I bought my 91 Heritage about a year ago and have ridden it 6,000 miles this year. It's been a lot of fun. I also did the base gaskets and replaced the rear secondary drive pulley. It's running very good all things considered. That being that when I bought it the PO had added a cam, S&S Super E, Vance and Hines big shots, SE ignition, etc.. It runs fine but, hates parade speeds, like PGR missions etc..

The issue is that the V&H big shots are too loud. On some PGR missions I have had to leave the house as 4am (such as the welcome home Vietnam vets earlier this year). I don't want to wake up the whole neighborhood.

What is a good set of pipes that will allow me to keep the current carb/air cleaner and make a little less noise? In my mind almost anything would make less noise than these pipes. My wife's 1200 sportster has straight out drag pipes that don't make as much noise as the big shots.

I like the quality of the Vance and Hines pipes. I'm really not interested in some second rate pipes that will blue the head pipes in fifteen minutes. I want to keep some rumble but, leave the dead sleeping.

 

Not a fan of V&H's sound myself but they make a quiet baffle that tones them down some and improves the low end torque a little. It's hard to recomend a set of pipes based on noise, what you like is not what I do and I've found that it's hard to get two of these motors to sound the same. This is my second EVO, my neighbor now has my first and I loved it's sound so I got the exact same pipes for the 2nd one. Wrong..second one has a cam and head work, sounds good but not the same as my first one.

The quality of the pipes is not the only thing that determines blueing, mixture and heat are the main culprits. Going back to my example above, my first bike's pipes blued considerably. the exact same pipes on my 2nd EVO have not blued at all, the front one turned just a tad brownish up near the head.

I'm a fan of CycleShack's M -(muffler)- series pipes, they sound good, make good power and seem to hold up fine, at a great price..check ebay...

BTW: you are not the only one at a PGR ride that has loud pipes and certainly not the only V&H owner there...but I know what you mean, I always feel mine is making the most noise at such a solemn time..

Ds

 

this may be the answer but you may have to rejet the carb:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vance-Hines-...23d401&vxp=mtr

 

Those baffles look perfect. I don't know if the S&S Super E can be toned down but just so much. But, I'll look into it.

I love the way my bike sounds 99% of the time. It's just those early mornings when I have to get out before the sun. I was parked next to a guy on an ultra the other day and when I hit the starter his eyes got big and he said "Holy cow that motorcycle is loud". It has a real nice deep sound though. At idle it cams over nice and slow. It sounds awesome but, most of my neighbors have a baby in the house so..

 

The 50 state SE pipes might be a good choice. Just saying. I ride stock exhaust on my FXDB, and have noticed that the sound has gotten deeper the more I ride them. Doesn't sound like drag pipes, but has a nice deep feel with a real mild top end sound.

At first they sounded like a car muffler, but have started to sound better and better.
What you want is a pipe that has good tight packing that will not blow out. Cycle Shacks sound awesome when new, but the holes in the baffles allow the packing to blow out, and that will make the pipes louder and louder.
Maybe look into rush 1.5" baffles slip-ons.

Another option would be the American Custom http://www.americancustom.com/
This allows you to alter your sounds, and you can listen on the sight to what the have to offer.

 

Ride them long enough, and any pipes will turn blue. Mine are pretty blued now, but I remind myself that they're 16 years old and have 150,000 miles on them. They're a testimonial and a tribute to all the good miles and smiles the bike has given me.

Embrace the blue!

 

https://www.hdforums.com/forum/multi...t-baffels.html