How about some info on a hypercharger. Does it add more air than a SE Stage I A/C? What other advantages are there? Any draw backs?

 

Based on published reports, it's mostly show and little go.
In terms of performance there are many better choices and the Hyperchargers linkage is just a source of potential problems.

While it looks like it's a ram air scoop (forced air into the carb/EFI), an opening in the bottom of the unit prevents any ram air function.

 

I have the SE Stage 1 A/C now, and I was thinking of buying a Pro-R Hypercharger, but decided to stay with the SE A/C.

Here's why: I wrote an email to Kuryakyn asking for some info about the Hyperchargers, and this is the reply that I got back........

Bill,
Jim has asked me to explain the flow on our air cleaners. I do not actually like to give out flow data on our air cleaners for reasons I will now tell you. I instead like to use the horsepower potential of the air cleaners, as this is a much more important figure to know.

I have done extensive scientific testing on the air cleaners with
both the proper type fixture with an expansion area built into it and at high pressure differentials as compared to a lot of the testing I have seen. We also did a considerable amount of dyno testing. Because there is no standard for AC testing, the numbers we have mean nothing when you try to use the data to compare to anyone else's data.

It creates a big problem with the public not understanding that most of the CFM figures for air cleaners out there were all done with different testing procedures at different test pressures. I ran into this first hand on a discussion board I am on. There was a thread on how much do different air cleaners flow and how much flow do you need for a certain cubic inch engine.

It turned into a fiasco where nobody could agree with each other
on anything. People were throwing out all kinds of flow numbers and formulas for figuring how much flow or area you need in the element. It went on forever and I think people knew less when they were done than when they started. This is why I won't go there and get rapped around that axle. There is no winning in the flow number game. For this reason this data is for our own knowledge and we do not publish it.

I prefer to tell you what we have found to be the upper horsepower potentials for each of our air cleaners. This is what is really important to the end user. All of our AC's flow a great deal more air than a stock AC, and will enhance a stock bikes performance, but the difference really comes out when you start having higher HP engine builds.

Just so you know, the Hypercharger is not meant to force high
pressure air into the intake tract. They are vented on the bottom to prevent this because it can cause carburetion problems. A lot of people do not understand this either.

The original Hypercharger is good to about 90 HP before it starts to cost you a percentage of your HP. An example is our 95 Wide Glide with a Wild Things hop-up makes 120 HP with our High Five AC installed. With the original Hypercharger installed it makes about 106HP. Even though the bike made 106 HP with the Hypercharger, it lost power, so we do not say it is a 106 HP AC.

We did the same type of testing on a 130 HP engine. The stock Hyper made 114 on this bike. With the Stinger upgrade the bike again made 130 HP. We call this new upgrade the Stinger. It adds an end element and more opening to the Hyper. This makes the Hypercharger able to support up to the tested 130 HP on the previous mentioned test.

It may go beyond that, but that is the highest we have tested it at so far. On a 90 HP engine, the original Hypercharger will allow you to make 90 HP, so this is what we rate it at.

The original Twin Velocity is good to about 100 HP. The new Twin Velocity PLUS flows enough air for around 120 HP.

The Pro Hypercharger is good for 110 HP.

The new Pro "R" Hypercharger is a new advanced design and flows an extreme amount of air. We have not found the upper limits of this air cleaner yet. The highest power bike we have had to test on in the shop was over 140/140 for HP and TQ. I estimate this air cleaner to be able to feed an engine in the 150's for HP. Maybe higher.

The new High Five is in the same league as the Pro "R". It will
supply enough air for just about any street build you can come up with. The new Skull AC is very close behind these two AC's in performance potential.

Both the High Five and the Pro "R" are some of the highest flowing AC's I have tested, and I have tested most all of the popular high flow aftermarket AC's. Part of this not only has to do with the end breathing element technology but also in the design of the backing plate. It has an insert that goes over the bolts after you install it. There are then no stand-offs or bolts to cause turbulence at the entry. The backing plate leads the air from a flat surface 90 degrees to the throat to a parabolic curve radius into the throat of the carb or throttle body. This is the best shape you can have for the entry to an orifice.

To give you a comparison, the Screaming Eagle AC is good up to about 105 HP before it starts costing a percentage of your power.

One of the things that has given the Hypercharger a bad rap is the fact that people do not clean the elements because they are a little more work to get at than most AC's. They run the Hyper for years and thousands of miles with no cleaning. They then put their bikes on a dyno at some event and their power is way down. They blame it on the Hyper. I had a well known mobile dyno operator tell me this same story. Another thing that happens is people will discount the Hyper's ability to work because of it's unique design. They think it is a gimmick and judge it without a fair trial.

I know I gave you a little more information than you probably
needed, but I thought you might find it interesting. What it means to your FXDWG is, the original Hypercharger flows more than enough air for your 80" or 88" bike to make as much power as it is able to.

***On a stock bike no other AC will add more power no matter what anybody says.***

Even our ultra high flowing High Five or Pro "R" will not add any more power because the Hypercharger has not reached it's flow limits at anything under 90 HP.

I have attached a couple of dyno charts to show you what our AC and a pipe can do for a stock bike. As you can see, stock bikes vary in output. If you go to the web sight linked below you can look at a lot of high output combinations all using our AC's.

I hope this information helps you.

Best regards,
Michael Jay Roland
Performance Division Manager

 

that was a good read...thanks for posting that up ngoti8tor

 

That was a good post. I was curious about the hyper charger. I have an EFI engine and I'm not even sure if it will work on it. The hyper charger is cool looking though.

 

Notice that Kuryakyn tells you that certain hypercharger models will start costing HP on certain builds...and that it takes the next higher-flow model to get back to the higher HP.

On my bike with a stock engine and Stage 1, the SE A/C will do better than a Hypercharger.
The Hyperchargers are better on a bigger (130-140HP) engine.

 

The way I read it was that you wouldn't have a problem with the hyper charger unless you had an engine build of 90hp or more. It sounded to me the biggest problem would be cleaning the filter element. I think if your spending money on a Sporty engine making that kinda power, you probably wouldn't be bothering with the hyper charger. I just think the hyper charger looks cool.

 

You might want to check out the below link for another opinion:

http://www.harleyhelp.com/hypercharger.html

 

OldFenderGuy, that was a good post and makes perfect sense. I understand the siphon effect of air being forced accross the throat of the carburetor. I probably won't be buying a hypercharger. I don't care if it does look cool. Thanks.

 

It's hard to believe that people will buy into the Kuryakyn marketing propaganda vs. published performance tests.