For my first few Harleys it was all about the sound. Got educated by a well known tuner in 2009. On my 2209 CVO RG I had a fullsac heads pipe and V&H Hi-Outputs, in my mind best sounding muffler at the time, very deep. He tuned my bike and we looked at torque curve. I rode my bike 15 miles. He had my come back, removed the hi-outputs and put on his set of CVO cans with a 2" fullsac core. Much better looking torque curve especially where I ride at 2000 to 3000 rpm. Rode it and the difference was noticeable. I do two approximately 5K mile trips a year on a bike.
Since then Its always been performance first sound second. I really like Fullsac head pipes and cores, I run 2.25. They sound good at low RPM. Can listen to stereo at 80mph, which is right at RPM. When I crack the throttle above 3K they sound great, I'm sure the 12 to 1 compression and cam helps that. I'm 57, my wife a bit older is more about sound of the pipe.
My 03 Fatboy, my first new Harley, Has V&H big shot longs on it with a cam, 95" cylinders and more compression. That thing is very loud. Sounds great. 200 miles is about the limit I can take the noise, if that.
Friend has a built M8 bike like mine, with D&D fatcat. One of the very best performing pipes for a M8. Wow is it loud, It does sound great. No way would I ride it to the rocky mountains where I try to ride once a year. My Fullsac exhaust gives up nothing the to Fatcat except volume. Mine is mellow below 3K rpm, but I give up no torque or HP to the Fatcat, my torque actually comes on a bit earlier. My bike is great for 800 mile days, his not so much. His does sound better at idle and sounds like it would blow my doors off, but it won't.
are you talking about the D&D Billetcat instead of the Fatcat. The Fatcat is for the twin cams I believe.
I'm looking for a performance improvement much more than a sound improvement. I ride solo a lot, but I really want the extra low end torque for when I'm two up with luggage, and for the grin factor when I'm solo. I'm in my mid-sixties but I still like to hot-rod a bit when I'm solo.
I gave a pair of Jones Full Boar slip ons a try because the price was right and they were made right in the good ole USA. So far I'm very happy with them. They have a nice sound and a noticeable seat of pants power increase, but they're not so loud that I can't hear my tunes on the highway. They were under $300 brand new and seem to be well made.
I've found that sometimes a start up brand will sell you a product that's just as good as a brand name but without the premium name recognition price. I also always like to favor made in the USA whenever possible, especially on a start up company. The start up products do require a "leap of faith" because they don't have a lot of reviews, but they also don't have the Cadillac price tags.
Insofar as keeping the stock header on the shelf goes; maybe I'm being paranoid, but my concern is that if they ever start doing emissions tests on bikes it's probably a good idea to hold onto it so I could put it back on if it's needed. With the PV it's easy enough to have a leaner tune saved that could be loaded in along with the CAT pipe to pass a "Green" test if it's ever required.
04-26-2020, 02:01 PM
