I had been running an S&S intake, cored stock mufflers, and Vieds. My Vieds started acting up, so I reinstalled my factory mufflers and its running fine again, i.e., it's no longer a stage one. I want to invest in a tuner but have concerns with the exhaust. I totally understand that a headpipe and slip on mufflers is the best choice from a performance stand point, but I am enjoying the "quite bike" thing, way too much. Can I simply de-cat, (or replace) the headpipe, keep the stock 2013 mufflers, get a tuner, and have a decent performing motorcycle? Or even with an unrestricted head pipe, will the stock mufflers just kill the deal. I ask because I am under the belief that the '09 up "converter" mufflers flow better than the pre cat mufflers. Please, before loosing sight, I want the bike to stay as quiet as possible. I know, crazy, right?

 

A great stage one on a 13 is remove cats. The stock pipes will sound just a bit louder and deeper. Fantastic for touring. The sound is just loud enough to cover up the annoying valve train noise from the motor.
Install a K&N air filter (like from Fuel Moto) and set the Vied as recommended by Nightrider.

Motor will pull stronger, run cooler, sound better, have better throttle response and need less down shifting, especially when riding with passenger or loaded up.

Your bike will sound a bit better, but still be quiet cruising and no need for earplugs. Great package. Cheap and effective.

You can either drill out your cats or buy a decatted header ($125).

 

i would like to know what you mean by your vieds started acting up ? never really heard of anyone having problems with them. i would agree, drill your cat out.

 

First, Thanks for the great responses.
Uncle Paul, Your description is literally what I dreamed my bike would be. That being said..... not so much.

hardheaded. Thank you for allowing me a place to vent. What I hoped people would pick up on. I believe most members simply assume that Vieds are a simple bandaid to the tuninmg issue. THAT IS NOT THE CASE. At least in my circumstance, they worked fine, until they failed. Yes, failed. At least for me, the Vied's were a fine tuning tool until they stopped working!
Let me be even more clear. One day, my awesome running bike, decided to take a SHEEET! Meaning my stage one 2013 motorcycle, started running like CRAP. I had a S&S air cleaner, slip on mufflers, and VIEDS. The bike ran great!!!
Then one day...... It didn't.
That is why I have an issue with Vieds. I can only speak from personal experience, but in my case, I had total and complete Vied....failure. I will NOT use them, again!
I still remember feeling me twist the throttle, and getting awful surging. I was convinced it was something other than vieds. I cleaned the air filter, changed the plugs. Bubkiss. Yanked the Vieds, stock mufflers, bike ran perfect. I was pretty suppised, and equally pissed.

 

Are you saying you had 2 individual parts fail at the same time? Is there an actual test you can perform on them to verify it's them, and not something else on the bike that's crappin out?.,,,

 

No, I am assuming that one of the Vieds failed. Unlikey both did. One day the right pipe simply began to backfire on decel randomly, with weird surging. I can't say which one for sure because of the cat, but probablly the rear. I made multiple adjustments but it just got worse and worse. I installed both stock mufflers and the popping is gone. Still running the S&S intake. I was told you could run either an intake or slip ons with the stock tune, but of course..... not both.

I tried to call Night Rider couple times. No answer. I am completey done with Vieds. I want a proper tuner.
I'm really interested in peoples results with decat head pipes and stock mufflers as a stage one exhaust. Such as uncle paul described.

 

Out of the box thinking...you might have developed an air leak. That would explain the decel popping, surging and performance loss.

Then when you reinstalled the stock mufflers, you most likely tightened them up, and the problem went away.

Easy test would be to simply reinstall the Vied's and see how your bike runs.

Hard to be sure, from your description, that the Vied's were the sole problem.

 

That's good thinking. But honestly, I am ready for a better tuner. I was still so mad at the Vieds when I posted that I actually went back and edited the post for fear hardheaded would think I was ranting at him! Which is of course not the case. I was also hoping some one might have experience with the S&S tuner. At $199, its pretty reasonable, and I trust S&S enough to say I have never heard of them releasing anything short of top shelf stuff.