My 07 FLHTC is completely stock. After a long group ride, with a lot of stops and starts, I finally see the need for a stage 1 mod.
After reading several threads, and asking a lot of stupid questions I thought that I had narrowed my decision down to a power Commanderr III, a free breathing A/C, and SuperTrapp SE Slip-ons.

Talked to the dealer that I bought the bike from and they carry neither the PCIII nor the SuperTrapps.
Big surprise, they recommended the Screming Eagle set up, still with slip-ons. For about the same amount of money.
Touting the advantage of the SE Race Tuner over the PCIII and stating that the Screaming Eagles were comparable to the SuperTrapps. Ididn't doubt the validity of that, as I read here that SuperTrapp originally made the Screaming Eagles for Harley, hence the designation of SE.

So I talked to a local "performance" shop, they recommended going with true duals vice the slip-ons due to the increased heat build up at the Y intersection. He recommended the Race Tuneror Super Tuner, the Screamin’ Eagle A/C,Rineharttrue dual headers, and S&Smufflers.

Needless to say, with every change the price goes up. So my question is:

What is the best compromise between performance, cost, and sound? I should preface that by saying that I don’t necessarily consider loud better. I like being able to hear my radio and face my neighbors, but I don’t want it to sound like I'm riding a sewing machine either.

Any experienced opinions?

 

Real cheap !! Get SERT , Se mufflers and air cleaner off the Parts for Sale on here or go to ebay. You can download the map yourself. Mufflers and a/c are easy to do.

 

If you're goal is to make it run better/cooler with better power, there are many ways to do that. If you do what I have done, Rush/Stage 1 download/air cleaner/IED's, you'd spend less than $700 and have a great running bike. I don't plan on doing further mods, so a tuner of any sort is extra money I wouldn't need to spend money on.

I don't like the PCIII personally because it eliminates the O2 sensors and runs open loop all the time. To me, that takes away a self tuning tool. With the SERT, you either get a canned map (like my stage 1 HD map) or you need a dyno tune for an extra $400-$500 and you will have to deal with the competence of the person tuning the bike.

Running true duals on an otherwise stock bike will cost you low end torque. Yeah, they look cool, and you'll need a dyno tune, but that combo ain't cheap and it will be slower than a stock headpiped bike... I don't see the point there.


My bike runs plenty fast, can be taken to the dealer for warranty after a 5 minute removal of the IED's, doesn't run hot, doesn't ping, sounds good. I "might" pick up a couple hp with a custom tune, but that ain't worth it to me.

Your results may vary.

 

Get the IED's from Nightrider for $69, and a set of Rush slip ons (2 inch baffles). Your Bike will sound and run the way you dreamed it would when you first saw it in the showroom.

http://www.nightrider.com/parts/

Go read other members experiences with the IED's. https://www.hdforums.com/m_2836828/tm.htm