers
John

I'll look at prices tmoz lads as I'm too pissed at the moment


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Mark Hooton said:

I'll look at prices tmoz lads as I'm too pissed at the moment


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Click to expand...

Sobered up

£139 inc VAT but BE AWARE all prices seem to be going up after brexit - I don`t manufacture this so I have no control over the price

Plus £100 if you want me to fit it, make you coffee, talk about chicks and bikes, show you my mancave and/or 1/2 million pounds of German laser technology and buy you breakfast (no Brexit influence here). Allow two hours start to finish if you are including breakfast

If you want to fit it yourself that`s ABSOLUTELY FINE just ring me eh and let me talk you through it so you don`t balls it up - I don`t mind this whatsoever, I`m a biker who loves my bike(s) just like you and I genuinely want to help.

Postage is determined by where you live!

And also if you look in the R1200GS Twin Cam section you`ll see a long technical thread about the Evo model which is also part of the range called CYMARC TUNING

Mark Hooton said:

Sobered up

£139 inc VAT but BE AWARE all prices seem to be going up after brexit - I don`t manufacture this so I have no control over the price

Plus £100 if you want me to fit it, make you coffee, talk about chicks and bikes, show you my mancave and/or 1/2 million pounds of German laser technology and buy you breakfast (no Brexit influence here). Allow two hours start to finish if you are including breakfast

If you want to fit it yourself that`s ABSOLUTELY FINE just ring me eh and let me talk you through it so you don`t balls it up - I don`t mind this whatsoever, I`m a biker who loves my bike(s) just like you and I genuinely want to help.

Postage is determined by where you live!

And also if you look in the R1200GS Twin Cam section you`ll see a long technical thread about the Evo model which is also part of the range called CYMARC TUNING

Click to expand...

Actually it`s £150 if you want me to fit it, test ride it, make any fine tuning adjustments and pay for lunch

Do you think the RapidBike module will make the bike a smoother ride for the pillion? I have no complaints with the stock bike (mines a 2013 LC) when solo, but when riding with a pillion in traffic I find gear changes causes helmet clash

Ask eisen77 fella as I believe he has ridden with pillion


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2 year warranty on used bike I take I bmw wouldn't like to find your easy bike on there?

Jumblemo said:

Do you think the RapidBike module will make the bike a smoother ride for the pillion? I have no complaints with the stock bike (mines a 2013 LC) when solo, but when riding with a pillion in traffic I find gear changes causes helmet clash

Click to expand...

I´m not exactly sure how to answer that - as you say you have no complaints about your bike.
In my case, it helped alot as at low to mid range RPM the bike was constantly hunting & bucking. Impossible to keep smooth when filtering or in city traffic. Now it is rock solid.
However even with bad fuelling, i worked around it with rear brake and clutch slip so i can´t honestly say i had any helmet bashing moments.

Will the unit smooth out your gearchanges? In my opinion - NO. As only you decide how smooth those are with timing & practice.

Might be interested in this but how does it compare to say a bike that has been 'Hilltopped'. Are there any power advantages or does it just make for smoother running through the rev range.

One advantage of the Hilltop setup is that it is not visible, and as I understand it, very difficult to tell that it has been installed.

hairysteve said:

Might be interested in this but how does it compare to say a bike that has been 'Hilltopped'. Are there any power advantages or does it just make for smoother running through the rev range.

Click to expand...

There`s a few more horses however the most noticeable effect is the smoothness and increase in torque around mid range - just where its needed

CPJS said:

One advantage of the Hilltop setup is that it is not visible, and as I understand it, very difficult to tell that it has been installed.

Click to expand...

I`m not knocking hilltop whatsoever as I think they are brill and does us bikers proud but their system is easily `seen` once plugged into the BMW diagnostics. The easy and Evo are electronically `invisible` when the blanking plug is inserted and the mapping returned to OEM settings.

CPJS said:

One advantage of the Hilltop setup is that it is not visible, and as I understand it, very difficult to tell that it has been installed.

Click to expand...

However as I understand it, the 'Easy' can be removed when you sell the bike so that you can refit it to your next bike, unlike the 'Hilltop' treatment.

Is this correct Mark??

batman1 said:

However as I understand it, the 'Easy' can be removed when you sell the bike so that you can refit it to your next bike, unlike the 'Hilltop' treatment.

Is this correct Mark??

Click to expand...

Yup

I have to confess I'm not a regular contributor to this site (My loss I know), but I do skim through various threads which either spark or captivate my interest. This thread certainly has, along with a similar post on the 1200 gs hexhead thread about Cymarc tuning!!

Having owned more BMW bikes than I would ever admit to anyone, esp. to my ex wife's lawyer.

Over the past few years we have all seen the advent of fuel injection, catalytic converters, exhaust flaps and motronic engine management systems with limp home features on our 1200 bmw boxer derived engines. In the main this appears to have been a positive thing esp in terms of reliability, performance, emission's and fuel economy.

However since 2004 every bike I've owned has suffered from some sort of fuelling issue and yes I accept some more so than others!.

Like most of us I have spoken with numerous bmw technicians about the engine glitches and been told 'it's because of the emission restrictions in the closed loop...we'll try the latest software update for you but if that doesn't work there isn't a lot we can do' 'sir'.

In relation to one brand new bike I had the fuelling problem was so bad it was like riding a buckaroo (Nightmare on damp, greasy and diesel infused roundabouts - you know what I mean we've all clenched our butt cheeks and feathred the clutch lever for all our worth!) after much head scratching and 'two'ing and frow'ing' between the dealer, bmw uk and the bofins in Germany; and after less than 1000 miles and 3 months (most of which was spent in the workshop) the bike was eventually taken back and I was given a full refund.

I sincerely hope the thing wasn't put back into circulation via the used bike system and moved onto some other poor unsuspecting soul!!

So having endured a mis-spent youth riding off road scrambler bikes at national level, obtaining an HND in motor vehicle electrical engineering and spent the last few decades polishing my arse in an office and explaining how good I thought I once was, developing a taste for foreign holidays, high maintenance women, quality bikes and craft beers (Sound familiar?) I decided I ought to try and understand the problem and look for a potential fix.

In a essence there is a fundamental principle;

A modern 4 stroke petrol engine works best when the Air Fuel Ratio (AFR) is @ 13.4 -13.8 : 1.

The problem is;

Emission regulations effectively force manufacturers to continually conform to a set of pre determined AFR parameters taken at different points in the rev range to achieve the pre determined parameters (These relate not only to fuelling but also vapours, noise and exhaust restrictions 'cats, baffles and flaps' ooher missus).

In relation to bikes you may recognise these as EU 1, 2 ,3 & by 2017 for motorcycles EU 4!! The new bmw bikes which will soon start coming through have ecu's which have even stricter emission restrictions placed on them, with the addition anti tamper notification and carbon fuel evaporation devices fitted.

Every time a new set of EU regulations come out it effectively challenges the manufacturers to conform to the new rules which are effectively far leaner in the measured areas than the fundamental best AFR dictates.

When I say challenges I mean really challenges, cars are now on variant EU6!! - This tightening of the emissions noose is what led to the VW/Audi emissions scandal where the manufacturer modified the vehicles ecu, so on paper and in laboratory conditions they passed strict emissions muster. Before anyone jumps to assassinate me via their keyboard I accept this related mainly to diesels but hopefully you can see where this is going.

These AFR ratios are taken at different points within an engines rev range and are most noticeably measured in what is called the closed loop. i.e from tick over to about 5000rpm.

The symptoms;

If the regulation states that the engine must conform to strict emissions readings in say 3 places in the closed loop area, then to meet the co2, oxides and hydrocarbon readings the manufacturers must play the game and induce an AFR which meets the pre determined standard (effectively a lean spot), to conform so they can obtain their certificate of conformity and be authorised to sell cars in Europe a least - sometimes known as the homologation process.

This means that the target AFR will almost certainly be leaned off to @ 15.0:1 or even leaner in some cases approaching 17.0:1!. So when you ride your bike on the road (Or power it up on a DYNO) you can feel and see the areas where the restrictions have been embedded in the bikes ecu fuel map. It manifests itself as the glitches, hunting, shunting and surging in set stages between @ 2250 and 4750rpm which many of us have experienced.

Considering a cure you can always;

-Do nothing because your bike feels ok and/or you feel you can live with the glitches or at least ride around them.

-Take the physically restrictive mechanicals away such as all the exhaust hardware - this usually makes the bike run rough because the fuelling really goes to 'rat shit' and/or pray that the tuning gods and old wives tails about the ecu self adapting over time will work for you (The ecu does adapt a little to account for various parameters such as altitude, temperature, air filter clog and spark plug erosion etc), before you eventually overheat and melt/burn something out because its potentially running too lean and absolutely no where near the best AFR 13.4 - 13.8:1. If you simply replace the silencer for example you will immediately notice it usually farts and pops and runs rough and doesn't get much better in the closed loop area but probably goes like a train near the red line!!

-Invest in some kind of device or programme which will either cheat or modify or change the AFR.

So what have I tried;

-Fitted a power commander - achieves and extracts power with a piggy back system via the fuel injectors and works best with a full exhaust and dyno run - can be removed

-Had a Hilltop re map - modifies and achieve power by flashing the ecu - can be removed by the author but is complex and leaves a footprint

-Fitted and AF-XIED unit - modifies the fuelling/emissions via the lambda sensors via a piggy back system - American import - can be removed

-Fitted an easy unit - modifies the fuelling/emissions via the lambda sensors via a piggy back system - UK available - can be removed

- A device which effectively modifies the signals to the ecu by simply richening the mixture by use of a separate temperature probe and control unit fitted in line with the air induction system; Personally I feel this is a little rudimental and not something I am comfortable fitting on a £17k bike!.

Over the years I have done all the above (Except the so called power plug) with various degrees of success;

At the moment I am running an Easy unit on my 2015 GSA (Standard - no other modifications) and it works just as the technicians at bmw would like it to; if they weren't hamstrung by all the EU regulations!!; it basically allows you to run 13.8;1 across the whole closed loop which effectively gets rid of the ' glitches, hunting, shunting and surging between @ 2250 and 4750rpm.

Why this route?

Its reasonably cheap even when fitted by a technician; its an adjustable option; it removes the glitches and produces smooth crisp power; doesn't adversely affect fuel consumption; the by-product of correct fuelling is that it gives a nice lump of useable power right where you need it for overtaking; it can be removed if required and it can easily be trimmed/tuned to cater for a performance silencer swap.

Anyway that's my contribution for the next 3 years for what its worth!! and yes you may want to let your insurance company know and your local motorrad dealer might get arsey with you; but mine just turn a blind eye at service time because I have been on the above journey with them and only twice left the fold and bought a KTM and a Yamaha before going back...well we all have our vices (as listed) I guess!!.

A wise man once said opinions are like arseholes; everybody's got one, its just they come in different shapes, sizes and play different tunes and of course some are bigger than others!!

How difficult is it to fit one of these yourself? Thank you