Power Commander, why so expensive?

[HeatedGrips]

I've made the mistake of putting a K&N air filter on my 1150 which has led to really poor and lumpy low-speed running and pick-up, but a noticable mid-range improvement.

When I mentioned the problem to my dealer he suggested a Power Commander.

I've searched the threads and see there is much already written about these devices, but here's my question:

You can buy a Pentium 4 PC with 512 meg of ram, a 80 gig hard disk, decent video card, XP and Home Office, flat screen etc for around £400.

So why does a small box with a couple of chips and supporting electronics cost so the same?

 

[(RIP) Kaister]

Economies of scale.



,,,,,,,and you'd never strap a decent PC to the rear seat properly anyway

PS - i think you're allowed to put a standard filter back in if you want.
Check with the K&N police first though....

 

[Tarka]

So why does a small box with a couple of chips and supporting electronics cost so the same?

Because people buy it,regardless .....

Nowt to do with 'development costs' or 'quality kit'.

 

[HeatedGrips]

[QUOTE PS - i think you're allowed to put a standard filter back in if you want.
Check with the K&N police first though....
[/B][/QUOTE]

Amazingly I had thought of that, and even tried it. But my lovely new midrange boost vanished instantly.

Any more smart ideas?

 

[DrAlf]

Do a search on TFi, Techlusion and chip and then read up. A power commander isn't the only way to add more fuel. A 2nd hand chip or techlusion unit will probably set you back about £100 - works out a lot cheaper than buying a power commander and then paying for the set-up time.

Good luck.

 

[Emperor Norton]

When I mentioned the problem to my dealer he suggested a Power Commander.

How can your dealer suggest a Power Commander which will not be available before June 2005 (that's what the manufacturer told me)?

 

[HeatedGrips]

Do a search on TFi, Techlusion and chip and then read up. A power commander isn't the only way to add more fuel. A 2nd hand chip or techlusion unit will probably set you back about £100 - works out a lot cheaper than buying a power commander and then paying for the set-up time.

Good luck.

Thanks DrAlf, I think I'll try a BB chip, the bike is now out of warranty so I won't be compromising that.