I just rode up to a dealer this morning for a little fresh air. Pull into the dealership and sitting right next to me was a M8 street glide with Rinehart 4.5 mufflers and the Rinehart slim line headers. Ok this is the first M8 with headers that I have seen in person. this little bitty woman comes out (maybe 5'4" tall) and its her ride. my first thought is that no way is this little bitty woman handling that bike. so we strike up a convo. she traded her 05 ultra classic in for the street glide. ok this little chick is serious I am thinking. I could not imagine her on a full dresser but hey if she can handle it. But anyway back to the point of the story.

I tell her that I have been waiting on the owner to come out so I could hear the set up. of course she accomondates me as she is about to leave. Turns it on, I hear it at idle, revs it a bit for me sitting there, she gets on it and takes off down the road so I hear how it sounds under acceleration.

Now the part that some of you will not like.... It sounded EXACTLY the same as my M8 with just slip on's. here is her set up. Rinehart 4.5 muffler, Rinehart slim line header, screaming eagle air and tune. it was not louder or deeper. it sounded 100% the same as my bike. Now some of you with this set up will probably disagree, but I am sure it was exactly the same. Now I have no idea of what kind of power she gained, but for what she paid for the set up, I would be completely unhappy with the sound difference. Just my 2 cents.

 

I have been looking and listening for some aftermarket exhaust setups like you too. I have came to about the same conclusion in that they all pretty much sound the same as my 4 1/2" Street Cannons. I can't tell much difference. Then I got to thinking that all the manufacturers have to comply with current EPA guidelines...so it is to be expected that they are all going to sound pretty much the same even though their individual marketing departments will never point that out. I will say that the only huge change I have found is when I take my end caps off the Street Cannons. The end caps make for a much, much louder exhaust note. Kind of like the megaphone effect we got back in the 60's.

 

I was expecting a difference with the change in header pipe, air and tune. To me there was zero change.

 

Yep I agree 100%. I first had slipons only while waiting for V&H to release their head pipe. First time I fired it up with the header and slipons I was/am sick! I miss my true dual CFR setup bad.

 

I have a similar set up on my Bike.


2017 RKS... Purchased bike Rinehart 4" slip ons were already installed on bike.


When they first fired it up it was up against a wall inside the dealership and sounded pretty damn good for just slip ons.


By the Time I got it home and fired it up outside I realized it was the fact it was inside and backed up towards a wall that gave it that louder sound I was looking for..


Fast Forward.


Looking for more sound I started thinking about different options.


Got a quote from dealer for the following:
Rinehart Slimline Duals.
Stage 2 Power Cam
SE Ventilator A/C
Power Vision Tune
Dyno Tune
3,200 dollars


PCB BIKE WEEK came about 2 weeks later.. Rinehart was running a Special price 10% discount plus free install. so I went with the following


Slimline Duals
SE Ventilator A/C
Power Vision Tune


cost was right at $1,100


After first firing it up.. I felt like there was not much of a change at all upon start up.
Once I got going it sounded a little bit deeper and growled when I Got on it.


about a week into it the honeymoon phase of a new addition was over and I realized the following.


Not near what I was wanting or expecting at idle .. way too quite.. When I get on it it opens up... but I swear I think it almost has a muffled sound to it.


Power.. I notice no real difference... Heat... It helped a little bit.. not much.


for $1,100 dollars.. I honestly would rather have my money back.


Anyone else have this set up that wants to chime in ?


So here is the kicker.. Rinehart and dealer offered to keep my stock exhaust and Air Cleaner boxed up so I could pick up... when I went back to pick it up.. they said they couldn't find it.


Does anyone know what the cost on Stock Black exhaust and Stock Air cleaner cost ? I feel Harley needs to either replace or give me a store credit to make good on it.. since they are the ones who offered to keep my stock parts for pick up.. THey offered to a friend as well who had Screaming Eagle Exhaust.. don't have his either.. so pretty pissed off.


Anyhow Back to the set up.


I will be keeping the A/C and Powervision Tune


Trying to decide which route to take for the following


Stay with Slimline Duals and get different brand slipons


Stay with Rinehart slipons and get different head pipes


or Sell both and try a whole different route.


Unless someone thinks doing a Torque Cam upgrade would be enough to give the bike a better sound. and by that I mean louder and deeper .. At Idle this thing still doesn't sound like a Harley (but maybe that's just me)





As far as right now .. Id rather just have my slip ons back on and 1,100 in my pocket to go towards a different set up.. so time to make a change.


Maybe I should look at Vance and Hines or the FuelMoto set up..


any input is appreciated.

 

 

Thanks for the intel. I'm running V&H high output slip-ons only right now on my Ultra Limited. I like the sound, now that I know what you've told me, I'm done. I'm going to leave her as is for now.

ETA: For me, the V&H HO were too loud for a touring bike without the baffles in, so I installed them. The pipes were drowning out the radio before the baffles. It's just right for me now. It's got a nice deep sound. Not much louder than stock below 2000 rpm, but they open up a bit when you give it gas.

 

I don't mind this at all, saves me money lol. I'm very happy with my jackpot hi rollers slip ons. My deuce has loud pipes and now that I'm older I'm almost embarrassed to fire it up in the neighborhood. The hi rollers do just what I want, they're not obnoxious, but give off a nice rumble when I'm on the throttle

 

These are the kind of posts I look forward to. Real first hand info in person rather than just YouTube videos. I've been in the process of getting a better and louder sound and am on my second set of slip ons.
I wanted to take it a step at a time rather than throw a lot of money right off the bat on a full stage II or III upgrade, thinking I would probably be happy with just slip ons. Well, I was wrong.

My first set was the Khrome Werks 4.5 slip ons, thinking I wanted to get that big deep and loud sound. Well, these ended up being too quiet. Actually, before I even put them on I ordered the baffle inserts thinking without them it might be too loud, but they weren't close to being loud, so they came out after a short time. They got just a touch louder and deeper but not close to what I was looking for.

I then changed to a set of Firebrand slip ons, as I had a set of Firebrand exhaust on my previous Wide Glide and I thought they were the best sounding exhaust, so I of course carried that thinking over to my RG. Well even though they sounded a bit more aggressive and a bit louder, it was still not enough. The only other M8 exhaust I've heard in person was my sales guy's who had the Kerker Stouts on, kept the stock headpipe, but also had a full stage III upgrade done. I thought his setup sounded quite good but wondered how much of it was the stage III.

So, I finally decide to go a stage II with the torque cam thinking this would finally do it, get that sound I was after, and a bit more power. Well, guess what? It definitely sounds better and louder but not by a lot! Each step I've taken has only improved by a notch but I wanted several notches lol.

Ok so finally....what's needed to get it to that next level. I was thinking headpipe change would for sure do it as I'm 1 notch away from getting a really good decent sound. Well, if people are starting to say the headpipe makes little difference if any, than I would rather change the mufflers. Those Kerker Stouts are looking more appealing....

BTW, I do have the Khrome Werks 4.5 slips ons for sale in the classifieds if anyone is interested. Good for those wanting a bit deeper rumble, but not much more than stock

 

Muffler sound diffs don't bother me at all.. I got a stage II but with stock muffs..