Ok so new to Harley, just recently bought my first Harley bike a 2013 Fat bob, I love the bike, and I am looking to add my own flavor to it. So I am thinking of a stage 1 ac, and staggered dual slip-ons. Just want a little better sound and more torque throw-out in my lower gears. I was also thinking of a street tuner but is it just better to save that money and get better pipes and get dyno. I also want better gas mileage. I have other cosmetic things in mind but need advice on the big ticket items. Thank in advance.

 

Welcome to the forum... I have an 09 FXDF, when I bought it, it was my first Harley. I'm not sure if others here will agree, but...

When I got my bike I was excited and made some immediate changes... SE Heavy Breather, Power Commander V, and V&H Big Radius 2:2... They gave me a 20% discount on new parts when I bought my bike. Anyway, since then I have bought and removed a lot of parts, including the big radius exhaust! Even with the discount I believe I paid close to $600. Another example is saddlebags, I bought rigid locking saddlebags, and barebacks, because I heard that I needed them, put them on my bike and decided they should stay in the garage... Another $700 wasted.

I spent a lot of time on here listening to others opinions, and made a lot of plans to do a lot of things to the bike, however, I realized that the choices were so varied and opinions so strong, that I needed some time to form my own opinion. So I created my own outline of how to make mods on my bike that were valuable to me. So instead of taking a bike I know nothing about and changing it in ways that cost thousands of dollars, before I can even understand the changes, I slowed way down and started like this...

I decided on the color theme of the bike... This helps me make decisions about decorative pieces to add. For example, foot pegs, etc. Even here, I made decisions to purchase new parts, and replaced them... I bought harley diamond black pegs because they looked so cool, but ended up replacing them with traps, because they look cool AND they hold my feet in place. So even when making a simple decision about foot pegs, you have to be careful. Anyway, back to the outline...

So the first step as I said was to jump right into stage 1 with exhaust, intake and ecm. Probably not the best decision because I didn't really ride the bike before I bought the parts. I relied on appearance and opinion to make the purchases. I did well except for my exhaust.

Then the next step after riding the bike for a season was to improve the handling of the bike. Fat Bob's don't handle poorly in terms of a Harley, but some slight improvements to the bikes handling won't break the bank, and might point you in a different direction as you add more power and torque to your bike. I put front and back stabilizers on the motor mount... I went with Tru Track because it was the company on the forums at the time, and they were really cool people to deal with. I don't have an opinion on Sputhe vx Tru Trak because I only have tried the Tru Track... In other words I don't have an opinion you can trust! In fact anybody who expresses an opinion without having switched from one to the other is full of it! I will say the Tru Track improved my handling somewhat, but not enough for me. So I added Progressive 430 shocks on the rear, and Progressive Springs on the front, and Ricor intiminators... I added the intiminators first, didn't notice a dramatic change, so I added the springs. I put 12.5" on the back (stock size) and used stock size on the front as well... I didn't lower the bike because I wanted to see what I had done... After riding the bike like this a while, I love my bikes suspension and I didn't want to lower it anymore. But I wanted to get rid of those Stock Dunlop tires and bought a pair of Pirelli Night Dragons... So, for less than a thousand dollars, I ended up with a bike that handles extremely well and I am pumped. However, I'm not really sure it has enough power... certainly not in the higher gears and 6th gear straight up sucks.

I rode the bike like that for a season like that and read on the forums about changing the Transmission pulley and was intrigued... If I went off half cocked, I wouldn't have learned from what I did. So I rode the bike and thought about what the changes would do before I did anything else. I found these two sites very helpful.

www.nightrider.com/biketech/calc_gearratios.htm -Is a gear calculator... You will need a service manual and parts manual by the way.

http://www.motorcycleanchor.com/moto...ocketmath.html -is an explanation of understanding the math behind the numbers.

What i discovered was that for me, the 30T up front, and the 68T rear sprocket were right... I just finished with this mod, and I like it, but now it's obvious I need more power. Shout out to Alan for his write up and photos on this... It was so easy I couldn't believe it... (electric impact wrench $199 home depot)

As I said, I have been thinking about this stuff for years now, and made the decision that I wanted to make sure the changes to the bike were tangible... that I would notice the money I just put into my bike.

Every step I have been taking and riding after to see the effect has been very positive. I am building the bike that I love to have under me.

I just ordered a fueling cam plate and oil pump kit... and from Fuelmoto, I ordered the Andrews 555 cam kit, complete with lifters, etc. The reasoning behind the 555 is that they are bolt in, and I will definitely see improvement over the stock cams.... I am hoping to put these parts on the bike in two weeks, so that I will have time to ride and see how I like the cams, etc.

That way I will know if I need to buy bigger jugs and heads.... I'm not sure though, this next step may be enough for me.

If I had done what I originally thought I should do the first three months after I bought the bike, I would have a totally different bike.

I'm just sayin'.

Good luck with your decisions... Also, there are a number of contributors on this site that have some very consistent and steady advice... Look for them on the forums and read what they have to say... Alan summmers, rounder, sc longhair, mud... lot's of dudes with really good taste... oh yeah, and that powder pro dude... Take your time and do it for you!

 

David's write up here should be required reading when a newbie signs up for this forum. If I can add one thing. Taking your time on mods keeps the interest level high as the years roll by. As much time as I spend riding the bike I spend more time walking through the garage and stopping to admire it parked. I get a kick out of seeing my "new" bike sitting there with each new piece of bling and start imagining what will be next.

 

Thanks for the advice, I am not new to bikes just Harley's, your advice was sound but I am really trying to keep it simple, a little favor while improving sound and mpg's.

 

David, nice build plan but don't forget new Timken cam bearings. They are a requirement for new cams. I just did a similar upgrade but went with the Dave Mackie 575L cams.
Bob

 

David's advice was long but very true. True in the sense, that immediately going in one direction may not be the best move, just ride and enjoy.

Trying to find the "right" exhaust note is personal. It is what you want. You might, I said might, want to hang around a few bike nights, the dealership on a weekend and attend a bike show or two. Find riders with similar set ups, ask them questions, hear the exhaust note. Then decide what you want. Youtube did me no good...as the sound quality of most is poor at best.

If you intend on changing the exhaust and air filter system, the first thing I suggest is a fuel management system..

Good luck...welcome to the forum

 

hi,

good advice Dutch, i havent got one yet, but instead of buying the xieds I reckon i should of gone straight into a powervision or similar first up

as you can thn do pretty much anything, pipes, air intake, cams, big bore etc

thanks
mirrmu

 

Thanks for all the advice, I agree that taking your time and doing your homework will give you a better idea of what you want vs what you think you want. So with that in mind let me ask this question. Dyno vs power commander vs street tuner?

 

Your going to get a multitude of opinnions on which of these are best. But here is the best answer:

If your going to DIY, then pick one that gives good support. Because none will be 100% right out of the box.

If you don't want to fool with the tuning, and plan on paying to have it done. Then pick who will do the work. Then just simply go with what the recommend.

 

I have a power commander, I like it. When I am ready I will dyno the system to achieve the optimum performance out of my power commander. A ThunderMax system will cost you more, but they are well spoken about on here from various users. I had to stay in my budget. FuelMoto is a sponsor here and has, from what I read great service and is basically plug and play.

I had my local indy install my system, which took only 30 minutes. I also bought the system from them too. I had a few questions and the mechanic came out and spend the time educating me on the benefits of installing a dynojet power commander. He didn't give me the scare tactic, but explained the whole concept and again the benefits of installing one.

Could I install this myself, sure...maybe. I was not confident I really could and was honestly a bit confused about the downloads, etc. Also something the mechanic explained to me after he installed it. He took the time tell me how I could download the current map. So that if I decided to change the current map, I would be able to re-install the current map. I have a better understanding of installing a tunable fuel management system....but not the best understanding.....I just have something that works for me, both performance and financially.