Look guys we do not want any of you to have a problem with our product installed. The simple truth is you can have it with anything installed in the ECM. We never put the ability in the software to return to original programming there to hide your modifications on the bike. The dealer can do all normal service work with the TTS installed, BUT, reprogram the ECM. All the trouble codes still work and read the same and they can still diagnose problems with it in place. They just cannot reprogram it. We were faced with a problem when we gave you the ability to do Cam tuning and EGR tuning. There needed to be away to provide you with the tools to do the testing to make the adjustments and make it all work together. In order to do all this we have to rewrite the code to handle it. Now we could have allowed for everything to be the same but the downside was that if the ECM got reprogrammed by any other tool you would have a dead ECM. This is because most tools do not reprogram the entire ECM only one part of it. So we chose to lock it and stop it from happening, thinking this was the better way to handle it.
Now let's look at it from another angle. You take your bike in for service with a modified engine and a modified calibration from anything other than Mastertune to make it all work right together and your out on the road. The Tech plugs in and notices it's not the new update calibration from HD. Since he can program the new update and get paid by HD for it, in it goes and they do not stop to ask you. So now your out the custom program that was in your bike from your local tuner with no way to put it back in. This is real and it happens today, doesn't matter if it's an EMS from Rev, SESPT, DL, SERT or any other programming device, except Mastertune which would not have allowed it to happen. There is a risk either way, but we believe that the method we chose is the safest all around.
The ability to go back to original is there for you to recover the ECM in case something happens during programming or if you remove your custom parts. If the bike needs the custom program to run right then you need to own up to it and leave it in place. As I said there is a risk no matter what you do and we have tried to keep it as small of a risk as possible.
Cole, no one is saying it's unnecessary, unwarranted or even illogical. Merely that the system can present a hazard that is a step more than a nuisance. Especially for an owner not fully invested in knowing all he might about the product. That is sometimes compounded, of course, by the reaction of some dealerships whether their reaction is warranted or not.
It's been said, more than once, that we as owners accept the risk when we change things; knowingly or not. That your product, and others, can open up those risks in different ways is part of the product and part of our ownership.
We, generally, know that. We understand it and accept it. That we may bitch about the totality of the experience sometimes is simply human nature. It is not, however, something you need to repeatedly run to the ramparts to defend yourself against. You do yourself and your product a disservice when you do. Just because someone says "the sky is blue" it's not necessary to respond saying "it's not TTS's fault."
We're big boys and girls. We make product decisions knowingly. If someone wants to be helpful along the way when there's a hiccough that's great. If not, we're still ok. "Helpful" is not the feeling you've often left the crowd with though. Sometimes you pull it off. Other times the perception is of insecurities run amok.
Your remarks immediately above here are generally of the more helpful and explanatory. And it's appreciated. I for one find you a lot more palatable (and by extension your product much more savory) when you're talking with us rather than at us.