HOW THE RESTRICTION WORKS ON A ≥2017 STR 660 LAMS BIKE
Alright guys, for those of you interested in learning about how the fly by wire 660 works, I've spent a little bit of time fooling around in TuneECU and figured out the differences between the Aussie LAMS 660 and it's unrestricted brother, the 70 kW UK 660.
So, this is going to be a rather long post (1 beer to read, I'm guessing 3 to fully digest) but I'm going to try and explain the differences in an easy way to understand so you can use this information to make changes if that's what you desire. Before we dive into the nitty gritty, you need to be aware that making any changes to your bike will invalidate its LAMS status and is potentially illegal. So please think about the consequences in an incident and your appetite for risk before proceeding. This post does not contain any information on the legal process of de-restricting your bike and it is your responsibility to seek relevant engineering approval. Without doing so could potentially leave you uninsured and unlicensed.
I should also add, that making any changes using the information below will result in a large increase in power. Please be careful.
Please note, this guide was written primarily for the Aussie 660. The UK A2 model from a mapping perspective looks exactly the same. So a similar process would be used to that below.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
FLY BY WIRE - HOW IT WORKS - THE RESTRICTION
Fly by wire is the name given to the electronic system which controls power output from rider input via the throttle sensor. The ECU is constantly reading the throttle sensor position, applying logic to what it reads and then opening your throttle body using a servo motor to respond to your demands.
Before fly by wire existed, a wire rope from your throttle tube would mechanically pull the throttle body lever to open it and if you had bought a LAMS bike back then, Triumph would install a bracket which would prevent you from opening the throttle body the whole way.
Now, on the fly by wire LAMS bikes, this same throttle body restriction exists but is applied electronically. Triumph do this through a table which calculates what the throttle body position should be by comparing the current RPM of the engine and the requested power from you through the throttle sensor.
It's time to scroll down and look at Picture 1, this is the stock 'Electronic Throttle Valve' data table on a 2020 660 STR. Look at the far right column (this is what your throttle body position is when you are at wide open throttle). What you should notice, is that at 350 RPM (the bottom cell) the throttle body is 100% open. As your RPM increase (moving up that far right column), the throttle body remains fully open until 6500 RPM. At that point, your throttle body abruptly starts closing, even though you are still applying full throttle, to reduce the engine power, hovering around 40% open all the way to redline.
Scroll down to Picture 2. It's the ETV table from the UK de-restricted 2020 STR 660. Can you spot the difference?
Still confused? I've thrown a chart together which is only looking at the part of the table which corresponds to you requesting 100% power from the motorbike. The orange line is a normal non LAMS bike (the UK model in fact), the blue is an Aussie 660. Notice how the throttle body closes as the revs increase to limit the power of the engine? On a de-restricted bike, the throttle body position matches what you request (100% demand always equals 100% output) Scroll down and have a look.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
HOW TO CHANGE THE ETV TABLES
So if you've made it this far, you may be thinking, why can't I just copy the UK 660 unrestricted ETV table into the Aussie 660 restricted map and reflash my ECU? that's certainly possible, the below is how you would achieve that (please re-read the warning at the top!).
You'll need the following;
- A battery tender for your bike
Once you have these, you'll need to download the stock mapfile for your bike and modify it in TuneECU on your phone. Download it from here:
https://app.box.com/s/pusg6v7nyd/folder/56805524 (if the link doesn't work just googe tune ecu tune list).
For the 2017 - 2019, you need to apply your edits to map file 30111. For 2020 bikes, your base map to edit is 31035.
Just copy the whole ETV1 table from an unrestricted UK 660 (map file 30119 or 31037) and paste it into all the ETV1 tables (there are 4 to 6, depending on your bike year) for your base mapfile (mentioned above). ETV1 is 'road' mode, ETV2 is used when you are riding in 'rain' mode. Leave ETV2 alone if you want to keep your rain mode as a LAMS switch.
Using TuneECU to copy paste tables can be frustrating. You'll need to open TuneECU, swipe over to the left, open the map file, swipe down until you reach ETV1(N), select the menu option 'Table', then press copy. Then, Open up your base map, navigate to ETV1(N) and then press table again and paste. Once you've succesfully pasted the table into ETV1(N), you'll see a small arrow arrow in the bottom middle of the screen beside ETV1(N). Press this arrow and it will open up a list of all the ETV1 tables, (these represent the gears of the motorbike, so throttle table maps can be customised per gear) select the next table and paste again.
Repeat this until all the ETV1 tables have the derestricted tables pasted in them. Save the modified map file to your phone once you are done. Be sure to only paste into your ETV1 tables. This is the hardest part of the process.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Now you are ready to flash!
There's already a few written guides out there for flashing using TuneECU. I'll post a link to the process in the comments. If you've followed the above, everything is generic from here on out. You will need to select the ECU type as Triumph (Keihin) when you first try to connect. If you still find it a little daunting, I'm planning on making a video on how to flash the ECU over bluetooth with TuneECU shortly.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
FAQ (I'll add to this as needed):
How do I make this change legally for road use? I'm not sure. This guide is written for those of you who intend to conduct off-road track riding or racing using a LAMS 660 and would like to increase the power output. Investigating the legalities and insurance requirements for road use is your responsibility.
Is this safe for the engine? Yes, how do I know? The Australian 660 has exactly the same ignition and fueling tables as the unrestricted UK 660. I would encourage you to open the maps and compare them yourselves as a learning experience. The restricted 660 is tuned exactly the same as the unrestricted 660 UK model, it's simply the ETV tables that differ.
How much will the power increase? Using Triumph numbers from the unrestricted 660 as a comparison, an Australian pre 2020 model 660 will go from 47 Hp to 94 Hp. The 2020 660 will go from 54 Hp to 94 Hp.
Can this be undone? Yes, simply reflash the unaltered stock map to the bike
Why can't I just flash my bike with the UK unrestricted map? They are region locked, you cannot flash this map directly. You have to edit the ETV tables in the Aussie map
What if I flash the wrong map? You can't, TuneECU won't let you write an incompatible map to your bike.
Can I 'brick' my ECU? It is possible the write to your ECU will fail and leave your bike unable to start (this is what people often call bricking, but it's not 'actually' bricking). This generally happens if your battery voltage has dipped too low during the flash (hence the requirement for a battery charger while flashing). There is a recovery process that works (I've had to use it!) but that's outside the scope of this guide. I'll make a video on recoveries soon. I still consider this low risk and having a spare android device available will be handy (when it happened to me, my phone was causing problems during the write process). I do not think actual bricking, where the ECU can no longer be recovered, is a risk worth worrying about.
Can you do this for me? No. I'm more than happy to share what I've learnt, but I'm not interested in potentially breaking any laws for you.
Is this detectable? Yes, but not how you may think. The simple details of the loaded map that are visible to a dealer or anyone with TuneECU will indicate it is no different to the stock restricted map. This is because the actual changes to the stock map loaded in the ECU can't be read from the ECU by anyone (dealer included). The easiest way to think of it is a one way function. You can write to but you cannot read from the ECU. So how is it detectable? Running the bike on a dyno would give it away instantly!
I flashed my bike and now it's not idling very well when I first start it, what do I do? You'll need to do an adaptions reset. It's basically a process which tells the ECU to reset a few parameters that it constantly adjusts to make your bike idle and run nicely. Your bike needs to be cold. Do the following steps in order, without touching the throttle at all during the whole sequence. Start your bike and leave it idling until you hear the cooling fan kick in. After the fan turns on, start a 12 minute timer. Once the 12 minutes are up (go 30 seconds over just to be sure) turn your bike completely off. Adaptations have now been reset.
I flashed my bike but it isn't de-restricted, what happened?
Make sure you paste the derestricted table into all of the ETV1 tables! There are multiple ETV1 tables which corrospond to the gear you are in. If you only paste into one table the bike will only be derestricted in neutral gear. Re-read the directions for more information.
Can I buy you a beer? **** yes you can. I drink anything you can shine a torch through. It will have to be in Adelaide
![🙂]( "🙂")
Got any other questions? Reply in the comments.
Take it easy, and have fun!
![738477]( "738477")
![738478]( "738478")
![738479]( "738479")
Alright guys, for those of you interested in learning about how the fly by wire 660 works, I've spent a little bit of time fooling around in TuneECU and figured out the differences between the Aussie LAMS 660 and it's unrestricted brother, the 70 kW UK 660.
So, this is going to be a rather long post (1 beer to read, I'm guessing 3 to fully digest) but I'm going to try and explain the differences in an easy way to understand so you can use this information to make changes if that's what you desire. Before we dive into the nitty gritty, you need to be aware that making any changes to your bike will invalidate its LAMS status and is potentially illegal. So please think about the consequences in an incident and your appetite for risk before proceeding. This post does not contain any information on the legal process of de-restricting your bike and it is your responsibility to seek relevant engineering approval. Without doing so could potentially leave you uninsured and unlicensed.
I should also add, that making any changes using the information below will result in a large increase in power. Please be careful.
Please note, this guide was written primarily for the Aussie 660. The UK A2 model from a mapping perspective looks exactly the same. So a similar process would be used to that below.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
FLY BY WIRE - HOW IT WORKS - THE RESTRICTION
Fly by wire is the name given to the electronic system which controls power output from rider input via the throttle sensor. The ECU is constantly reading the throttle sensor position, applying logic to what it reads and then opening your throttle body using a servo motor to respond to your demands.
Before fly by wire existed, a wire rope from your throttle tube would mechanically pull the throttle body lever to open it and if you had bought a LAMS bike back then, Triumph would install a bracket which would prevent you from opening the throttle body the whole way.
Now, on the fly by wire LAMS bikes, this same throttle body restriction exists but is applied electronically. Triumph do this through a table which calculates what the throttle body position should be by comparing the current RPM of the engine and the requested power from you through the throttle sensor.
It's time to scroll down and look at Picture 1, this is the stock 'Electronic Throttle Valve' data table on a 2020 660 STR. Look at the far right column (this is what your throttle body position is when you are at wide open throttle). What you should notice, is that at 350 RPM (the bottom cell) the throttle body is 100% open. As your RPM increase (moving up that far right column), the throttle body remains fully open until 6500 RPM. At that point, your throttle body abruptly starts closing, even though you are still applying full throttle, to reduce the engine power, hovering around 40% open all the way to redline.
Scroll down to Picture 2. It's the ETV table from the UK de-restricted 2020 STR 660. Can you spot the difference?
Still confused? I've thrown a chart together which is only looking at the part of the table which corresponds to you requesting 100% power from the motorbike. The orange line is a normal non LAMS bike (the UK model in fact), the blue is an Aussie 660. Notice how the throttle body closes as the revs increase to limit the power of the engine? On a de-restricted bike, the throttle body position matches what you request (100% demand always equals 100% output) Scroll down and have a look.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
HOW TO CHANGE THE ETV TABLES
So if you've made it this far, you may be thinking, why can't I just copy the UK 660 unrestricted ETV table into the Aussie 660 restricted map and reflash my ECU? that's certainly possible, the below is how you would achieve that (please re-read the warning at the top!).
You'll need the following;
- An Android device (sorry iOs users, it's time to change)
- An ObdLink LX dongle (from amazon, I'll post a link in the comments)(~$100) (https://www.amazon.com/ScanTool-OBDLink.../dp/B00H9S71LW...)
- The TuneECU app from the playstore (I think it's about $15)
- A battery tender for your bike
Once you have these, you'll need to download the stock mapfile for your bike and modify it in TuneECU on your phone. Download it from here:
https://app.box.com/s/pusg6v7nyd/folder/56805524 (if the link doesn't work just googe tune ecu tune list).
For the 2017 - 2019, you need to apply your edits to map file 30111. For 2020 bikes, your base map to edit is 31035.
Just copy the whole ETV1 table from an unrestricted UK 660 (map file 30119 or 31037) and paste it into all the ETV1 tables (there are 4 to 6, depending on your bike year) for your base mapfile (mentioned above). ETV1 is 'road' mode, ETV2 is used when you are riding in 'rain' mode. Leave ETV2 alone if you want to keep your rain mode as a LAMS switch.
Using TuneECU to copy paste tables can be frustrating. You'll need to open TuneECU, swipe over to the left, open the map file, swipe down until you reach ETV1(N), select the menu option 'Table', then press copy. Then, Open up your base map, navigate to ETV1(N) and then press table again and paste. Once you've succesfully pasted the table into ETV1(N), you'll see a small arrow arrow in the bottom middle of the screen beside ETV1(N). Press this arrow and it will open up a list of all the ETV1 tables, (these represent the gears of the motorbike, so throttle table maps can be customised per gear) select the next table and paste again.
Repeat this until all the ETV1 tables have the derestricted tables pasted in them. Save the modified map file to your phone once you are done. Be sure to only paste into your ETV1 tables. This is the hardest part of the process.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Now you are ready to flash!
There's already a few written guides out there for flashing using TuneECU. I'll post a link to the process in the comments. If you've followed the above, everything is generic from here on out. You will need to select the ECU type as Triumph (Keihin) when you first try to connect. If you still find it a little daunting, I'm planning on making a video on how to flash the ECU over bluetooth with TuneECU shortly.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
FAQ (I'll add to this as needed):
How do I make this change legally for road use? I'm not sure. This guide is written for those of you who intend to conduct off-road track riding or racing using a LAMS 660 and would like to increase the power output. Investigating the legalities and insurance requirements for road use is your responsibility.
Is this safe for the engine? Yes, how do I know? The Australian 660 has exactly the same ignition and fueling tables as the unrestricted UK 660. I would encourage you to open the maps and compare them yourselves as a learning experience. The restricted 660 is tuned exactly the same as the unrestricted 660 UK model, it's simply the ETV tables that differ.
How much will the power increase? Using Triumph numbers from the unrestricted 660 as a comparison, an Australian pre 2020 model 660 will go from 47 Hp to 94 Hp. The 2020 660 will go from 54 Hp to 94 Hp.
Can this be undone? Yes, simply reflash the unaltered stock map to the bike
Why can't I just flash my bike with the UK unrestricted map? They are region locked, you cannot flash this map directly. You have to edit the ETV tables in the Aussie map
What if I flash the wrong map? You can't, TuneECU won't let you write an incompatible map to your bike.
Can I 'brick' my ECU? It is possible the write to your ECU will fail and leave your bike unable to start (this is what people often call bricking, but it's not 'actually' bricking). This generally happens if your battery voltage has dipped too low during the flash (hence the requirement for a battery charger while flashing). There is a recovery process that works (I've had to use it!) but that's outside the scope of this guide. I'll make a video on recoveries soon. I still consider this low risk and having a spare android device available will be handy (when it happened to me, my phone was causing problems during the write process). I do not think actual bricking, where the ECU can no longer be recovered, is a risk worth worrying about.
Can you do this for me? No. I'm more than happy to share what I've learnt, but I'm not interested in potentially breaking any laws for you.
Is this detectable? Yes, but not how you may think. The simple details of the loaded map that are visible to a dealer or anyone with TuneECU will indicate it is no different to the stock restricted map. This is because the actual changes to the stock map loaded in the ECU can't be read from the ECU by anyone (dealer included). The easiest way to think of it is a one way function. You can write to but you cannot read from the ECU. So how is it detectable? Running the bike on a dyno would give it away instantly!
I flashed my bike and now it's not idling very well when I first start it, what do I do? You'll need to do an adaptions reset. It's basically a process which tells the ECU to reset a few parameters that it constantly adjusts to make your bike idle and run nicely. Your bike needs to be cold. Do the following steps in order, without touching the throttle at all during the whole sequence. Start your bike and leave it idling until you hear the cooling fan kick in. After the fan turns on, start a 12 minute timer. Once the 12 minutes are up (go 30 seconds over just to be sure) turn your bike completely off. Adaptations have now been reset.
I flashed my bike but it isn't de-restricted, what happened?
Make sure you paste the derestricted table into all of the ETV1 tables! There are multiple ETV1 tables which corrospond to the gear you are in. If you only paste into one table the bike will only be derestricted in neutral gear. Re-read the directions for more information.
Can I buy you a beer? **** yes you can. I drink anything you can shine a torch through. It will have to be in Adelaide
Got any other questions? Reply in the comments.
Take it easy, and have fun!
