I just bought a used '06 ZX14 and have made many new friends. I have heard them talk about TREs (timing retard eliminator). What is the real deal with them and how do they affect the bike?

This was all the rage last year. Don't hear much about it anymore. There was a TRE 06 and a TRE 08. I'm sure someone around here will be able to tell you what each one does.

I met a Busa rider today. I asked if he had the air cleaner deal (our sub speeder upper tre) and the GPS (gear position sensor) mod (tre)?

He said when he would run up to 180 plus, he could see the tach run slow. But when he added the tre, the tach moved faster. So basically, these two units short the computer, set a code on the dash and sort of limp the bike to run safe.

There are two hacks you can do to the GPS. One will lock the shift window and only read (6). The other hack will set the N or neutral light on and disable the safety start mode. In other words, you hit the starter button in gear, clutch lever out, she is going to crank forward if you have the bike in gear.

So, the one hack to the wire will (6) will cause the ignition to electronically move sooner. Key word is, "sooner." Therefore, you hack the other wire, 'N' will cause the subthrottle valves to move faster or sooner. This is equivalent to the Busa air cleaner flapper opening quicker/faster/sooner.

You feel a performance boost, but it more is a fuel induced limp that runs a tad rich, gives poor fuel mileage because of the safety feature of the limp. I have mine, "on the fly" where I can turn mine off. And when this happens, you can tell, seat of the pants, yes, it give a bump, but the overall performance reverts back to the stock, non-limp, non-hacked mode.

Now, what the factory says is that you could burn out the muffler being the fuel can heat up the pipe more than normal and I have found that to be true. You can see the change in the color of the big can or muffler from the stainless chrome to a yellow haze. Plus, the water temp can spike a bar at the water temp gauge and I too, have found this to be true.