Im new to harleys and I just bought my first one which is a 2002 883 custom.

i have been looking at drag pipes and was wandering what the difference in sound was between the 1-3/4" and the 2" pipes?


i have the stock exhaust on it now with screaming eagles and was wanting something louder.

 

if you must run drag pipes you will find the smaller diamater works best.i had both sets before and the 2 inch you will lose performance but does have a deeper sound. Also if you have any cams besides the stockers in it your gona have to use some sort of baffle to keep it from falling on its face with 2 inch

 

When I had my 1200 sporty, I was told by some of the old white-bearded wrenches that the 1-3/4" drag pipes were the loudest and the 2 inch were deeper. I went with cycle shack 1-3/4 straight cut drags on mine and it was LOUD as $hit, but had a good exhaust note. I got many compliments on those pipes before I sold that scoot last May. The best part, I bought them new for under $150.00!

 

Since you are new to Harleys, I'll start by trying to keep you from making the same big mistake most new HD owners make.....

My recommendation, learned from almost 30 years of building performance Harleys.... Do NOT use drag pipes, or open pipes of any kind, unless you want to lose a LOT of performance! If you are racing it at 4500+ rpm all the time, then it will run OK with them, but who does that with a street bike? Even most drag bikes are using 2-1 systems. The only Harleys that ran even slightly well with them were the old Shovels and Pans. You will lose as much as 25% of your low end torque if you run straight pipes. Baffles will help a little, but not enough to be noticable. If you insist on using drags, then you need to use 1 3/4 inch pipes, especially with an 883. 2 inch pipes won't keep the exhaust gas velocity high enough to scavange the combustion chambers properly. Even the largest drag bikes I've built ran 1 3/4 inch head pipes. Drag pipes cause a lot of reversion, which can damage your engine from thermal shock to the heads. It's all about physics and basic engine theory. There are several so-called "fixes" for drag pipes, including Anti-Reversion (AR) cones, and thumbscrews in the end of the pipes. They DO NOT work! Period. I've done lots of dyno testing using those methods and the difference is barely noticable on the machine, and not noticable at all by "seat of the pants" feel. Any differences noticed on the dyno were well within the margin of error of the dyno, so it's really impossible to tell if they had any effect at all.

If you want a bike that runs well and sounds good, get yourself a REAL exhaust system or get some Cycle Shack slip-ons for your 1 3/4 inch head pipes. They work very well and are fairly loud (and are pretty cheap). Remember... louder does NOT mean better performance. I used to like really loud pipes, but I outgrew that phase a couple decades ago.

Don't forget, once you change the exhaust, you will need to rejet the carb, preferably on a dyno. You will also have to increase the incoming air by modifying or changing the air cleaner. Using a dyno is the only way to get the mixture correct throughout the entire rpm range. You can do it manually, but it takes a lot of time, several sets of plugs, and an open, deserted road to run it up to 80+ mph several times.