Cycle News

VOLUME 57 ISSUE 31 AUGUST 4, 2020 P117 quires you to purchase the WiFi transmitter. Now this, in my opinion, ap- pears to be the next big step in R&D, even if Yamaha's innova- tion hasn't been fully appreciated yet. They introduced the WiFi technology and the Power Tuner Smartphone App nearly three years ago, but I suspect they might simply be ahead of their time. With KTM now moving in the same direction, it will likely bring wider spread attention and understanding to the technology. With or without WiFi capabili- ties, the Yamaha YZs are magnifi- cent machines, and many own- ers are perfectly content to never download the app. "Oh, I don't mess with that stuff," a friend told me. I pointed out that it's also an hour meter and a maintenance tracker. The look on his face sug- gested that idea seemed a little more palatable. It seems there is a big hurdle here—a firewall, if you will—in the concept of digitizing engine tuning. When EFI came onto the motocross scene around a decade ago, I posed the same question: have we crossed a boundary by bringing computers into the garage? Have we left the hobbyists behind? Who wants to put the wrench down and pick up a computer? Ten years later and I still don't think we're there, even with the tuning capability brought down to a free, built-in, user-friendly app that you can access right from that thing in your pocket that hardly ever leaves your side. It's much easier than Honda's tuning program they offered a few years back, or even Kawasaki's handheld KX FI calibration kit. The $700 price tag of Kawasaki's handheld device is an immediate turnoff for many, oddly the same crowd that doesn't think twice about spending $1000 on an exhaust system. But here again indicates the barrier. We have not started to embrace the capabilities of digital manipulation as much as we value the mechanical ones: exhaust, engine porting, valve jobs—we spend thousands of dollars in search of more use- able power. Will we eventually retrain our brains to start think- ing in ones and zeros the way we used to think about jets and airscrews? It might not be a simple matter of crossing the digital barrier. There is an added hurdle to get over: the analysis paralysis of too much choice. If you were to ever watch a professional team plug an ECU into a computer, the grids and graphs are enough to make your eyes cross. Even the "dumbed down" interface provided on the Yamaha's tuning software can seem overwhelm- ing with dual 4x4 matrices of ignition and fueling options. Despite Yamaha's assurance that you cannot screw up your engine with the app, and you can always return to baseline, there still seems to be a reluctance by the general motocross population to tinker with the engine tuning. Even with these hurdles in the way, I think things will start mov- ing in this direction, and that the digital age will eventually perme- ate the motocross industry. Do I predict the average rider will be altering their mapping from track to track? No, not quite. But I think we will soon arrive at the point where the WiFi capa- bilities are a factor in purchasing decisions. I believe people will use these apps more and more, perhaps just to find two or three preferred power settings and never touch it again, only using the app for maintenance and tracking hours. That alone could be hugely helpful. And in the future, who knows what else a smartphone app might be able to do? Tune trac- tion control options? Link to a heartrate monitor? Perform midrace suspension adjust- ments? A "find my bike" app? Justin Barcia might have found that useful at the Salt Lake City 4 Supercross. Are we far from a bike that can respond to Siri-type commands? "Hey YZ. Load yourself." Dare to dream. Perhaps another manufacturer will come along and do it better, or invent an even more user- friendly interface, or features that will entice more riders to go digital. But when smartbikes be- come the norm, just remember that Yamaha did it first. CN

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