Video: Testing a Yamaha YZF-R6 at Spring Mountain Motorsports Ranch

The Sport Rider Magazine staff has just returned from a trackday at Spring Mountain Motorsports Ranch in Pahrump, NV, where with the help of TrackXperience (www.trackxperience.com), a local trackday provider, we were able to test a 2014 Yamaha YZF-R6 with FT ECU (www.flash-tune.com) reflashed ECU. The video above shows a lap around Spring Mountain's newly opened 2.1+ mile course, recorded with a GoPro Hero 3+ Black Edition camera. We overlaid data culled from our AiM Solo data acquisition box, using TrackVision desktop software.

While not a new technology, reflashed ECUs are beginning to grow in popularity, with many companies currently offering some form of tuning at a price that pales in comparison to that of a new exhaust, suspension, or motor work. The Flash-Tune Inc. reflashed ECU we've chosen cost just $200, and as a part of the update, the bike’s throttle-by-wire settings were configured in a way that’d make our R6 feel more responsive when ridden in anger. More specifically, the R6’s throttle-by-wire map was updated, its decel maps reconfigured, and its off/on throttle transitions smoothed out. Gear-based restrictions and other street-tailored settings were reworked as well.

The result of those updates is a bike that feels much more capable on the track; our otherwise-stock R6 revs quicker as a result of the throttle blades being opened up at a quicker rate, it gets into a corner in a more controlled manner as a result of there being less engine braking in higher gears, and the on/off throttle transition is a great deal smoother. And to think, all of this for just $200!

For more information on our Yamaha R6 project bike with reflashed ECU and to better understand the changes that FT ECU has made to the bike's little black box, be sure to pick up a copy of the July 2014 issue of Sport Rider Magazine.

We also have plans to install a Jardine GP-1R full system exhaust on the R6, and will have an update with review of that exhaust in due time.