thanks for the pics. they were not as bad as i had visualized from the description. i'm still on the fence about getting one, i leave for work very early in the morning, and even though i take it easy through the neighborhood, sound travels a lot at that time of the morning.

 

Dakota, Not hard at all. Had to buy a cheap slide hammer from Harbor Freight. Pull baffle, one bolt holds insert on, then reinstall. A bit of trouble getting bolt holes lined up for baffle bolts.

 

Forgot to mention reason for slide hammer. Baffles are force fit on the pipe at front of slipon I assume to prevent rattles. Baffle has to be hammered out. Went back in easier after putting a little antiseize on the joint.

 

Hey Grillfish, not sure how to PM, but if you still have the baffles, I'll take them off your hands.

 

My recent tale of baffle woes.
I purchased a set of V&H Big shots and they sounded too loud.
So, I pulled the stock baffles which are one solid piece of steel out and purchased and installed a set of the v&h quiet baffles which are made of 4 pieces welded together; two ends of steel, a mesh wire and a perforation steel sleeve all attached surrounded by fiberglass taped to the baffles.
After finding out that with reduction of only 2 to 3 db's is still way too loud, I decided to remove the quiet baffles. One came out Ok, the other had the fiberglass seared to the walls of the exhaust and it was almost impossible to remove having come apart in four pieces and using various cutting tools and vice grips to remove all the pieces of metal along with the fiberglass.
Bottom line is that if your not sure the quiet baffles are going to be the last exhaust mod, don't install them. It can be your worst nightmare trying to remove them.

I did not listen to my mechanic at first when he said that "putting fiberglass in an exhaust is not the same as a car's muffler".

I eventually installed the Hard Kore quiet baffles that are attached to the original stock baffles on the v&h. These worked out much better and reduced the db's down about 6 or 7 db's less.

 

I broke one of my quiet baffles trying to get it out as well. I called Vance & Hines, they replaced it and the muffler body for free since I'd owned them less than a year. I also agree it didn't make enough of a difference in sound, they were pretty restrictive and quieted down the idle, but it was still pretty loud going down the road.

Now I just use the regular baffles + earplugs.

 

I feel if you have a helmet on and the wind is being drowned out by the exhaust at 70 mph, then maybe the exhaust is just a tad too loud.

 

With stock cams, the cat in the headpipe, and my fishtails, my exhaust was just about perfect in terms of volume. I did cams + dresser duals, with the same slipons it's now way, way too loud to ride all the time without ear protection. I love the tone but I also don't want to go deaf. I agree, once it gets to the point where it's hard to hear the wind over the pipes it's too loud.

 

What exhaust do you suggest if trying to quiet the bike? Are reinhart w stock headers quieter than v&h twin slash?

 

I went with V&H Big Shots. This is the full system; not slip-on's only.
Originally put the V&H quiet baffles which were crap. Had to cut them out. I never should have installed those as they created more problems than they were worth; time and $$$$$$.

I then got a pair of dragster baffles, any brand, that were cheap from J&P cycles. I got 8 inch but 12's are OK too.
I then went down to my local welder and asked him to cut off the ends of the "stock" baffles that came with the Big Shots. I asked him to cut the threaded screw ends and weld them to the out end of the dragster's.
I then wrapped the dragster baffles one time with some stove pipe rope that I got on Ebay. Either the round rope or the flat will work.

After that, for a little more $$ I got a pair of Smartpartz Hard Kore Quiet Baffles, lined up the install screw holes wit the screw holes that had been welded on the dragsters.

This may sound like a lot of work but it's no where the work that went into installing the V&H Quiet baffles and then trying to remove them.

And I must say, they do sound sweet.

You can try the Smartpartz first. I didn't like the sound with just those on them.