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Well, at least they put the cats in the mufflers instead of the head pipes. Aren't the stock mufflers one of the first things almost everyone replaces anyway?
Not me. To be even MORE environmentally friendly I restrict my exhaust even further, lower my compression and lean the daylights out of the mixture even further.
It runs like a late 70s Corvette when they had something like 230 hp. Anyone remember those days?
Then it should stand to reason that the catalytic converter, at least in part, has something to do with the difference in torque numbers.
Not really. The difference between no catalytic converter at all and a well-designed catalytic converter is negligible. A buddy of mine with a strip-ready Camaro (in the 400 to 500 hp neighborhood) saw only a 3 hp difference when he dyno-ed his car with and without cats. That's less than 1% difference (technically, it's not any difference at all since it's smaller than a dyno's margin of error).
Now, he was comparing high-flow (but still 100% legal and EPA approved) cats to straight pipes, so that might be different with "factory" cats, but given that restrictions rob both power and fuel efficiency it's extremely unlikely that modern factory catalytic converters impose any measurable performance penalty as long as they're designed by someone even halfway competent.
7 Surprising Harley-Davidson Products that Are Not Motorcycles
Slideshow: The bar-and-shield logo shows up on far more than motorcycles, some of the company's most unexpected products have nothing to do with riding.
Slideshow: From the troubled AMF years to modern misfires, these bikes earned reputations for reliability issues, questionable engineering, or disappointing performance.
Crazy Bunderbike Build Looks Amazing, But Is It Impossible to Ride?
Slideshow: The Swiss custom shop has taken a Harley Softail and stretched it into something so long and low that it looks closer to a rolling sculpture than a conventional motorcycle.
Engraved Rebellion: Inside Bundnerbike's Glam Rock II
Slideshow: A standard cruiser becomes an intricate metal canvas in the hands of a Swiss custom house known for pushing Harley-Davidson platforms far beyond their factory brief.
Slideshow: Harley-Davidson's challenges aren't abstract; they show up in dropping shipments, shrinking dealer traffic, and strategic decisions that aren't yet translating into growth.
