The M8 is a good motor with a lot of room for performance no worries!

I ordered Thundercone slipons made by Thunderheader gonna give them a try just for sound. If I loose any torque then I'll put on an FP3 tuner.
I'll post results when they get here.

 

To be honest I'm going more for looks then performance with the Stage 1. I like the looks of the 4.5" SC mufflers with the slash tips on the extended bags a lot better then the stock mufflers and I like the Ventilator AC over the Stock housing. May seem silly to some but I'm going for looks versus performance. I'm satisfied with how the M8 runs stock and it seems to run just as strong as my 110" motor on my Fat Boy. My biggest concern is I do not want to effect performance and mileage by gaining some looks. From what I'm gathering here is the canned stage 1 map is just ok but leaving some performance on the table. To take full advantage of the Stage 1 map to have it dyno tuned.

 

thanks
here is a link to how to run a "smart tune with a SEPST"
https://www.hdforums.com.au/Thread/620796/1

going to do that sometime this week.

 

I wandered all over the InnerWeb looking at SEPST stuff, and this is IMHO:
-the canned HD tune is sloppy and rich (smells like gas sometimes per forums, my wife even noticed that)
-the bike runs better with the stage 1 eqpt with the STOCK tune, and then they flash the bike with the SEPST canned tune, and it loses HP/TQ
-when they auto tune it, it "fixes" itself.


here's the rub: the canned HD tune also comes up as a 'STAGE 2' tune: that means it is rich enough for a Cam to be used.
but since we are Stage 1 without a Cam, we need to lean that canned tune back down a notch to work with our setup.
the SEPST is "smart enough" to do that, and make the bike run "pretty dang good"

if you want absolute adjust-ability, HP/TQ, or whatever, you need a PowerVision or a TTS.

my thought process: if an extended warranty is $1500~$2000, just pay the $350 (SEPST plus cable) for the two years of OEM warranty (this makes sense if you consider sumping, tranny transfer, and all the other M8 horror stories)

if your M8 ain't pooped the bed in the 2 year warranty, then either continue to enjoy that performance level, or drop the coin for a PV (if you keep your old PV, you can just add another license for each bike for $200)

as good as our bike runs with the Stage 1 and SEPST canned tune, we are going to Auto Tune it a few times over the next few weeks, call it good, and keep the warranty, and in truth, prolly never worry about it again.

 

I have tuned my other bikes with either the PV or the FP3. On my new 19 RGS I am going with the Harley pro street tuner and the smart tune only because I want to keep my warranty in tact and there are no good tuners within 200 miles of my home. I know I will be leaving some numbers on the table with the Harley tuners but I bet it will run plenty good for me.
thats my thinking. Let’s hope I’m right.

 

I believe you'll be pleased with the results..you'll get more value out of the $300 than just loading the canned map, which doesn't do much..had mine dyno tuned with the SEPST and the improvements over the Stage 1 ecm calibration are significant..and the auto tunes will likely get you close to a good dyno tune without having to spend another $400..not much to lose going that route, minimal expenditure, warranty intact and performance gains..win win