No Baffles?
Haha, I like Niczumbo's reply. Fortunately the cops here are pretty cool with those on bikes, I've even been 9 months late on registration before, and a bike cop pulled up next to me, we chatted for a couple minutes and he told me to take care of it and to go on my way.
I'm also lucky about my neighborhood. Half the neighborhood has bikes and we all kind of congregrate to whomever's house has the current project so they don't mind, they understand. I don't doubt the performance loss, I do believe it, I just can't tell.
Talked to one of the local shops and he suggested just getting a tuner, and while i'm at it a high flow air cleaner and just tune it. I think I'm gonna go that route. Any suggestions on TUNERS??
I'm also lucky about my neighborhood. Half the neighborhood has bikes and we all kind of congregrate to whomever's house has the current project so they don't mind, they understand. I don't doubt the performance loss, I do believe it, I just can't tell.
Talked to one of the local shops and he suggested just getting a tuner, and while i'm at it a high flow air cleaner and just tune it. I think I'm gonna go that route. Any suggestions on TUNERS??
I'm bumping this thread cause I'm still wondering what kind of MPG loss people are referring to. I'm installing my short shots as I type this, still gonna see how I like it with the baffles seeing since I've been running without baffles for a couple months now. I'm going to install my fuel pack as soon as I find out if the ECM has a stg 1 tune on it or not (the salesman told me it did, and salesman never lie, RIGHT?).
So, BLUF... what is the MPG loss. Thanks!
So, BLUF... what is the MPG loss. Thanks!
Seasoned HDF Member
Joined: Mar 2010
Posts: 38,293
Likes: 6,322
From: Honah Lee
Glad you do not living in my neighborhood. I love all bikes and all people but if you did, I would catch you not looking and tie a rope to it and drag it off to someone who would treat the girl better.
Seasoned HDF Member
Joined: Aug 2010
Posts: 5,173
Likes: 177
From: East Coast
So I installed the apes on my bike and did a couple of other minor tweaks and changes. While I was at it, I removed the Vance&Hines slip ons that came with the bike (they look like slip ons anyway) and just left it the way it was and removedd the passenger mount and exhaust mount, freeing up the back wheel.
It looks BA (imo). But my question is... Is no Baffles bad? As in while it damage anything?
Thanks ya'll!
It looks BA (imo). But my question is... Is no Baffles bad? As in while it damage anything?
Thanks ya'll!
Yes. Torque figures and hearing...Both quickly, significantly, and permanently.
Road Warrior
Joined: Jun 2010
Posts: 1,337
Likes: 4
From: Sunny South Florida
The reality is a bike that is fattened up to compensate for the "wrong" pipes will lose a significant amount of economy. I don't have open pipes but to give you an idea, I started with a stock FLSTCI that was getting about 47 MPG on the highway, changed to a T-Max tuner and added a FatCat pipe and it dropped to about 40MPG. I read the computer output to see it was still a bit too lean for my liking and started looking at what the best FA ratio would be for these motors and made those adjustments. My MPG dropped like a rock. I was getting 30-32MPG. I admit I was pushing the envelope with a large lean toward safe AF instead of proper AF for my type of riding. Since then I have found the sweet spot for performance and economy but still get around 40MPG so there was still a drop.
I guess my only point is, if you get it wrong, it can be quite bad, if you compensate too much for economy it won't perform any better than when it was wrong. Jamie is good at getting it close but in my opinion, a shop in Minn, will never get a tune perfect for a bike in TX. Have a local shop tune it on a dyno and be done with it once you get your tuner. Talk to the shops first and find out what they are comfortable tuning, they don't all know ever tuner.
I guess my only point is, if you get it wrong, it can be quite bad, if you compensate too much for economy it won't perform any better than when it was wrong. Jamie is good at getting it close but in my opinion, a shop in Minn, will never get a tune perfect for a bike in TX. Have a local shop tune it on a dyno and be done with it once you get your tuner. Talk to the shops first and find out what they are comfortable tuning, they don't all know ever tuner.
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Road Warrior
Joined: Jun 2010
Posts: 1,337
Likes: 4
From: Sunny South Florida
You won't hurt anything in the motor short of the possibility of burning valves and blueing pipes over long term lean conditions. Hearing is another thing, I use earplugs anyway so it would not be an issue.
Club Member
Joined: May 2007
Posts: 145,895
Likes: 821
From: 40 miles Northeast of Indy..
All Ur doing is making a lot of NOISE.
Ur performance will drop and without re-mapping Ur probably running even more lean than stock without baffles.
Just get a set of pipes and U'll be doing Ur=self and Ur bike a BIG favor..
U didn't say if U have changed Ur A/C, if so it will be even worse with out the baffles.
Ur performance will drop and without re-mapping Ur probably running even more lean than stock without baffles.
Just get a set of pipes and U'll be doing Ur=self and Ur bike a BIG favor..
U didn't say if U have changed Ur A/C, if so it will be even worse with out the baffles.
Last edited by oct1949; Aug 27, 2011 at 11:43 AM.