I'm posting this to share my experience with these two head pipes. First a little background. In the spring on 2012 I installed a D&D Fatcat 2 into1 system and a Thunder Max ECM on my new Ultra Classic. I ran this set up for two years. The power and torque were ok and the only problem I had was some pinging under heavy load. I solved this by making small adjustments to the timing until I eliminated the problem.
I came to decide that the D&D was too loud for my liking even with the quiet baffle. I must be getting older but that's ok because that means I haven't gotten dead yet. Anyway, I was tired of not being able to hear the radio without blasting it and having to wear earplugs on longer rides to avoid going deaf. My wife has Vance and Hines true duals with a set on Khrome Werks 3.5" HP Plus Touring Mufflers. I like the deep rumble they have when she gets on it and she never complains of it being too loud. I have always been impressed with the torque her 06 Ultra feels like it has with this setup so I thought I would de-cat my stock head pipe and get a set of the Khrome Werks mufflers.
I de-catted my head pipe by drilling it out with a 1" by 18" long spade bit and cleaning up the little left overs with a bit extension and a 1-1/2" wire wheel. That worked really well so I ordered the mufflers and some 18" exhaust bungs for the wide band o2 sensor my Thunder Max uses. I figured out the placement of the bungs and drilled the holes for them. This is where I should have taken them to someone to weld them in but no, I like to do everything myself and all I had was a cheep wire feed welder. The first one went ok. Ugly weld but it would have worked. Then my crappy welder started acting up. I should have stopped but I thought I just want to finish this. Long story short, I blew a hole right through the side of the bung and jacked it all up.
At this point I decided to look for a new head pipe. I like to shop at the Dennis Kirk website because the shipping is fast and they have a hassle free return policy. I ordered a Cycle Shack 2-1-2 head pipe. It's similar to a stock pipe without a cat and both 12" and 18" sensor bungs. There were no reviews available but I thought I'd order one and check it out knowing I could easily return it if I had too. The first thing I notice was that it seemed cheaply made with pieces of excess chrome still stuck inside the head end openings. When I held it up to the bike it looked like the pipe from the collector to the right muffler was crooked and would make it hard to get the muffler straight. Then I set it on the bench and tried to get the heat shields to line up. No matter what I tried the heat shields just didn't line up decent. I boxed it up for return and called Fuel Moto to order a Jackpot 2-1-2 head pipe.
I called at the end of the day Friday and it shipped out Monday morning. I ordered the stainless steal without the ceramic coating. My first impression was they are very well made and free from imperfection. These pipes are a tight fit and they actually snap into place. The instructions say to use the stock tapered head gaskets or the Jackpot flat gaskets. I wish the website would have mentioned this or they would have told me this when I ordered the pipes. I would have ordered the Jackpot gaskets with the pipes. I had a set of the stock tapered gaskets on hand so I tried them out. They probably would have worked but I didn't like the fact that the pipes barely went into the heads and I couldn't get the nuts threaded all the way onto the studs when I torqued it up. I didn't want to wait for Jackpot gaskets to ship so I decide to stack Screaming Eagle gaskets two deep in each head opening. This still left room for the head pipe to snap into the heads but the gasket material was thick enough to make a good seal. So far no leaks. I finished it off with the Khrome Werks mufflers
I installed the map closest to my new setup into the Thunder Max and went for a ride. I don't have any Dyno sheets, just my seat of the pants assessment. My bike has more torque than ever. The throttle response is immediate and it pulls through all the gears like it never has. I don't know how much better it would be with the Jackpot mufflers but I'm convinced the people at Khrome Werks now how to engineer a good touring muffler. I also really like the sound and the decibel level. I don't go deaf and the radio sounds great.

 

thanks for the write up. im looking into a new head pipe myself. i currently have full rinehart 4" extreme duals but want to switch to a 2-1-2 for better power now and in the future when i get into the motor. ive been looking at the full sac x-pipe. any reason you went with the jackpot?

 

My Fuel Moto 2-1-2 were ceramic lined and went on without a hitch. I used one each Screamin'Eagle gaskets. That was 10,000 miles ago.

Immediately, the heat from the headers and cat was reduced to a tolerable level and performance gain with the PowerVision/stage 1/Jackpots was everything I expected.

I did not work with Jamie at Fuel Moto. Brian Kohls answered all my questions and made the process painless.

 

The Jackpot head pipe comes with 18mm bungs installed. You have to pay more to have 18mm bungs installed in the Fulsac head pipe and I didn't want to chance this delaying shipping. I had also done business with Fuel Moto in the past when I purchased and air cleaner from them and had a good experience. If I can get a quality product coupled with good customer service you have my loyalty.

 

I have never seen or tested the other pipe mentioned, however here is some info on our Jackpot 2/1/2 head pipe which we have been building since 2009.

Collector & Primaries: The Jackpot 2/1/2 uses a CNC formed hand built true merge collector, the rest of the system including the primaries is CNC formed and Tig welded by hand. The Jackpot 2/1/2 is built from aircraft grade stainless steel, we also offer an optional proprietary two process internal/external HTC ceramic coating which offers additional heat reduction and looks stunning

Warranty: The Jackpot pipe has a lifetime warranty

O2 Bungs: The Jackpot pipe has both 12mm and 18mm bungs which cover all O2 sensor and tuning platforms

Stainless Head pipe


Jackpot Collector


Ceramic Coating

 

Thank you very much for the kind words and continued support!

 

Today 09:44 AM by fuelmoto
I have never seen or tested the other pipe mentioned, however here is some info on our Jackpot 2/1/2 head pipe which we have been building since 2009.
Your not missing anything by not having tested the other pipe I mentioned. I would have called you to begin with but I was curious to see this pipe that I could find very little information about. I knew I could easily return it if I didn't like it and I could at least give an opinion about it if someone else is thinking about trying one. Thanks for the fast shipping and a quality product with my new Jackpot 2-1-2 head pipe.

 

+1 on the fuel moto. I put them on my12 SG along with the 4 inch tour mufflers air cleaner an PC V. Some reviews have said that they were hard to install but I followed the directions and they went on without a hitch.