Maniac57 tests the HD Lightning CDI

GoldenMotor.com

mapbike

Well-Known Member
Mar 14, 2010
5,502
109
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Central Area of Texas
I think Mapbike should guage speed against his chicken in that Avator lol:D
Why the rude comment here GH?

Say what you will fellas, I have good fast biles and I hwve had a lightening cdi since Hd first made them, as a matter of fact I have one of the first unlimited timing cdis he made and Ihave run this cdi on two different bikes so I have a pretty good idea what my results have been...
If you want one that is fine, buy it, run it and think it makes a difference.... Im no noob here and have tried many different things on my bikes and run many tes related to what gives best overall performance on my bikes, there was a time I strongly supported the aftermarket cdi but I cant deny the actual results I have seen on my bikes and the fact is it does not improve top speed or mid range power on the hills either.

do your bikes run mid to upper 40's mph goat herder...?

Have you done tseting between two different engines on two different bike over the last year with the cdi using gps to verify some honest results and used a tach to show the actual peak rpm between the stock cdi and the lightening on the same bike...?

If not then you are just blowing smoke out of your back side being critical of me or anyone else for that matter that has tried to honestly give a good assessment of what the high price gadget can be expcted or not expected to actually do.

Oh well, I guess it doesnt matter that someone wants to report on their personal experience with a product that is being touted to be such a big performance boost for a china girl when in reality it isn't gonna do much more than add bling, I dont have a problem with that but people should not be told it will add performance to their bikes when in reality it doesn't do what it is claimed to do, if it wasn't being sold for such a high price that would be one thing but its expensive and noobs and those ho build on a tight budget have a right to know the truth before they waist there money thinking they will be getting some huge performance improvement when they wont.

Ut I will say one thing about your chicken comment gh, strapping one of m chickens on my bike will probably add as much or mabe more performance to the bike than the Lightening CDI will.

Why is it that an honest assessment of a product is met with such negative comments is what puzzles me, these comments are just like the smart elic remarks that the maker of that product dishes out to people on here all the time, one of the reasons I say I will not do business with jerks and unethical vendors....

Everyone just buy what you want..... who freaking cares how you waiste your dang money.... I have only been trying to prevent people from spending money on snake oil that may not be able to afford it, that money can be much better spent on products that will improve their bike, the cdi is snake oil guys it wont make a piss ants worth of difference in anything but your wallet.....

Dang Im tired honest help being met with stupidity on here.....!
 

Pablo

Master Bike Builder & Forum Sponsor
Dec 28, 2007
3,696
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Duvall, WA PNW
www.sickbikeparts.com
I think Goat Herder was kidding. Maybe we should all step back and take a breath.

As for my commentary on the whole thing: I would love for a true double blind shoot out of all four products. Let the chips fall as they may.
 

Goat Herder

Gutter Rider
Apr 28, 2008
6,237
20
38
N.M.
I was not trying to be rude at all sorry map. I find chickens one of Gods most comical creatures. At work today one of my co workers put about 10 grass hoppers in another's desk top drawer. I just had comedy in mind. Was still chucling about it. All in good fun.

We had a friggin plague of those things here lately! Hows Texas? Any blow over there yet?

I do take offence to folks thinking that some of us MB riders don't know what we are doing sometimes? I can tell minute differances in my machines. Heck I have a bike that changes with the weather. I like a good hot spark and know the differance through and through intimately.

I use a arrangment that was not experimenting with with CDI's . So gathering intel about timing curve is very fasinating concering these HT engines. If i go back and clean one up. Perfection is always my personel goal!

Having first hand knowlege of a hotter spark on my Morini. Huge differance for me. So I am game on this action.
 

Goat Herder

Gutter Rider
Apr 28, 2008
6,237
20
38
N.M.
do your bikes run mid to upper 40's mph goat herder...?
Try fiddy.....

Everyone just buy what you want..... who freaking cares how you waiste your dang money....
I think this could be a moot point? After all it is a HT motor lol.



As for who's timing curve etc works the best I would have to buy one and prolly see for my self?

As for hotter spark I will not back down from my own studies for a sec even.
 

mapbike

Well-Known Member
Mar 14, 2010
5,502
109
63
Central Area of Texas
I was not trying to be rude at all sorry map. I find chickens one of Gods most comical creatures. At work today one of my co workers put about 10 grass hoppers in another's desk top drawer. I just had comedy in mind. Was still chucling about it. All in good fun.

We had a friggin plague of those things here lately! Hows Texas? Any blow over there yet?

I do take offence to folks thinking that some of us MB riders don't know what we are doing sometimes? I can tell minute differances in my machines. Heck I have a bike that changes with the weather. I like a good hot spark and know the differance through and through intimately.

I use a arrangment that was not experimenting with with CDI's . So gathering intel about timing curve is very fasinating concering these HT engines. If i go back and clean one up. Perfection is always my personel goal!

Having first hand knowlege of a hotter spark on my Morini. Huge differance for me. So I am game on this action.

I have always said that hotter spark may actually be the only one benefit to the after market CDI, Im sorry for seeming to come on a bit strong in my response, its hard to know the intent when only reading text.... sorry if I was offensive goatherder or anyone else, thats never my intent, I have been burned recently and I still have a big wide open gash from it and I have become a bit less tolerant of things related to those who are promoting these products.

Pablo is right a step back is in order , but I will not deny my test results and what I have seen with my own eyesand experienced on my bikes, I am just trying to prevent others from spending hard earned money on something that doesnt live up to its claimed to do, Pablo I know you sell them and be no means do I want to detour people from buying what they want from you are anyone else, just being honest about my personal findings with the product.

Sorry for any offense I may have caused fellas.... just a little touchy about this I guess....I got burned and attacked and I dont won't anyone else being done that way by a vendor that is out for money and doesnt give a rats behind how he treats a customer.

Map
.wee.
 
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Toothy

New Member
Mar 25, 2014
181
1
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San Diego
I'm kind o surprised there are not more real reviews of these products. I bought a jag and it was the first and only cdi i've used. I may use the stock and see if there is any real difference. My results don't sound as good as the OP however. As a noob, I took the hype in good faith and figured that so much junk is associated with these kits that an upgrated cdi would be the way to go.
 

66sub

New Member
May 27, 2014
46
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canada
why do double spark plugs run worse? 2door/ maniac and davez? how about goat herder or huffycat?
 
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maniac57

Old, Fat, and still faster than you
Oct 8, 2011
4,484
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memphis Tn
Define "worse" and "double plugs"
The only experience I have with twin plug heads was a mid 70's suzuki enduro. The second plug was inert though, it did not fire. The idea was to have a spare I guess. I never saw much point to the added complexity vs. returns with twin ignition systems, especially on such a poorly designed engine.
Also consider this: There is only so much voltage available from a stock engine coil, so splitting it between two complete ignitions may be weakening each individual spark more than the second plug gains.
But that being said, a proper twin ignition setup might help in a super high compression, difficult to fire engine.
I can't imagine it being anything more than expensive on a chinagirl.
Just my opinion. Some people like to do things the harder way.
 
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mapbike

Well-Known Member
Mar 14, 2010
5,502
109
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Central Area of Texas
Define "worse" and "double plugs"
The only experience I have with twin plug heads was a mid 70's suzuki enduro. The second plug was inert though, it did not fire. The idea was to have a spare I guess. I never saw much point to the added complexity vs. returns with twin ignition systems, especially on such a poorly designed engine.
Also consider this: There is only so much voltage available from a stock engine coil, so splitting it between two complete ignitions may be weakening each individual spark more than the second plug gains.
But that being said, a proper twin ignition setup might help in a super high compression, difficult to fire engine.
I can't imagine it being anything more than expensive on a chinagirl.
Just my opinion. Some people like to do things the harder way.
I agree maniac... some things are basically just bling bling... but if thats what someone wants. And they have the e tra money... no harm no foul unless it is being advertised with unproven claims or the such and then.... it could become a false advertisement thing but oh well we all live and learn on stuff like that, I guess we all just figure out what we think works best for us and go with it, thats how I roll....

The duel plug head is a kewl looking set up but a heck of a pricey gadgetwhen you consider it will add nothing to an average engine build and maybe nothing or not much even to a highly built china girl.y bike that I unofficially registered 51.5 mph on the other day is running a Puch 70cc hi hi head and a RT carbwith a stock exhaust pipe that has been port matched and modified to flow good.....
Lot of bike out there with all kinds of gadgets and gizmos that wont do that kinda speed with a 215lb fella on them.

I guess its all good if thats what you want...

Map
 

Huffydavidson

STREETRACER/MANUFACTURER
Jan 29, 2012
1,076
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st.louis,mo.
dance1The twin plug heads have better throttle response and acceleration due to a more complete burn and with a better burn comes cooler operating temperatures. I know I run them on all 3 of my bikes!!!dance1
 

mapbike

Well-Known Member
Mar 14, 2010
5,502
109
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Central Area of Texas
My throttle is instant revs on my bikes, no hesitations or burps at all, just quick almost instant revs when the grip is even slightly rotated, not sure mine could be any better no matter what else I done to them, but like I said its all what someone wants or likes, some people put $3000 worth of tires and wheels on a 1973 4 door Chevy Caprice sedan because thats what they wont and what they like, no harm and no foul in that at all, I just wouldn't believe them if they told me the old car was faster now because of it, but I would tell them it looks nicer than it did with the old rusty hub caps... if dual plug heads were a huge improvement on two strokes I would imagine they would have been used as a standard set up starting years ago on lots of the high end high performance ones and although I cant see how it will hurt a thing to run one I also don't see how its gonna offer any real performance improvement that could even be actually seen, felt or truthfully documented.

They do look kewl but in my opinion not practical being the whole set up is so expensive... just nice shiny bling bling.... if someone has the funds and desire to have it, or works out a trade to get all the neat stuff like that....

When I can buy a $30 Puch head from treatland.tv and put it on a dax Gen IV lower build with some port work on the jug, ramps ground into piston and a well tuned carb and free flowing exhaust and run a fairly smooth and comfortable 45+ MPH cruise speed on a bike with 24" wheels, I feel like I'm doing just about as good as many and even better than most with a lot less invested and it all still looks pretty darn good, clean and simple.

I like it all really, but I always think what is the best bang for the buck since that's what most people who build a bike are looking for, I like my bikes to reflect that example to show it doesn't take a bunch of fancy gizmos and gadgets to actually have a good running, reliable and powerful china girl build that on the right bike with a good tune and things matched correctly can do some nice comfortable cruise speeds with correct gearing for the area and weight of the rider, I do like a little bling and shine, but not the high dollar stuff that adds little to nothing in the way of reliability or actual realized performance increases.

Map
.bf.
 
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Huffydavidson

STREETRACER/MANUFACTURER
Jan 29, 2012
1,076
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38
st.louis,mo.
Well, Fred called yesterday and we were talking about the NEXT PROTO TYPE engine he has and he informed me of riding for miles @ 55mph. I wouldn't want to be the chicken crossing that road!! LMAO
 

66sub

New Member
May 27, 2014
46
0
0
canada
you failed to answer the question correctly huffycat. your cdi is retarded. did fred get his liscence back yet?
 

mapbike

Well-Known Member
Mar 14, 2010
5,502
109
63
Central Area of Texas
Well, Fred called yesterday and we were talking about the NEXT PROTO TYPE engine he has and he informed me of riding for miles @ 55mph. I wouldn't want to be the chicken crossing that road!! LMAO
Sounds interesting, im guesssing another possible engine that the motorbicycling community may be able to get their hands on for what... maybe $900-$1000...?

Hmmmm... 55mph for mles, im gonna say that if he got that done like you say, thats good speed, and Im also gonna say that the bike most likely will carry a chicken down the road just fine at those speeds but im gonna say a hippo need not apply....

50+mph was done a long time ago and I have seen it myself on one of my bikes a registered 51.5mph to be exact with an engine I have about $150 invested in and a few hours of work and people who have done 50+mph in the past have done it without having literally hundreds of dollars invested in their engines, having an engine that will do those speeds is appealing to some but, not at the ridiculously inflated prices that it will cost for an engine that might or might not do it and may blow apart the First, Second or Third time it does.

Huffy Ill tell you straight up you are the worst possible person on here to be advertising for Fred in my opinion, your attitude and smart remarks to everyone is a real pain in the back side and I already know of people who have said they will not do business with Fred becauseof his accosiationwith you, so for Freds sake you may want to easy up and stop withthe garbage talk, as you very well know I was one of the first people on here to try to help you out and buy one of your cdi's iit lasted about 12-15 miles before it burned out, you made it good and its still working today, when you decided to retire your first Fred head that had been damaged from a spark plug electrode breaking off and pounding pits all in the squish area you emailed me and offered it to me for $65 to help you out I bought it from you knowing for just a couple extra bucks I could have got a new one, I had good honest intent with you Huffy Dan from the very beginning but the instant you becaome friends with others and started peddling you cdi and acting like a big shot you started attacking myself and being rude to some other I have spoken with as well who were like me interested in helping you put a few bucks in your pocket by promoting your product that I have already proven to myself to be OK but nothint special as for as performance gains go over a stock cdi, just dont know what your problem is here Dan, you're a very direspectful unappreciative fella and Fred has lost countless sales already more than likely because of how you treat people and because people are gonna accosiate y'all together more and more.

Old saying goes everyone likes a little ... but nobody like a smart ...!

I know this will mostlikely be taken down, but Im jus fed up with all the freaking remarks and the comete disrepect towards orher from you huffy, like a little kid that didnt get to take his turn on the slide on a play ground...

Map
 

massdrive

New Member
Oct 3, 2013
454
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Las Vegas
dance1Ya know map although I'm on a quest for speed with my direct drive china girl. Top speed is what it is, top... I've found what is between top and bottom is most interesting to me. Good acceleration and hill climbing ability from low to midrange RPM's. I don't have a tachometer, but I can approach the base of a bridge with a 12 to 15 % grade at 20 mph and then accelerate up the grade. Not fast acceleration, but I can continue to increase speed all the way up until I max out at 30 mph until I crest the top. On level flat pavement sitting upright on my in my seat I top out at 38 mph. In a racing tuck I am approaching the 40 mph barrier, 39.4 mph... sooo close. Basically what top speed means to me is a higher cruising speed. My goal has always been to have a bike that cruises good at 35 mph. This is the only reason I'm starring down 40 mph with a vengeance. I'm sure that if I could find someone I trusted with my bike who weighs a buck 60 or less my bike will top out over 40 mph, but than my bike would be doing it with out me...
 

mapbike

Well-Known Member
Mar 14, 2010
5,502
109
63
Central Area of Texas
dance1Ya know map although I'm on a quest for speed with my direct drive china girl. Top speed is what it is, top... I've found what is between top and bottom is most interesting to me. Good acceleration and hill climbing ability from low to midrange RPM's. I don't have a tachometer, but I can approach the base of a bridge with a 12 to 15 % grade at 20 mph and then accelerate up the grade. Not fast acceleration, but I can continue to increase speed all the way up until I max out at 30 mph until I crest the top. On level flat pavement sitting upright on my in my seat I top out at 38 mph. In a racing tuck I am approaching the 40 mph barrier, 39.4 mph... sooo close. Basically what top speed means to me is a higher cruising speed. My goal has always been to have a bike that cruises good at 35 mph. This is the only reason I'm starring down 40 mph with a vengeance. I'm sure that if I could find someone I trusted with my bike who weighs a buck 60 or less my bike will top out over 40 mph, but than my bike would be doing it with out me...
Heck yeah massdrive, 35-40mph is a nice cruise speed, that is what I have always been shooting for since 2009 when I got into this hobby, I've always found it easy to get a low to maybe 34-35 mph top speed from the engines I've had but the upper 30's & 40 mph cruise speed was the hard one to do comfortably until lately when we have the better balanced engines available like what dax and Neil are selling, with just a little work and the right components I've found that it has been easy for me to get 40mph cruise speeds with these engines and that has been such a nice thing for me since I do fairl long rides when I ride into town and visit my brother which is a 52 mile round trip ride.

I had one bgf engine that would cruise me comfortable at around 36-38mph but. It had a bad crank issue at about 750 miles so I have it covered and waiting to be tore down at some point just to see exactly what went wrong, I think a main bearing seized which caused a seal to be ruined when crank moved over enough for flywheel magnet to eat into case and chew up a main seal.

35 mph is a nice cruise speed in most cases in my opinion and unless im on open road for a long trip somewhere in that area is where I cruise normally myself.

Map
 

massdrive

New Member
Oct 3, 2013
454
3
0
Las Vegas
I just received my new HD Lightning CDI... I'm so excited! I think I'd be more excited if it came with instaltion instructions... maybe some kind mounting bracket too. I'll make a cool mounting bracket. I'm just sayin'... Anyway I expect it will improve performance across the board. I'll install it tomorrow and go for a test ride. My bike has a stock CDI and has always run good, but it's been running very strong since it turned 400 miles. It now has over 700 miles on it and I'm very eager to make this comparison. My bike blubbers at very low end, and falls off at the very top end. It just feels like it has more to give. I'm hoping the new CDI cures or at least helps the problem. What ever happens I'll let you all know.