Got a friend here that just bought a 2008 Nightster. He liked my new exhaust, and ordered the same. He has the big sucker, V&H Comp. 2-1, and a PC5. Got it tuned, and we just went for a ride. Got off the highway, hit 2 stoplights, and I noticed his front pipe was glowing red at the top. The tune looks solid (better than mine was at first) and it runs great. Could it just be that the pipes are very thin? Or is it something to be REALLY concerned with? He's running between 14.0 to 12.9 AFR all the way across the board. Im baffled, as mine don't glow at all. Any help would be great.

 

Sounds like it is running lean, a lil too lean if its making the pipes glow red.
Does the bike have a WBO2 mounted to verify the AFR under load/cruise conditions?

 

No. The Competition series pipes don't have O2's at all. They are plugged. It seemed like they didn't do it at all till the awesome 50 foot trip between stoplights (Va Beach for ya). The whole exhaust system only weighs 6.5 lbs, so it's VERY light, Im thinkin it's just that the pipes are so thin. It does seem somewhat worrisome though.

 

Here's a pic of the pipes. There ARE O2 holes, but they aren't used.

 

Any suggestions?? I'd like to hear several angles, or from anyone that has experienced this before either in the same or a different application.

 

Love the pipes

 

i'd get it to a dealer with a dyno and have em put the WB in there and do a quick run through the gears....I wouldn't beat on it at all until I got it verified on the dyno or on the road with an actual WBO2 sensor datalogging the run.

Better safe than sorry.
-Jer

 

Very hot gas = very lean conditions. I know this for fact. I have an Exhaust Gas Temperature gauge on my car and my kt100 racing kart for this very reason.

 

Man, I love those pipes!! Hope your bud figures it out. One question. Why is he not using the O2 sensors?

 

Glowing red is way too hot