Can some one explain why the M8 seems to be so much quieter than the V Twin? Keep in mind I live in Calif
I am used to all previous bikes that did not take much to put character to sound of bike. Dynas with V&H long shots or bassanis on bagger these sounded like beasts (loved the sound). A pretty raspy sharp pop to Bassani. Wanted to
Seems like I am struggling with my RKS to get a decent sound. I have upgraded air intake K&N, V&H hi output slips, Stock headers. Just put on slips 3 days ago
I am afraid I made a mistake on these slips. I have a big ride today with the fellas (300 mi) to test it all out

 

Catalytic converters

 

When I was shopping for pipes, I was told to take the Hi Outputs off my list because they wont work well on a stock or stage one bike. Also, smaller dia will make more db. Have you looked at the S&S Grand Nationals?

 

Assume you got tuning adjusted, with SE or aftermarket device..

 

Cant help with the found. But, you should do a tune.

 

It's very hard to get a good sound with the new 4 valve heads and the stock head pipe. I've had three different slip ons and now a fourth (magnaflow) that I'll try next spring. All I can suggest is to watch the videos, and try to decipher which ones have a sound you like the best. There tends to be used slip ons in the for sale section on a fairly regular basis as members like me search for a sound we like.

If you're willing to risk voiding the engine warranty, de-catting the stock head pipe is the way to go (or an aftermarket one). Then you can get a great sound out of the M8, and more power as well

 

Catless header, different cam and whatever slip ons will get you a thousand times better

 

Warranty topic aside, a stage I will be the least expensive and quickest way to fix this (head pipe, slip-ons the crux of the sound part). The cat is stiffling and what the MoCo did with the odd sized outlet pipes is nothing more than a play at proprietary "aftermarket" equipt. When there weren't many options at the M8's initial release, I decided that rather than de-cat the oem pipe and wait for slip-ons I may or may not like after buying, I just waited for a good head pipe for the M8 that would give me matched pipe outlet sizes so I could use any '16 and earlier slip-ons... the market was/is flooded with great products in this range.

For my '17 RGS I did Bassani Down Under true duals paired with Specialty Inc. DNA (CFR knockoff) slip-ons, Arlen Ness Monster Sucker AC intake and a custom tune from Fuel Moto via Power Vision II. It's loud with a bit nasty growl but that was my goal.

 

Have I thought wrong all these years? I thought as the size of the baffle increases the back pressure decreases, sound deepens and decible level increases.

 

I'm real happy with the sound mine is putting out with the mods I made. I would suggest though that you have to remap to get any satisfaction, get a SE tuner to keep the warrentee if you have one left and keep it CA EPA compliant.