author // Korry Hogan
photographer // Korry Hogan
For some time now our Honda 600RRhas been the victim of something
heinous — a bone-stock exhaust system. Not only does this
hideous contraption weigh a metric ton, but it sounds something like an
asthmatic cat jumping rope at the top of Pikes Peak. Knowing the
majority of our readers are quick to drop their hard-earned cash on a
quality-sounding exhaust system, we decided to follow suit and bolt a
Jardine RT-One Race slip-on exhaust system to our test mule. To help
manage the increase in spent exhaust gases, we also added a Dynojet
Power Commander III-USB (PCIII USB) to recalibrate the fuel injection
system.
Being a performance-minded band of hooligans here
at 2WT, we wanted to prove exactly how much horsepower was gained after
installing each component on the motorcycle. Lucky for us, Dave Mayo
and Tony Thompson of Rockdale Cycles in Conyers, Georgia, were gracious
enough to let us flog our little silver 600 on their dyno to get
real-world horsepower numbers for our readers.
All of our runs were a 4th gear roll-on from 4,000
rpm until the rev-limiter said no more.
To begin our test, we left the bike bone-stock and
netted a predictable 99.12 rear wheel horsepower (RWHP).
Next, came the installation of the PCIII USB to
our test bike. While following the detailed instructions from Dynojet
we found a few missing pictures that we thought might help clarify any
questions you might have during installation.
1. Removal of the fuel tank cover first requires
removal of the (2) 4mm (Allen-wrench) bolts at the front of the tank
shell.
2. Next, remove the 3 bolts that hold the fuel
tank ring in place and open tank with key.
3. Remove the 6mm bolt from the top of the side
panel and remove the ram-air duct cover, beginning at the gas tank and
sliding it forward.
4. After removing the duct, check for loose wires
and remove the plastic tank, so you can be on track with the PCIII USB
instructions.
Following the instructions from Dynojet, we
plugged the PCIII USB into our stock motorcycle and made another run on
the dyno. We were astounded to see that this simple fuel injection
recalibration netted a 4.41 RWHP increase without other modifications,
for a total of 103.53 RWHP.
We then decided to keep things fair, so we
unhooked the Power Commander completely, installed the Jardine Slip-On
Stainless Steel/Carbon Fiber race exhaust and made a run. Without a
Power Commander to assist in correcting the fuel ratio, the bike made
only a scant improvement over the stock pipe at 99.73 RWHP. Not a huge
increase in power, but an improvement nonetheless.
With the exhaust now in place, we plugged the
Power Commander back into the wiring loom and installed the Jardine
Exhaust Map that was available on www.powercommaner.com to our unit.
After making one final dyno run with our now mightier CBR our results
were very impressive — 105.48. A 6.36 horsepower increase
over stock.
Today’s fuel-injected motorcycles are
under strict emissions regulations when they are delivered, but we
proved that simply adding a slip-on exhaust and Power Commander to a
stock 600cc engine can provide upwards of 10 percent more power to your
bike.
