Given your stated choice, my opinion/vote = shocks then headers…..shocks will transform your ride! You already have good sound & rumble with the slipons, hopefully, but you will appreciate the performance upgrade with headers and a free flowing intake…..

I know - mo money mo money mo money…….sigh, it IS worth it in the end 😃

Shocks will likely highlight your desire to upgrade the front forks-suspension virtually immediately, it did for me…..I was fortunate enough with my last bike to upgrade the front suspension to progressive fork cartridges, and then rear shocks the following week - all I can say is = wow!

So, in my opinion, if you can afford it, do the rear shocks AND the front suspension at the same time……if not, upgrade the rear shocks, then the front suspension, and then upgrade the headers.

Good luck - happy upgrading!

 

Shocks... I could feel the difference as soon as I went around a curve in the road. I went with Legends.

 

Without diving into the motor for increased performance the header will add little to the performance of an M8. The stock headers flow fairly well.

I would go with the shocks. I have had good luck with both Pro Action and Bitubo. I didn't care as much for the Ohlins. Shocks are a lot like seats everyone is a little different in their expectations. Two up is where the shock upgrade really makes sense. YMMV

 

You already have a header...gut it & buy the shocks pretty much everyone recommended.

 

I would do both. Gut your cat on the HD header and it will give you close to the same performance and cost you very little. I have a fp3 and you can select a header with a gutted cat in the program. Works very well on mine. I have slipons, high flow air cleaner, and the gutted cat. Just remove the hd header and cut lengthwise in the cat area and bend the metal and pull it out and have it rewelded.

 

Appreciate all the feedback and I'm convinced shocks are the next upgrade. I've already sent me email to Super Shox. Thanks again

 

The older I get, the more I care about the ride feel versus how it sounds/looks. If you're more comfortable while riding, you're gonna ride more in my opinion. I'd go for the shocks.

 

FYI....I ordered a set of Super Shox 4 weeks ago (thru my HD dealer) and still waiting for them. Seems like Super Shox is taking a very long time to build them.
Incidentally, I live about 8 miles from where Super Shox are built but my HD dealer (who's also close-by) gave me a discount, so I ordered from my dealer instead of directly through the factory.........just think 4 weeks is a long time to wait...my HD dealer agrees.

 

You know what to do. Save the header until you go stage 2 (you WILL add a cam at some point).

 

You need to do an extreme amount of performance work to get a noticeable improvement from headers. Quality shocks give an immediate ride improvement.