i was taking unnecessary parts off my bike and i got to the exhaust and decided to take off the mufflers... i had rinehart slipons installed.. my question is if I run my bike without mufflers would it cause a loss in performance or even engine damage? i talked to the local harley and they said it could... but then how are so many motorcycles running without mufflers.... and not to worry about the epa/tree hugger stuff... i live in arizona!!! thanks people!!!! the pipe is about a foot and a half

 

I have straight drags on mine but heard it's not great but is done and you could loose power.

 

If they rode a bike with mufflers no one would look at them!

 

No mufflers means no back pressure,,Ok for modified engines...
Stage one Is not Modified It just breathes better
Stock engines sound so much faster most people think they are.

Scavenging Is ruined and the back pressure wave Is gone,,
not good for performance


http://www.harley-performance.com/harley-exhaust.html

 

You'll lose some midrange power, and run leaner than you already are.

 

Short answer: probably.

Longer answer: As has been said, you will run lean and lose performance. Will you run lean enough to damage the engine? Maybe. It depends on how you ride, where you ride, how long you ride, etc. There are too many variables to say that you will 100% damage your engine. However, if the odds are over 50% (they are, by a lot), then isn't the risk too high? I intend to keep my Sportster for years, so I won't run without a muffler (besides, my Rush slip-ons are louder than open headers, and don't weigh all that much). Will you lose enough performance to bother you? I don't know, what's your tolerance, what do you expect from the bike, etc.? Only you can determine that. So, take them off, ride for a while, and decide for yourself.

 

And you will be one more reason for the EPA to clamp down harder
on the rest of us with It's 88 decible noise Limit.

Loud pipes save live's,,,Bullshit
Loud pipes says, "Look at me I'm SOooo Badazz",,,
A deep harley sound Is cool,,,loud as hell straight pipes are Inconsiderate of others.

Thats poser to me XD

 

Absolutely!

I like loud(er) pipes - a LOT. Obviously, I have Rush slip-ons. However, there comes a point where it is too much, and most of us just can't hear it, because we have so much wind noise, and we become accustomed to the exhaust noise (it's actually a frequency-specific deafness) over time, so that we think it isn't as loud as it is. Other people, on the other hand, do not have that issue, so our noise does nothing for us, but irritates them.

 

"Generally" speaking - no mufflers is good for high performance, high RPM bursts of power in a correctly tuned engine. If you ever hung out around dragsters, this is evident. They have the "Harley" idle (rough uneven sounding) and smooth out when given the gas. A set of mufflers with some backpressure would actually give you better performance at the lower power output (bottom end). As with any mod to the intake/exhaust systems, the bike should be tuned for the setup. The more extreme the intake/output the more difficult it would be to set up thru the entire power band.