First off, I am running V&H Dresser duals with some Crusher Mellows. Love the setup, sounds good, tuned well and makes good power vs another set of S**T muffs I had. I like my TD's!

So, after reading a bunch of threads asking questions about true duals (which have been around forever) it seems like every thread there are a few that do not interject anything but negativity to the thread, bash true duals because the lose torque, etc. Followed by: you need a 2 into 1 exhaust. You all working on commission?

 

Facts are facts. If you like your true duals, that’s all that matters.

 

Not all true duals are created equal. Stepped headers and louvered baffles make up for their short comings. My tuner told me to buy what I liked because the difference would only be see on a dyno sheet, he wasn't making a dollar off my choice either way. That tells me you'll be hard pressed to feel a difference and based on my dyno sheets torque curve I don't believe a different exhaust would make it that mych better to justify the cost of a new pipe. At one time true duals were the exhaust to have and so were se 255s now they're no Good? Only because as harley owners we're a fickle bunch and are always willing to spend money for the latest and greatest...you know aftermarket parts manufactures know that too.

 

I have 2 different exhausts I run. Sometimes I run my Bassani Prostreets {true duals} and then I may switch to my Arlen Ness F Bomb {2 into 1}. The bike is tuned for the Prostreets but I really feel no difference {in my butt dyno} .
Bike is a 15 BO.

 

2 in 1s have there shortcomings as well. Many of them fall on their face in the low to midrange just to put out max HP #s on the dyno at wot. Great if you run WOT all the time. The supertrapp supermeg has its weak spots and reversion around 2500-3000 rpm. The PD 2in1 came the closest to having good power thru out but gets beat down low as well by some 2in2s.
A good set of duals can do just as well when properly tuned and they aren't butt ugly and dont sound like *** like many 2in1s. TTIs are good for moving the power and and helping with reversion issues too.
Personally, I run the V&H Straightshots but with the HP PLUS baffles for a deeper tone and better low to mid range grunt than the baffles they come with. I might experiment some with the TTIs too.
No exhaust is perfect. I'll give up a pony or 2 for looks and sound.

 

What is the pd 2-1 exhaust?

I've had supertrapp supermeg 2-1 exhausts on a few bikes and never had issues anywhere as long as the dyno tuner is prepared to add or remove discs to get the tune just right. That's the beauty of them in addition to not being obnoxiously loud

 

I love TD's on touring bikes, the pipe under the bag look, like an old school hot rod. Never been a fan of the 2 into 1 pipes on touring bikes. Now, are they better for optimal performance, sure. But I also don't go bashing them if other people have them, that's what they want. As long as I like it on my bike, it goes fast and is tuned well, that's all that matters to me. I could really care less about dyno numbers because that's not how I ride my bike. For me, dyno numbers are a guage as to what one can expect from a certain combination of performance parts and a tune, and even then that depends on the tuner. If a person wants to achieve the perfect dyno chart for his bike have at it. I'm sure some will chime in and rip on me, but that's my 2 cents.

Ride safe!

Ride safe!

 

I picked up a 2003 Ultra with a busted engine case for a retirement project last spring. I rebuilt the engine from the bottom up with a new case and SE big bore jugs, and other spare SE performance take-offs I had laying around (see below) for another project that never happened. The project bike came with Rinehart Tru-Duals that I put back on. It also came with a Master Tune that I used to tune the new setup with. The bike runs great but only starts really pulling around ~2500 and up, and is quick to accelerate from there. However, the exhaust sounds like a staccato woodpecker and not a smooth rumble. I noticed this same sound and low-end torque loss when I put Samson Wildcats on a stock 2001 FXD a few years back. I can live with the sound, but I am not impressed with the off idle pull. I assume some of that is the cam/head combo, but how much is from the exhaust system and would I realize better performance if I replace the Rinehart racing pipes mufflers with something with more aggressive baffling? The Rineharts are straight-through pipes. Torque cones?

 

PD = Patriot Defender.

The supertrapp is decent but it's not without its weaknesses. Besides being obnoxiously quiet .
Hammer Performance has dyno #s on a lot of exhaust systems. You'd be surprised at some of the leaders.

Good sound is subjective. Haven't really heard a 2in1 that sounds good to me. Or looks good for that matter.

 

I've seen hammer's results which are only on sportsters. You seen any good results for other model Harleys? Any of the big shops pushing the patriot defender to make the most of their big twin builds?

I'm one of the few who has experience running a patriot defender 2-1 exhaust. It was on a stage 1 96ci softail and had never been tuned..it didn't run great but I didnt know how bad until a bit later.

I then upgraded to a 107ci top end with cams etc. Had to change from the patriot defender exhaust because of the big torque dip between 2 and 3 thousand rpm. Right where most of us ride. It made a nice deep noise but a very noticeable dip. This was after dyno tuning. Changed over to the supertrapp supermeg with 24 discs and an open end cap. Not quiet but not too loud. And no torque dip at all. The difference in riding between the pipes was night and day. That little experiment cost me $2,000. I also tried a set of Vance and ***** big radius and they look good and are great for tinnitus but not good for performance.

I've run supertrapp on a vmax, that softail I mentioned above, a stage 2 road glide with cam upgrade and now a 117ci dyna. I'm yet to see the weakness you speak of that can't be tuned out with discs and a tune. And its my dyno turner's favourite exhaust for that reason. I've always run the open end cap and to suggest my bikes are obnoxiously quiet is funny. Although if I want to go very quiet I can add more discs and the closed end cap which I never run.

On the road glide I tried the Vance and ***** power dual 2-1-2 headers with a variety of mufflers. And the freedom 2-1 union exhaust which is a 3 step pipe and made the nicest and deepest sound to my ears. Both performed similar but not quite as well as the supertrapp supermeg. The main issue with those exhaust was that they would scrape when cornering. And neither had the option of tunability.

That's my personal experience and not based on reading stuff that others have written. Perhaps you have a different personal experience.