I posted this on another forum, but wanted to put it here for other people to see...
So, I went to the HD shop today to get some prices on each stage kit installed. I kept going back and forth between the stage 3 and 4. Anyways, the owner's bike is a new RG with the 114 stage 3, 14 inch bars, and a 26 inch wheel and he let me ride it. Big wheels and apes aren't my thing, but what the heck, it was free, so why not. His stage 3 was exactly that, 114, stock header with Street Cannons, and HD's tuner.
At first start up, I was very surprised at how much louder the exhaust was than my CVO 114. Cruising around, the bike felt good. When twisting it at 2500 RPMs, it felt softer than the stock CVO 114, but shortly after 3k, it started to take off and then felt stronger than my bike. Never did the bike feel weak, just the bottom end wasn't stronger than the long stroke CVO. It was a lot better than my last 110 ever was though.
So, back at the dealer looking at prices and dyno charts, I ended up ordering the 117 stage 3 kit. On paper, the stage 3 is a stronger build where most of us ride 90% of the time and at $2K installed price difference, the stage 4 just didn't make sense to me. Especially, if I ever start chasing numbers, either head will need to be worked over.
Anyways, I know comparing the stage 3 114 against the CVO 114 is an orange and orangutan comparison, but I somewhat knew the bottom end would be softer. I wanted to hear those mufflers and listen to the top end. I would have liked to really test that bike, but I wasn't going to beat someone else's ride (I never shifted higher than 4500 RPMs).
Just sharing the experience...
Chris