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I agree that if you are going to stay with stock exhaust, you might as well leave the a/c stock as well. The stock mufflers will limit the flow, no matter what a/c you change to.
Dennis
Last edited by rochkes; Oct 28, 2008 at 08:18 AM.
Reason: spelling
I have an '08 Ultra, put V&H true duals, SC air intake, SC race tuner, left stock mufflers on and dyno. Increased about 12 horses. Runs good, sounds good,and runs cooler.
my 09 RK has stock mufflers and SE A/C. the older i get the less i want to hear the exhaust. with the gearing changes of the 09 it's way faster than my 01 with open mufflers, PCIII and SE/A/C. i'm not changing anything else.
SACRELIGIOUS I SAY, I want a HARLEY TO SOUND LIKE A HARLEY. INSPITE OF THE EPA AND WHINING PEOPLE. Silent bikes are exactly that. I fell in love with the sound of my sisters boyfreinds bike before I ever laid eyes on it. I HEARD HIM COMING FROM DOWN THE STREET AND ALL US GUYS WOULD DROOL OVER IT EVERYTIME HE RODE INTO THE NEIGHBORHOOD. Buy a gold wing, if you won't release the beast.
For whatever reason, every bike is a little bit different. My buddy has an '07 SG with stock exhaust and stock airbox with a K&N filter, no fuel mgt. Runs great no issues. My '08 RG is stock with XIEDs runs great no issues. Other people on forums and that I have talked to have done different things to there bikes, some needed fuel mgt some didn't, some even need fuel mgt to get the stock bike to run good. It's hit & miss unless you redo intake & exhaust, then you will need fuel mgt.
I have a 2005 Electra Glide Classic. I bought it new. After 500 miles I tok the stock exhaust off and put on Samson Rolled Thunder (very loud) and changed the air cleaner and re mapped. This summer I took off the Samson's and put back the stock slip on's.
I have 25,000 miles on these loud pipes and it was wearing me out. I got tired of all the noise. I have about 1000 miles on the stock pipes so far. When I was running the Samson's the bike backfired a lot, without them not at all. The Samson's had about a 1 3/4 hole straight thru, it was like no muffler at all. I think the bike runs better with the stock pipes and I can get on the throttle harder and stay on longer whithout going deaf and scaring the neighbors. The re-map let's my rev limiter to go to about 6400 rmp.
So far, I am happier, but I plan on getting some slip-on's or true duals in the future if I decide on what I might like.
I had "off road" Screamin Eagle's on my 1200R, and I had 2" Rush on my Deluxe which sounded good but neither had the deep tone of the stock muff's on a touring bike. I like the sound of my stock 09 SG persoanlly, but the bike does sound kind of crappy at idle. I think if there was a freer flowing muffler that kept the same tone as the stock mufflers but was just a 1/2 a click louder that would be perfect.
Stock mufflers with an open AC and EFI controller will run well up to moderate RPMs, at which time the restriction of the mufflers will take a toll. If you don't plan on drag-racing your friends and keep RPMs below 4K or so, you should not notice a radical difference over aftermarket slip-ons.
That said, I doubt if stock mufflers will give you nearly the low-end performance of a tuned 2-into-1 system or the Fuel Moto Power Package for use with stock head pipes, and will be well short of peak HP. If you want to get some hard figures and an expert opinion (someone who's dynoed every conceivable combination), call Jamie at Fuel Moto and chat with him about it. He won't high-pressure you to buy anything.
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