Everyone I have talked to says tha the 49 state legal mods aren't really worth it. I am thinking about doing the 49 state legal SE upgrade, with the SE pipes, AC and download for the Softail. I am really not displeased with the performance stock, and the sound is ok, but I have heard that the SEs are a little better. I do not want to have to go to an aftermarket tuner or a sert right away. Is this mod worth it, does it haelp cool the bike, and how is the gas mileage?

 

It will help the lower the heat that you feel and it will increase your gas milage a little. The big thing is that you lower the amount of heat that you feel

 

Yes a stage 1 is a must and you can go many ways and the best is thunder max if you have the funds.

 

Stretchman
If U do a stage 1 Air dosn't matter what pipes U run you will need a ECU uplaod of some description.
The Bike runs very lean out of the box and pushing more air through will make it leaner again.
Running it lean is a cause for heat and also for wearing your engine out quicker.
If you install a SERT or PCIII or like me a Thundermax with Autotune your bike will run a lot better probally slightly more cooler as more fuel go through to cool down and your fuel consumption will decrease as U are using more fuel and if like me & you enjoy the throttle responce U now have U use more fuel again from opening the taps more often.

But pipes/stage 1/ECU change = a much better bike to ride in general. the SE pipes are ok but quite but will still be an improvment over the standard chockers.

Good luck let us know what U choose and what difference U notice.

 

nice ride stretchman..big city thunder monster bafflesw/se pipes sound good imho...

 

If you don't want to do a tuner right now you might just consider adding the XiED from nightrider.com. They will fix you a/f mixture and cool the bike considerably. $100 will make the bike run and respond the way Harley would have without smog laws. They eliminate the need for the Stage I download so you will be money ahead.

 

Are there warranty implications? If I do the stage one mod for the 08 Softail from Harley, are there warranty implications with that? Quiet, I like. Silent grey fellow, yes indeed. But I know it'll run a bit better than it does now.

I have always done the stage one kits. The bikes I have had before, the stock pipes, they sucked. The SEs were a major improvement. This year, the stock pipes are not so bad, and it runs pretty good. So I am not surprised that the stage one doesn't do as much. But if it runs like the other stage one bikes I had before did, I won't be complaining.

 

It depends on the dealer. If you go with what Harley says then even the SERT will not be covered. The deciding factor was me was either the heat and that would hurt the engine or enjoy the ride.

 

The new pro performance pipes are not that loud,,,,If you're not a big fan of loud, then you should do just fine with them.

If you change your mind, you can change the baffles..

 

According to Harley, we hate loud. Every message I have been getting from the local dealer is discouraging the use of loud pipes. Harley is saying that basically,we should think whether or not our sport is in danger. As it stands right now, EPA is on them like crazy. Now, some of the best heads in the business have been getting together to build the best systems for the bike. The closest anyone has seen is about 2-3 db off what the EPA considers to be stellar. If we could get that back from them, we'd probably be ok.

I'd like to think that the Thundermax and/or it's flavors and variants is actually going to be the wave of the future. I could be happy with that and a stage one type tune. Loud isn't all it's cracked up to be, but I can't believe that a 2-1 system wouldn't be better than the stock/SE offering that Harley has now. The other thing to consider, and we have seen it before, is people coming here and posting to ask where they can get a stock system to install on their bikes to beat an inspection. Tuned correctly, and I don't believe that it couldn't get through, but Harley doesn't make that 2-1 pipe, yet, even though they used to. That would be the best bang for the buck.

You know, most of the aftermarket stuff has been available for years now. For some reason, I was never really tempted to go beyond Harley's Stage one kit. Sure, regs have tightened, and there's been some changes, but a 96 CI motor tuned properly is more than enough for the average rider. Plus, you can have quality sound without volume. And, save yourself a lot of grief if they ever decide to require inspections in order to get tags. They did it before, and man, they got a lot of people.