Get the BSB treatment for your motorcycle

Any bike shop can bolt on a cheap exhaust can and call it ‘tuning’ – but if you’re serious about getting the best from your bike’s engine, then you’ll have to turn to the pros.

That’s why Crescent is now offering a new tuning service with five states of tune – from a simple parts swap and basic set-up to a full race specification tune, all from the people that spend the rest of their working days building BSB engines for the Rizla Suzuki team.

Crescent’s tuning packages are available for most sportsbikes – here they’ve provided costs and power figures for a Suzuki GSX-R1000 K7/K8 model, plus expected power gains. The power figures are on the cautious side – some individual bikes will respond better to changes, and certain models will also see more gains than others – a ZZ-R1100 for example is very receptive to simple modifications.

Stage 1 is also claimed to give useful bottom and mid range gains, as well as improved fuelling and fuel consumption. Fuel consumption will drop with Stage 4 and 5 though, and some of the bike’s low-rev flexibility will be lost in the name of ultimate power.
The figures below should be close to accurate for most modern four-cylinder sportsbikes.

Stage 1 – consists of a performance air filter, Dynojet Power Commander loaded with a bespoke map and 1 hours labour. You get around 2-4 bhp for £599.

Stage 2 – also uses a performance air filter and Power Commander, plus a replacement performance exhaust silencer. A bespoke map and two hours labour is also included. The example GSX-R is likely to see a 4-6 bhp gain, and the whole package costs £999.

Stage 3 – includes a performance filter, Power Commander, full race exhaust system and a bespoke map to ensure the parts are allowing your engine to work to it’s maximum potential. 3½  hours labour is included, and for £1449 your GSX-R is likely to be rewarded with a 8-12 bhp gain.

Stage 4 – uses the same performance filter and Power Commander used in stages 1-3, plus a full race exhaust system. The engine is opened up and treated to a gas-flowed and skimmed cylinder head, performance camshafts and valve control parts, with a new head gasket to seal the top-end up. A bespoke map is created, and Crescent will put 12 hours of labour into the modifications. The reward is a 18-24 bhp gain, but your credit card will take a kicking to the tune of £3500.

Stage 5 – is the ultimate service offered, and comprises of a complete engine rebuild from ground up, including everything in a Stage 4 tune. Different specs can be applied to this – like crank balance, rods, pistons. The 20 – 30 bhp top-end gain is mainly aimed at racersm, as the higher quality parts used enable higher RPM through out the range with less risk of failure, but you’re looking at least £5500.

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