I am fairly new to the Harley brotherhood.....been on bikes most of my life though.....I purchased an '01 Wide Glide back in June and it came with V&H Straightshots (staggered) without baffles. I had about enough of the the popping and backfiring after I let off the throttle and the unclean sound between gears. I ordered some baffles yesterday through a local cycle shop. My question is how hard is it to do a self install of the baffles? I am hoping that he ordered the quiet baffles for me...if not, I will worry about that later....I thank you in advance for your advice and/or help. By the way, I will NEVER go back to a non-Harley bike! I am hooked!

Wayne

Oklahoma, USA

 

Welcome to the forum! (One thing you gotta do is post a pic or 2 of your bike.) There's all kinds of baffles he could have ordered, but if you're getting the V&H either kind will be loud. The quiet baffles are just a few decibels less than the stock ones, and either one should help your decel pop. Good aftermarket baffles are made by Rush and Big City Thunder, among others.

 

Install isn't too bad. Check your heat shields first; the older V&H heat shields have a cut out for accessing the bolt that holds the baffle in. If yours doesn't then the heat shields will have be removed or loosened enough to get at the bolt hole.

The baffles themselves come with tape around the fiberglass material. I put another ring of tape around the leading edge of the fiberglass to help it slide in without getting pinched too much. I also sprayed some WD40 in the pipe to lube it up a bit. Try to keep your bolt holes aligned as best you can as your sliding the baffle in.

My baffles fit in pretty tightly, but not so much that I couldn't make fine adjustments to line to bolt hole up. A little bit o' high temp Locktite and your all set.

I agree that the overall sound level doesn't change much with the "quiet" baffles, but the tone and quality of the sound from my Big Shots is much better with them in there. Good luck and ride safe.