Installing a Vigilante Flash from Superchips
Story by T-Bone, Model: Carrie Holt
When you bought your new Harley, you most likely started customizing it to perform better and give a bit of your personality. We certainly did that. I picked up my bike “Down Payment Blues” on Valentines Day in 2004. After putting a couple thousand miles on it, I upgraded the intake with a Screaming Eagle Stage 1 Intake system and slash cut drag pipes. I soon went to true dual fishtail drag pipes and found the mid-range power was weak due to the straight through exhaust flow. I went to my buddy Carl at Cyclepath Cycle and he installed a performance chip to increase that mid-range power.
That was about 9 years ago. Technology has changed. Time to upgrade.
We did a bit of research and found several new performance chips out on the market. We found one that uses a smart phone app to help tune and dial in your timing is the Vigilante Flash from Superchips.
The Vigilante Flash is the first Android/iOS based tuning application that combines data monitoring capabilities with Stage 1, custom performance tuning solutions. The installation was super simple. We simply removed the previous system, and plugged in the flash kit. NOTE: If your bike is stock just follow the simple instructions in the package.
With bluetooth connection we can dial in the performance modifications and viola, the bike is ready. Seriously less than 30 minutes to install and tune. It asked for the intake system, we loaded the Harley-Davidson Screamin Eagle Stage 1 kit, then the exhaust, which now I am running true duals with Kerker slip on fishtails, and the tuner did all the work.
We checked around on the other buttons in the app and found the system has a diagnostic center to find any trouble spots when the check engine light comes on. They have gauges to check for Throttle Position, RPM, Speed and Engine Temp, and another cool feature is the Performance function. It will measure your zero-60 time, zero to 1/8 mile time/speed and zero to 1/4 mile time/speed. You may want to use their “mobile device handlebar mount and power kit for this feature as well as the variety of gauge interfaces. In fact, this could be a pretty clean setup for a custom bike. No gauges to wire up, just use your smart phone as the dash.
Now it’s time to ride. First thing we noticed (Billy, Panzer and I) is the brighter, snappier sound in the idle exhaust. The engine sounded like it just wanted to take off. I threw a leg over and found that the throttle response was quicker and the mid-range performance was improved. As I shifted from 1st to 2nd, the torque was a bit stronger. Keep a hand on the bars. Especially with the new Michelin tires out back, it grabbed the road.
Take a moment and look into this system, listed at just $329.00, for your beast at www.superchips.com.