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Bren Tuners: Let us hear what you think!

  • <i class="fa--xf fal fa-check "><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" role="img" aria-hidden="true" ><use href="/data/local/icons/light.svg?v=1789222567#check"></use></svg></i> Discussion starter Discussion starter Adrian R
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I much prefer Rock mode as well.

After the tune, it idles at a more consistent rpm in Rock mode.

I use Roll mode only on the highway or when I want to eat miles. Given that mine didn't come with CC, muted throttle response of Roll mode makes it for a smoother and more comfortable ride. This wasn't lost with the tune either. I can't much tell the difference in Roll mode before and after the tune.

For me, the bike is plenty fast. Probably too fast, considering the weight, for my own good. I do have lighter faster bikes but they don't feel the same. There is a certain... presence... heft... to fast heavy vehicles that makes them feel... premium, for me.

I love the bike, especially the aesthetics. I have been eyeing the Transcontinental but with this tune, I'll enjoy it for what it is for a while and revisit.
 
Adrian R said:
Thanks for the report. I think the bike is decently fast, no, it's no sport bike...perhaps that's what you're use to, but after my 100mi ride last weekend while still in break in mode, I found the power respectable. I think roll mode sucks arse...lol.. Rock mode the bike to me is much quicker... I will always keep it in rock mode... I didn't find it jerky at at all... I just don't like how it idles at times...but it seems to straighten out... Looking forward to the tune, and for the bike to be fully run it. That could take as many as 12-18k miles, at least that is what I have noticed in the past breaking in previous new bikes. I also plan on only running ethanol free gas, or gas with ethanol that has been treated. This helps with performance as well... Some dude on an older HD tried catching me...I had my woman on the back... and I kinda left him in the dust... I let up on the throttle (too new) and he got around me...ugh, loud as hell...
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Not a sport bike guy, but it's slow compared to my R1200GS and my Triumph Speed Twin or a half dozen other bikes I have owned in the past. But it's on par for a cruiser of it's size. One of the best things about the engine is it makes the bulk of it's power effortlessly- you don't have to wind it out to be in the powerband. The tuner seems to have amplified that, at least by a small amount. Time will tell!
 
burangs said:
I feel that ROLL is now much more usable. It is smoother and roll-on acceleration is much better. I never really used it before, but now --ROLL has a role!
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I see! Well, I do have the finesse of a ... :sneaky: ROCK. So there is that.
 
Did about 100 miles today after finally getting the tune done. Kept it in Rock mode. From a more newish rider POV, bike feels a tad smoother. My bike has FP exhaust, which when I first installed made the occasional pop when decelerating or shifting. The tune got rid of that. There is also a more pronounced jerk when giving it throttle from a stop. I will also say it feels a tad more powerful than before but that could be my impression from the responsiveness improvement.

All in all small improvements across the board but not huge in any one area. Happy so far!
 
Today I eventually installed and tried out the BrenTune modification to my R18 Classic.

My initial experience is:

Software / Tune:

Downloading of the tuner software on a 6 month old Windows 11 laptop was straight forward although the program seized once or twice and had to be shut down via CTL/ALT/Delete. Once the software on the OBD reader had been updated, I went out to the bike and downloaded the info on the bike ECU and onto the reader. This went without any hitches taking about 5 or 10 mins. I then went back to the laptop and downloaded the map for emailing to BrenTune. I used the Brentune tutorial as found on YouTube in the background just to keep me on the straight and narrow. I received an acknowledgment from Brentune within hours but a gentle nudge from R18C saw the upgraded map delivered to my inbox this morning. (two / three days later) Again, I had to close down and restart the program before I was able to upload the new Map to the OBD reader. No big deal.
Now for the nerve wracking part. I know that should something go wrong during writing to the ECU, things can get time consuming and / or expensive hence some apprehensiveness at this point. As it was, the tune went perfectly and took around 15 mins from start to finish. I used both the BrenTune YouTube video and that posted on here by Gr8adv which proved very helpful. I did video the whole sequence mainly incase I had an issue and needed to retrace my steps.
I also took some video before and after the tune as some have reported a slightly different exhaust note. I have to say, that was my experience also. The bike started on the button although in fairness I have never had any issues on starting. One other thing of note at this point. Starting the bike following the tune I seemed to notice less vibration.

Test ride:

Today is a lovely sunny day with a light breeze. Instantly I noticed the bike was 'smoother'. Acceleration & torque have not been properly assessed as yet. The roads where I live are narrow and twisty, so maximum speed reached was 60 MPH. One major thing for me. I used to have this annoying hesitation on initiial acceleration from stand still. That has now gone. The smoothness of the bike makes slow speed manoeuvring so much easier than before, not that slow speed manoeuvres were that challenging previously.

Conclusion:

Is this upgrade worth it? I would say yes, at the discounted price, very much so. I expect that as I put a few hundred miles on the bike I will be even more impressed. My overriding impression right now can be summed up as 'Smooth', and that for me, is well worth the 600 dollars. Thank you BrenTune. Thank you to those on this site that got the ball rolling. I get the impression that in a few days time I would be happy buying this upgrade at full retail price. Watch this space.

I have uploaded some video onto youtube and will post the links here. These show the before and after sounds of the bike both in my garage and in the open air. Also a video showing my experience of writing the new software to the motorcycle in real time.

https://youtube.com/shorts/oJ2Ox6F3wzE
https://youtube.com/shorts/pmKjmpzfFrk
https://youtube.com/shorts/h19EbjAR8jE
https://youtube.com/shorts/mo274ZGUGNs


All in all a very positive experience and any questions welcome.
 
Last edited:
Good writeup..I agree, it was worth it at the price we paid. I wouldn't have done it at the full retail, based on the gains that BT honestly stated on their site. Much larger gains are achieved on othe BMW bikes. I have zero regrets, and am enjoying it greatly.
 
Cheshire Cat said:
Today I eventually installed and tried out the BrenTune modification to my R18 Classic.

My initial experience is:

Software / Tune:

Downloading of the tuner software on a 6 month old Windows 11 laptop was straight forward although the program seized once or twice and had to be shut down via CTL/ALT/Delete. Once the software on the OBD reader had been updated, I went out to the bike and downloaded the info on the bike ECU and onto the reader. This went without any hitches taking about 5 or 10 mins. I then went back to the laptop and downloaded the map for emailing to BrenTune. I used the Brentune tutorial as found on YouTube in the background just to keep me on the straight and narrow. I received an acknowledgment from Brentune within hours but a gentle nudge from R18C saw the upgraded map delivered to my inbox this morning. (two / three days later) Again, I had to close down and restart the program before I was able to upload the new Map to the OBD reader. No big deal.
Now for the nerve wracking part. I know that should something go wrong during writing to the ECU, things can get time consuming and / or expensive hence some apprehensiveness at this point. As it was, the tune went perfectly and took around 15 mins from start to finish. I used both the BrenTune YouTube video and that posted on here by Gr8adv which proved very helpful. I did video the whole sequence mainly incase I had an issue and needed to retrace my steps.
I also took some video before and after the tune as some have reported a slightly different exhaust note. I have to say, that was my experience also. The bike started on the button although in fairness I have never had any issues on starting. One other thing of note at this point. Starting the bike following the tune I seemed to notice less vibration.

Test ride:

Today is a lovely sunny day with a light breeze. Instantly I noticed the bike was 'smoother'. Acceleration & torque have not been properly assessed as yet. The roads where I live are narrow and twisty, so maximum speed reached was 60 MPH. One major thing for me. I used to have this annoying hesitation on initiial acceleration from stand still. That has now gone. The smoothness of the bike makes slow speed manoeuvring so much easier than before, not that slow speed manoeuvres were that challenging previously.

Conclusion:

Is this upgrade worth it? I would say yes, at the discounted price, very much so. I expect that as I put a few hundred miles on the bike I will be even more impressed. My overriding impression right now can be summed up as 'Smooth', and that for me, is well worth the 600 dollars. Thank you BrenTune. Thank you to those on this site that got the ball rolling. I get the impression that in a few days time I would be happy buying this upgrade at full retail price. Watch this space.

I have uploaded some video onto youtube and will post the links here. These show the before and after sounds of the bike both in my garage and in the open air. Also a video showing my experience of writing the new software to the motorcycle in real time.

https://youtube.com/shorts/oJ2Ox6F3wzE
https://youtube.com/shorts/pmKjmpzfFrk
https://youtube.com/shorts/h19EbjAR8jE
https://youtube.com/shorts/mo274ZGUGNs


All in all a very positive experience and any questions welcome.
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I'm hoping I'll have no problems with Windows 10pro!
 
Adrian R said:
I'm hoping I'll have no problems with Windows 10pro!
Click to expand...
Might even be better on a slightly older program. Possibly why it froze once or twice with me. Quitting the program and starting again gave me the result I was after and the BrenTune vid on YouTube is a good guide for the set up.
 
Cheshire Cat said:
Today I eventually installed and tried out the BrenTune modification to my R18 Classic.

My initial experience is:

Software / Tune:

Downloading of the tuner software on a 6 month old Windows 11 laptop was straight forward although the program seized once or twice and had to be shut down via CTL/ALT/Delete. Once the software on the OBD reader had been updated, I went out to the bike and downloaded the info on the bike ECU and onto the reader. This went without any hitches taking about 5 or 10 mins. I then went back to the laptop and downloaded the map for emailing to BrenTune. I used the Brentune tutorial as found on YouTube in the background just to keep me on the straight and narrow. I received an acknowledgment from Brentune within hours but a gentle nudge from R18C saw the upgraded map delivered to my inbox this morning. (two / three days later) Again, I had to close down and restart the program before I was able to upload the new Map to the OBD reader. No big deal.
Now for the nerve wracking part. I know that should something go wrong during writing to the ECU, things can get time consuming and / or expensive hence some apprehensiveness at this point. As it was, the tune went perfectly and took around 15 mins from start to finish. I used both the BrenTune YouTube video and that posted on here by Gr8adv which proved very helpful. I did video the whole sequence mainly incase I had an issue and needed to retrace my steps.
I also took some video before and after the tune as some have reported a slightly different exhaust note. I have to say, that was my experience also. The bike started on the button although in fairness I have never had any issues on starting. One other thing of note at this point. Starting the bike following the tune I seemed to notice less vibration.

Test ride:

Today is a lovely sunny day with a light breeze. Instantly I noticed the bike was 'smoother'. Acceleration & torque have not been properly assessed as yet. The roads where I live are narrow and twisty, so maximum speed reached was 60 MPH. One major thing for me. I used to have this annoying hesitation on initiial acceleration from stand still. That has now gone. The smoothness of the bike makes slow speed manoeuvring so much easier than before, not that slow speed manoeuvres were that challenging previously.

Conclusion:

Is this upgrade worth it? I would say yes, at the discounted price, very much so. I expect that as I put a few hundred miles on the bike I will be even more impressed. My overriding impression right now can be summed up as 'Smooth', and that for me, is well worth the 600 dollars. Thank you BrenTune. Thank you to those on this site that got the ball rolling. I get the impression that in a few days time I would be happy buying this upgrade at full retail price. Watch this space.

I have uploaded some video onto youtube and will post the links here. These show the before and after sounds of the bike both in my garage and in the open air. Also a video showing my experience of writing the new software to the motorcycle in real time.

https://youtube.com/shorts/oJ2Ox6F3wzE
https://youtube.com/shorts/pmKjmpzfFrk
https://youtube.com/shorts/h19EbjAR8jE
https://youtube.com/shorts/mo274ZGUGNs


All in all a very positive experience and any questions welcome.
Click to expand...
The DNA or K&N air filter helps with a deeper exhaust note and throttle response.I have the K&N with the DNA open cover.Actually,you could mod the stock cover.Plus paying less for just the K&N.
Your bike sounds great.Glad you are enjoying your R18 as much as I am enjoying mine.
Be safe and thx again for your addition to our community.Really helps me a bunch.
TK
 
Cheshire Cat said:
My pleasure. I will look up the filter as recommended by yourself. Will the tune adjust accordingly or will I need to have it adjusted?
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I checked with BT Moto and they said the tune will work with aftermarket muffler and air filters.Also you may be able to get the DNA set up at a better price.So do a price check.
 
22 R18TC, bought in February or January, can't remember which... Bike stalled at idle, rough idled when warm, ran rich, rock mode was truly unpleasant at lights. Rode the bike past its first service, maybe 1.5k miles and then did the brentune. Firstly, as the bike is breaking in its beginning to run better or I'm just getting used to its quirks. However, to my mind in South Florida traffic and boring roads the bike was a pig prior to the tune. With the tune I put another 1.5k miles on and found that power delivery is smoother and more readily available. Throttle response is crisp and most importantly the handlebars aren't threatening to break my hand or wrist at every stop light in rock mode. Long distance highway cruising is better than it was prior to the tune as well, I seem to have just a little more passing power than I did before the tune which adds significantly more confidence in avoiding cars on the interstates and even more confidence avoiding anything on local roads! I took the bike on a 900 mile round trip to Savanah last weekend and other than some headwind air flow issues that I haven't solved yet, the bike performed admirably.

A word on the update software: it doesn't appear to like Win11, it will work after a few uninstall and reinstall cycles. But, its never quite happy about it. Likely not the software's fault as I think I saw it download .net 3.5 which is fairly ancient to run on.

As far as customer support: WOW! Uploaded the config file to Brentune Sunday morning and got the file back Sunday afternoon... who does that?!?
 
ckleiman said:
...I took the bike on a 900 mile round trip to Savanah last weekend and other than some headwind air flow issues that I haven't solved yet, the bike performed admirably...
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Any chance? I was just outside of Savannah headed north from FTL on 95 last Friday mid afternoon. I saw a TC and a rider doing a peg stand (and a K16 nearby). I wondered if it was forum member?
 
burangs said:
Any chance? I was just outside of Savannah headed north from FTL on 95 last Friday mid afternoon. I saw a TC and a rider doing a peg stand (and a K16 nearby). I wondered if it was forum member?
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Yep! My knees were not having the stop and go traffic before I16! I think I saw the K16 pass me in the left lane... made me miss mine a bit.
 
ckleiman said:
22 R18TC, bought in February or January, can't remember which... Bike stalled at idle, rough idled when warm, ran rich, rock mode was truly unpleasant at lights. Rode the bike past its first service, maybe 1.5k miles and then did the brentune. Firstly, as the bike is breaking in its beginning to run better or I'm just getting used to its quirks. However, to my mind in South Florida traffic and boring roads the bike was a pig prior to the tune. With the tune I put another 1.5k miles on and found that power delivery is smoother and more readily available. Throttle response is crisp and most importantly the handlebars aren't threatening to break my hand or wrist at every stop light in rock mode. Long distance highway cruising is better than it was prior to the tune as well, I seem to have just a little more passing power than I did before the tune which adds significantly more confidence in avoiding cars on the interstates and even more confidence avoiding anything on local roads! I took the bike on a 900 mile round trip to Savanah last weekend and other than some headwind air flow issues that I haven't solved yet, the bike performed admirably.

A word on the update software: it doesn't appear to like Win11, it will work after a few uninstall and reinstall cycles. But, its never quite happy about it. Likely not the software's fault as I think I saw it download .net 3.5 which is fairly ancient to run on.

As far as customer support: WOW! Uploaded the config file to Brentune Sunday morning and got the file back Sunday afternoon... who does that?!?
Click to expand...
Man my R18C is new, only 284 miles on it, no first service, no BT, and has yet to exhibit any of the pre-BT issues you've reported here. In fact, in runs damn good! The power is good, and even with two up I pass cars easily on the interstate...I also a ride a Honda Valkyrie 1800 with 118 rwhp..and although this 18C isn't as fast, it stacks respectably well to it. I can only imagine once it's serviced and tuned, and with some miles clocked it's gonna be real nice.
 
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