I've been following Cip's and Ridem's reflash threads for a while and reread them god knows how many times. My thoughts were that my UK spec 2013 AD model could not be speed limited. Before I bought the bike I had studied all the reports and road tests in the UK biking press, there had been no mention of this and even in one comparison test with the 1983 CB1100F the journalist wrote that he felt the new bike would probably not max out at 141mph at 7500 revs (peak power) in 5th, and that it was unlikely to top 125mph (an interesting article that I may scan in for you all sometime).
One of Tortuga's posts reinforced my belief that California could only possibly have had its way on the US spec bikes.
Next I researched ECU reflashing in the UK and to my joy found the agent for a US company "Ecunleashed" was just 30 miles up the road. A quick phone call to the girl and I was told the price included reflash and a dyno tune. My dreams of riding my possibly restricted 110mph sloath there and returning on a 140mph rocket ship turned to dust when the top man phoned me an hour later - "we don't do Hondas". Pardon? Probably the world's most popular motorcycle manufacturer? "No too much hassle, we have to send the ECUs over to the States, might as well do that yourself".
So I contacted Ecunleashed and they replied with a price of $499 plus $50 for shipping back and that they run Honda ECUs on the 1st and 15th of each month. They also sent a link to a tune file
http://ecunleashed.com/order-form-tuning-files/ with a password of "tuning101". All good stuff.
But what of the bike wasn't limited? ECU to the States running the gauntlet of UK customs on the way back demanding 20% tax plus import duty?(gotta pay for the health service here somehow). This could work out to be an expensive bit of reassurance.
So, off with the tank. What joy, last time I took this off the air was blue and so it was again this! Would a couple more inches of fuel hose and a decent coupling really have dented profits that much? My thinking was to compare the serial number of my UK ECU with Cip's US one pictured above :
![[Image: 2079038480b8058a069e49dd60885f41.jpg]](https://cb1100forum.net/forum/uploads/imp/201406/2079038480b8058a069e49dd60885f41.jpg)
I don't really know what I thought that would tell me?
Riding back home the other day the question was burning me up. I turned off the main road into a small back lane in the middle of nowhere, put the bike on the centre stand and let her rip. I blame the pair of you for this crazy stunt and hold you both personally responsible! LOL! If I cling onto the front brake I thought "wisely! !!!!!!" the thing will only do a massive burnout rather than wheelie off down the road and smash itself to bits! Oh really? What a fluffing eejot!
The test results? Oh yes, the reason for this post. The wonderful moment when the speedo buried itself at 140mph at 7500revs quickly turned to horror as I thought the motor had dropped a valve. With a poping and a banging the speedo shot down to 110 then immediately back up to 130 and then back again with a huge fuss and misfiring. Enough! Rev test in 2nd next. 9000rpm and a repeat of the miss firing world championships.
I rode the last 5 miles home slowly and guiltily that I had subjected to my pride and joy to this horrendous ordeal. My guilt turned to anger with Honda. How dare they strangle my bike in this way for some rules and regs from a foreign land, the same place that killed off my beloved 2 strokes. Nothing personal you understand Californians? Christ, bikes aren't even checked for emissions here in the UK (yet).
Right, so reflash it is, the only question being to go with your man Don or these other people? Of course the money is important but as ever that should not be the whole story.
Thoughts and comments most welcome.
Another of my long tales I am afraid.
Cheers
Dengie