Cat/No-cat & baffles dilemma
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Road Warrior
Joined: Apr 2010
Posts: 1,739
Likes: 10
From: Suffolk, England
Cat/No-cat & baffles dilemma
I read a ton of stuff about the supposed advantages of de-catting a late-model Harley. Some claimed 5HP gain on the dyno, some said zero gain, most agreed that it reduces the crispy-fried right leg issue.
In the end I found some cheap headers off an '08 model for my Fat Bob that have no cat in them and decided to give them a go. I've tried them now on a day's run and got mixed results.
The heat from the bike is definitely less around town. Before, my right leg would gradually start to cook and that is gone now. So that's a plus. The exhaust also weighs less, but if I was really bothered about a couple of pounds then I'd cut back on Oreos.
However, I'm very particular about the sound level from the bike. I like something louder than stock but not as loud as Short Shots. A nice deep rumble is what I want. Trouble is, without the cat the exhaust is a lot louder. Too loud for my tastes. Luckily I have Remus slip-ons, which have inter-changeable baffles and I put the quieter ones in to restore the noise level I like.
Now I'm thinking that I have cat-less pipes and so maybe gained an odd HP but at the cost of putting some restrictive baffles in that might have lost me more than that.
I'm maybe just over-thinking this and need to stop fiddling about and just ride the blooding thing and be grateful my right leg isn't going to barbecue this summer
.
In the end I found some cheap headers off an '08 model for my Fat Bob that have no cat in them and decided to give them a go. I've tried them now on a day's run and got mixed results.
The heat from the bike is definitely less around town. Before, my right leg would gradually start to cook and that is gone now. So that's a plus. The exhaust also weighs less, but if I was really bothered about a couple of pounds then I'd cut back on Oreos.
However, I'm very particular about the sound level from the bike. I like something louder than stock but not as loud as Short Shots. A nice deep rumble is what I want. Trouble is, without the cat the exhaust is a lot louder. Too loud for my tastes. Luckily I have Remus slip-ons, which have inter-changeable baffles and I put the quieter ones in to restore the noise level I like.
Now I'm thinking that I have cat-less pipes and so maybe gained an odd HP but at the cost of putting some restrictive baffles in that might have lost me more than that.
I'm maybe just over-thinking this and need to stop fiddling about and just ride the blooding thing and be grateful my right leg isn't going to barbecue this summer
.
Road Master
Joined: Nov 2010
Posts: 1,115
Likes: 69
From: Bay Area, NorCal
I recently went the same direction as you - had a cat-less header with Rush 175 slip-ons for over a year and were starting to get a bit loud for me, so this week I swapped out the 1-3/4 baffles for the 1-1/2 baffles. Sound level is noticeably lower, but still retains a little of the Harley "trademark" rumble. Top-end performance probably restricted a little, but bottom-end power still very decent. This coming winter hope to do a cam install which should really wake the motor up, but for now I'm good.
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bluevanvan
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