Ok my old man just picked up a 2005 FatBoy a few weeks ago. It has the stock pipes on it. And he wants to louden it up. So he was talking about how he use to just remove the baffles.

So here is my question.
Can we just cut out the baffles?
Is there any negative effects of removing them?
Will the bike require tuning if they are removed?

 

Is your bike EFI or carburated?
Anytime you remove or cut out the baffles on exhaust pipes, you are going to lose some of your low end torque..it may make the bike feel sluggish. The only way to fix that is to modify the air intake..Stage 1 Screamin' Eagle or Arlen Ness...and if's it EFI, you will need to either get the ECM download, Power Commander, or Race Tuner...that it to program your bike to the modifications. If it's Carburated, you will definetly need to rejet.
Candace

 

I believe it is EFi

 

Mine is an EFI too and I have Cycle Shack Slipons....you can get them Ebay for under $125. My pipes ARE LOUD too!!!!!! They sound great and are the loudest slipons I've heard and a cheap way to achieve that wonderful Harley sound. If you add slip-ons, you will not need to do anything!!!! Now if you add the air kit, you will need to also add the download, commander, or tuner...$$$$. I wouldn't drill out the baffles on the stock....you wouldn't have any back pressure....Go with a set of Slip-ons!!!!! They have baffles and are awesome sounding~~> My friend had the Screamin' Eagle slip-ons and they sound good, but my Cycle Shack slip-ons ROCK!!!!
Good Luck!

 

I tried that. It sounded like crap. The problem is that the hole down the middle of the muffller is just too small. I went to B & E and got a set of mufflers. He uses take-off mufflers and cuts the center section out. He replaces it with a spiral core with no baffel. He has 1 3/4" centers and 2" centers. I got the 1 3/4" and they sound great! The sound is reasonable at idle or partial throttle and they bark when you hit it. They also cost less than $200. Great sound at a great price.

 

Just removing the baffles will cause nothing but problems. It will be loud, but loud does not equal good performance. Open pipes or even drag pipes w/ the crappy little baffles are the worst things you can run on a bike. Not only do you lose low and mid range torque, but it will be almost impossible to tune properly.

I'd go with the Cycle Shack option. They give the most bang for the buck. You won't lose much low end torque with them and they sound great. Either way, you will also have to put a freer breathing air cleaner on it then put it on a dyno to get it tuned correctly.

 

i just pulled the baffles out of my pipes a few days ago. im putting them back in the next chance i get. it is rediculously loud and i dont like the way it sounds at higher rpms. idle sounds great but other than that i dont like it. and like everyone els said. it really does feal like i lost power.

 

I can guarantee that you lost power, except for possibly a small gain above 5000 rpm, but that's of no real use on a street bike.

I hear a lot of people talk about "backpressure". Fact is, backpressure isn't the main reason you need mufflers. It's all about "reversion". A well designed exhaust system (or muffler) will control the reversion pulses from going back up the pipe and into your head, then out your intake. This results in a major interruption of airflow through the engine, especially if you have cams that have a lot of overlap (basically... anything other than a stock cam). You don't want a lot of backpressure, but you MUST control the reversion pulses to let your engine make good torque below 5000 rpm. If you have ever heard a Harley that sounded like it was "gurgling" while at low rpm or idling, then you have heard the effects of reversion. This is more noticable on the rear cylinder. Put your hand over the end of the pipe while it's idling, and if you feel it sucking your hand towards the pipe, then you have a problem. It is NOT GOOD for your engine, and in the worst cases can result in thermal shock damage to the heads due to the cold air being sucked back into the hot heads.