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[aabokla]

Seeing as how everyone on this board seems to be so helpful to those few CVO owners out there, I thought I might see if you guys could help to steer me in the right direction.

I'm needing some help on picking out an exhaust system for my 2006 FLSTFSE2 fatboy. Most of the guys I run into around my neck of the woods are running some product from Vance and Hines. Truth be told, my last pipe was one of theirs a big shot staggered and I liked the way it looked and sounded. But I’m thinking of going to something a little more exotic to match the uniqueness of this CVO bike.

Currently I’m running with the stock exhaust and it just sounds kinda wimpy. Whenever I meet up with some buds, my pipe always sounds “junior sized” compared to theirs and their running stock 88 motors. My father rides a ’03 heritage with BSS and when he starts his up it definitely drowns mine out in sound.

At any rate, I’m torn between the looks/sound and the performance worlds. I definitely want something that is louder than what I currently have but at the absolute bare minimum I can’t go less than what the stock exhaust outputs for performance. My guess/hope is that with the right pipe, this bike will feel like a new machine all together. On a side note, last week after reading through this forum I learned about the preload adjustment and checked mine. Apparently the dealer who set it up, had the pre-load adjustment turned all the way down to what I can only assume corresponds to the weight of a sub 100 pound person. After adjusting it to my weight the bike feels like a whole new machine and just puts a grin on me everytime I ride. Wow, I can actually feel the suspension working now! I guess I’m looking for that same sort of stark contrast with an exhaust change.

Considering I drive my bike to work as much as possible in an adjacent town, about 70% of my riding is all highway in the 3000RPM neighborhood. Speaking of neighbors, while I am somewhat concerned about the sound volume, it’s not my most pressing #1 concern. With that being said I almost never go riding without wearing ear plugs as the wind noise is deafening.

It doesn’t help that most of the information I’m finding across the internet seem to review how the various pipes perform on the 88 engine. From what I’ve gathered, what works on an 88 doesn’t necessarily translate into working well on the 103.

I’ll be adding a power commander to the mix and I’m scheduling a dyno tune with John of Rolling Thunder in mid-July. I plan on driving the bike to Sturgis this year from Oklahoma and I’ll be traveling with at least my dad if not a couple of other guys as well.

My concern is buying a pipe and then paying for a dyno tune to only be left feeling unsatisfied with the final outcome either in terms of sound, looks, or performance.

The short list of pipes I’m considering:

Bassani Pro-Street – I’ve read that they lack a full heat shield and can roast your right leg, according to bassani’s website these pipes are serious high performance pipes. But again that’s from their website so I can’t see why they would post a bad review. Like the look.
D&D fatcat w/performance big bore baffle. I guess these scrap a lot? Kinda like the look.
V&H Long Shots HS.  The more I look at these the more their growing on me.
V&H Big Shot.
V&H Side Shot. Something I’ve only seen around here a couple of times.
V&H big radius – PC already has a user submitted map for the 2006 103 screamin eagle fatboy. But the comments from v-twinforums.com seem to say these pipes look good but rob performance.

I emailed D&D and they recommended that for my engine I should go with the performance baffle unless I planned on more internal work to the engine and then I could step into the boarzilla.

I emailed John w/Rolling Thunder initially and described my general riding and asked of the pro-street and fatcat which would be a better fit for me. His response was neither. He said that he wasn’t impressed with the Fatcat’s and much preferred the Bassani Road Rage, which is what he uses on his bagger. The road rage cost $569 plus an additional $250 for the heat shields, once you add in the dyno tune that’s almost $1100 for a shot in the dark guess. Now I don’t know if this should concern me or not, but then he offered to sell me the Bassani pipes as he is an authorized dealer.

So, I’m back to square one on which pipe to get. Can anyone help this dazed and confused exhaust newbie out?

Thanks
Adrian

[Crawdaddy]

aabokla you have a PM.

[Street Stalker]

Yo Adrian,

I have the Big Radius and really like the look and sound on my CVO Fatboy.  I have had numerous people comment how the look and sound fit the bike so well.  They do rob you of a little hp. and tq. but not significant.  My pipes with thunder city monster baffles and p-commander was running 92 tq. and 92 h.p.  I personally rate pipes based on 1. looks. 2. sound. 3. performance.  Once you figure how your rank is, it might help you make your decision.  Good luck and snap a few pics after they're on.

Scott

[fatboyse2]

I went with Thunderheaders.  They are a bit louder than some but have a great Harley rumble and make a good performance choice.  A freind went with Rineharts, they are my second choice for a bit less noise but still good performance.

[longshot]

Give me a couple of weeks and i will post a pic. and a dyno sheet on my choice. I couldn't see putting on a run of the mill exhaust on a custom bike so i went a little crazy but love the way the pipe looks and sounds and i'm told from others that i should pick up another 10 h.p. with pipe and the s.e.r.t., we will see. Any way i got the Martin Bros. Medustas @ 699.00 and 259.00 for the heat shields. 485.00 for the sert and i'm waiting on the 300.00 dyno run. I will know the results in a couple of weeks.

[05yella]

I went with the big shot staggard. Turn the tips out to side instead of stright back. lets peoplle look more at the bike but sounds great. actually on this 103 these pipes hit a good lick!!!

[aabokla]

Crawdaddy – Yes, I’m in Tulsa. I'm going to try and slip out a little early wednesday or thursday and visit with Richard from Twistercity and see what he says. I called earlier and he was out, but I spoke with the guy, Shaggy, who runs the front area and he says that from the limited dyno first hand experience he has the Big Radius pipes do add something to the performance equation over stock. He said they are seeing a gain of around 7 in both hp and tq. He did say though that for a serious top contender the fatcat was a good choice.

Scott - Love the look on the bike. Did you feel a performance increase in the seat of the dyno pants over the stock exhaust? It might not be so bad if the pipe doesn’t perform as well as the other pipes out there as long as it definitely performs better than stock.

How much of a difference is really noticeable? Can the average person tell a difference between two exhausts with similar power bands but differing from 2-4/hp/tq between each rpm point? Or is the difference only really noticeable when directly comparing one to the other, right after each other? When I last went shopping for a new TV, the 42inch looked small in the big department store sitting right next to the 52inch and even smaller still compared to the 60 inch. I was actually a little worried that it might be too small for my place, but when I got it home away from the bigger sets it looked just fine and actually balanced the room out nicely. Not saying that I won’t buy a bigger screen sometime in the future, but without that direct side by side comparison I don’t notice what I’m missing from the other bigger sets. Since I’m not racing the bike, is this a fair comparison for exhaust selections?

Longshot – I’m really curious to see how your pipes turn out. Definitely not something you see out there on a daily basis.

Fatboyse2 – How do your pipes sound? I’ve only heard one 2-1 system on a Harley and it was the pro-pipe on an 88. The guy said he loved the performance of the pipe but hated the look, but since when he was driving he couldn’t see the pipe, he had learned to live with it. I found a sound clip of a fatcat but I don’t think I’m getting the full impression of what they sound like.

My top two picks are down to either the Fatcat or the Big Radius. I like the looks of both but I’m leaning heavily towards the curvy BR.

[Fatboy]

Also be sure to check out the Vance & Hines Pro-Pipe HS and the Hooker Trouble Maker's........they'll help the decision even tougher.  :-/

[RATKING]

When it comes to exhausts, everyone has an opinion; here's mine.  I went with the Thunderheader.  Great performance, clean lines, and I love the sound.  Need I say it again, the Thunderheaders make beautiful noises.  There are 4 of us with SEFB's.  In a roll on, they were all the same stock.  My one buddy put on the V&H Big Radius, my other buddy put on SE slip-ons, and I did the Thunderheader.  I tuned them all with the same SERT map.  In the same roll-on, I smoked the other two bikes.  I have since futher finetuned my map and my bike really sings, and need I say, sounds fantastic.  My brother waited to see what would happen, but has gone with the Thunderheader.

 [smiley=banana.gif] [smiley=banana.gif]

[reo]

 I tuned them all with the same SERT map.  

Dont get me wrong I think the thunderheader probably does make more power than the other pipes (although very marginal), however do you think your test is a fair way of comparison using the same map?

The Thunderheader was my second choice but lost in my opinion because of looks and more importantly the sound to Rineharts. I always get compliments on the sound of my bike with the Rineharts.

[tunedse2]

I've rode with a SEFB with the thunderheader, and I can assure you if you "smoked them" its because you have a bigger pair. I dont really understand the theory of tuning different pipes with
the same map... Can we see the Dyno please...

[AUSSIE_FLSTFSE]

Give me a couple of weeks and i will post a pic. and a dyno sheet on my choice. I couldn't see putting on a run of the mill exhaust on a custom bike so i went a little crazy but love the way the pipe looks and sounds and i'm told from others that i should pick up another 10 h.p. with pipe and the s.e.r.t., we will see. Any way i got the [highlight]Martin[/highlight] [highlight]Bros. Medustas[/highlight] @ 699.00 and 259.00 for the heat shields. 485.00 for the sert and i'm waiting on the 300.00 dyno run. I will know the results in a couple of weeks.

Longshot,

Which ones did you get


Cheers
Aussie

[AUSSIE_FLSTFSE]

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