By Dave Willet. Photos by Mikey Neale. If you’re serious about going fast, then a GET ignition system makes perfect sense. You can really fine tune the power delivery of your bike to make it perfect for you. And if you buy the flagship systems, you can do much more, too. Such as tweak the bike out of the gate, and record lots of data to analyse later.

This wide range of adjustments could seem like a minefield, though, for the average rider who doesn’t have a degree in advanced electronics. But luckily, GET keeps the settings well within a safety zone rather than allowing full access for you to change – and potentially mess up – all your ignition and fuelling options. GET-trained specialists have the knowledge and full access to the ECU to open up the settings, if you really feel the need.

I personally have always rated GET products and the technology they have to offer. Tuning by tweaking electronics via a smartphone App is the next step in the sport in my opinion, and the manufacturers have started to adapt the technology this year. Yamaha have a Wifi.com system from stock on their 2018 450 where you can adjust the your ECU by an App on your phone. No doubt the rest will follow suit.

GET isn’t just a performance bolt-on as it can offer a data acquisition system or in short, a brain that logs information. This is perfect to cross-reference track conditions for next time. I believe it’s the next step in MX – we just need to understand it and embrace the technology as the rest of the motorsport world are much more advanced in ECU and data management. Professional race teams have their finger on the pulse and realise that data is key to giving the riders the best options for the track.

After years of backing major race teams, this information has been processed by GET themselves which is passed on to give you a good ball park setting – better than the standard ECU setting which comes with your machine.

For this month we’ll keep it simple by talking about the benefits of the GPA and the RX1 power unit. The kit I tested at Apex on my 2017 Honda CRF450 was the one GET offer as an entry level ECU, the RX1 Power kit. It comes with a map installed that is excellent and has better performance and acceleration than the stock ECU. It’s really noticeable on the track plus you have the added bonus of changing the settings by Wi-Fi. There are also options for he RX1 Power such as the GET GPA which helps with traction.

The GET RX1 Evo is their flagship package and you can store two maps in that ECU which are fully customisable via the Wi-Fi App by simply connecting it to your smartphone or tablet. You flick between the two maps by a switch mounted to the handlebars.

The GPA – which is GET Power Assistance – is basically adjustable power control which you can adjust in ten steps. On the Honda, the GET system takes control off the mode button switch mounted on the handlebars. It’s the button next to the stop button which allows you to change the level of assistance while riding, according to track and weather conditions.

It’s not traction control as it doesn’t have a rear wheel sensor. It does however help deliver the correct power to the ground by delaying the revs if the system notice a sudden increase in rpm – which would indicate wheelspin. The system delays the spark timing, controlling the power to the rear wheel until traction is restored.

It does work and if used correctly, it will make you go faster but you are the person in control and you have to feel what works for you out on track. Remember you can have the fastest bike out but if it doesn’t deliver the power correctly to the ground, you’re wasting your time. All the factory teams are in search of a good power delivery.

The second thing is the launch control indicator which is the GET box with ten lights on it. In start mode it turns into a rev counter which you can  see go up and down when you rev the bike. The best place for this is on the front mudguard. Once activated by holding down the button for three seconds, you’ll see the LC light come on and its all systems go. To GET the best out of your starts you need to pick up the revs until you get 1 to 10 light up and then look at the gate and drop the clutch. It really does give you perfect drive from the gate. But if you flick the clutch you wont get the best from the launch control as it deactivates the system, as does an upshift. You need to trust the system and let it do its thing – once you do it really does make meters quicker.

The maps and GPA settings are all customisable via the Wi-Fi App or the optional get GPA which is tunable through a laptop and gives you access to the GET performance centre. You can also download proven and tested maps for all bikes this way, too.

That’s the theory but there’s nothing like regarding actual track testing. I found the bike had a sharper response off the throttle and the rear wheel felt more connected to my right hand which I do like. I know some riders think the Honda is a little aggressive this year. But I like it as I’d rather have a stock bike I can easy make more controllable than a slow bike I have to spend loads on to compete against the competition. If you do think it’s too aggressive, you’ll like the GPA as it does decrease the mid-range hit. It’s clever how it adjusts the power output to the rear wheel by giving you the correct amount of bhp needed.

One question which seems to pop up from time to time is that does the GET system cause the bike to cut out. I can only talk from my experiences and I’ve never had it happen to me. I’ve had a misfire which I’d caused by making the bike too lean. It probably would not work correctly if you don’t know what you’re doing but that’s the case with most power performance products. Stick to GET’s recommended settings and you’ll not go wrong.