Thx for the replies. Especially liked the woolich site. a bit overwhelming for me with all the settings/electronics; maybe going to a reputable tuner would be best.
If you were putting on a full exhaust and wanted the fueling right, would you be happy with just a flash tune? It seems shops want to sell electronic tuning "kits" along with different maps available. Would you buy this "kit" or ...? What would you do, and what would be the cost installed?
Pro 6 Cycle is an authorized Woolich tuning dealer. Give them a call and ask for a technical breakdown of the process and available products.
Guess this the tech today; I'll try not to whine too much, but I think Im already missing going to winners circle for a handful of jets...lol.
Thanks everyone for taking the time to reply.
Stock ECU will not automatically correct for a lean condition in open loop (e.g. near full throttle). In most cases, a slip on muffler makes so little difference that it doesn't matter. High flow air filters, same. Full exhaust (different header pipes), large changes to intake runner length or diameter, camshaft changes etc., you had better deal with it.
You can flash, or go piggy back. Flashing allows modification of the stock fueling tables in addition to modifications such as RPM limit changes, kick stand switches, lights, PAIR valves, etc, but typically is tuned for a specific setup, i.e. pipe, filter, etc. Most available are probably pretty close and its the cheapest option usually. The pigggy-back controller + autotuner, allows you to tune for your specific conditions + setup, typically for a fixed point in time.
I ran the Bazzaz auto tuner a couple times over a 10 year period on the CBR, but things never changed much. I largely left it alone and it worked fine. The RapidBike controller in the R1 is an active piggy-back controller that utilizes an O2 sensor while it operates to make further adjustments on the fly. It's really just a feedback loop. It seems to work... but I can't say for sure what decisions the controller is making to the fuel real-time. It goes fast, so I assume its working.
The 08+ CBR1000RR was a closed ECU and was not usually flashed by owners. I'm sure some ECUs were killed by those that tried. The Traction Control feature in the fuel controller detects RPM spikes and interprets them as wheelspin. Modifying the injection in the same manner, it backs off the power. It's primitive but actually works reasonably well for what it is.
At a high level, adding a piggyback controller (which ties into the injector and a few other places) takes an injector signal, routes it into the aftermarket controler and uses this + RPM + gear position (sometimes) + other sensor tye-ins to say "oh you asked for this much fuel, I'm going to change it a little bit based on my table/calculations".
Hopefully that helps.