Loud pipes remind me of the young kids with the boom boxes in their cars. Make as much noise as you can so people will look. I look, but not in admiration.

I have stock pipes on most of my bikes. I am also noticing a trend toward "less is better". There will always be those who think its cool to annoy others, your call.

 

I've got an aftermarket pipe on my sport bike (FZ1) but not on the HD. I haven't decided if I want to make it louder or not. I happen to like the sound as-is, especially when pounding the interstate, but I may grow tired of it at some point. I'm considering the stage 1 filter and PCIII for my SG just to open it up a bit, but with stock pipes. Sometimes I leave for work at 530 am, and it's nice to rumble quietly at those times.

 

SEII's on my FXDWG... The RK is stock.... Sometimes I wonder if all the noise the WG makes is why I like riding it more than the RK... So I'm on the fence, but never would I replace the SEII's with stock...

 

I still have stock pipes on the Fat Bob after 6 months.
Not because I have any burning desire to be politically correct.....
God knows we get enough of that crap shoved down our throats on a daily basis.
But it's been more of a financial thing and a waiting game.
Want to do the whole stage one together and have just too many other things I need to spend money on.
Just had a crown and a root canal....there goes the stage one for now...LOL
That being said, the stock pipes do get louder as you rack up the miles.
I have 3800 on it now and they are starting to sound pretty good when I get on it around 4000 rpm.
If they were a bit louder/deeper at idle I might even consider leaving them stock.
HD said they were making them a tad deeper a couple years ago to try to get more people to leave them stock.... not quite there.

 

If you like the look and the sound then stick with stock. There is nothing wrong with stock if that is what you like. If you are going to try and get all of us to agree you are a better man than I am.

 

Has any one noticed that most of the riders that prefer the stock pipes come from the Touring crowd?

 

Well my thinking is if you like the stock pipes good for you. I myself like loud pipes so thats what I run. Kind of simple isn't it.

 

When I'm coming up into some cagers blind spot I always get loud for a moment (give the throttle a twist) and 8/10 times I'll see them look into their mirror at me. I like to get their attention so I don't get cut off.

 

When I had my Nighster, I HATED the stock sound. So WIMPY! I mean, it was awful. Could barely hear the engine when riding. So I put Rush Slip-ons, 2.25" baffles. Really loud, really cool, nice rumble. But the bike ran crappy. Went down to 1.75" baffles, actually liked the sound BETTER, and bike ran a bit better, but according to the dealer, "not like it should". (I didn't do any other work). I really liked louder pipes.

Just recently traded the Nightster in for a new 2008 Street Bob. I was amazed at the nice sound of the stock pipes! And others have said "those are STOCK? But they sound so good!". So this time around, I'm leaving it alone. I've heard too many people say once they start changing things on the exhaust or the engine, that's when they've ended up with problems. Not true for everyone, I'm sure, but I've heard that sentiment a lot. So for me, my bike's sound is good, the bike runs as it should, I'll spend the money on some other things I want for the bike. Plus, I HAD been a bit worried about the noise police, so it's one less thing to think about.

But definitely, to each his own.

 

Well, for me It is not about loud mufflers. I just like the tapered look of the stock mufflers. If someone made a set that looked just like them and they were free flowing and louder I would get them. The closest I have seen are the rush tip compatible mufflers with tapered tips and I may go with them. Or, try and modify a stock set as I mentioned previously. The stock 09's are not hard to match since they are no longer tapered and I would swap those out in a minute.
Question, do all the 08' and 09's come with cats/mufflers or just CA bikes, anyone know?
CB