Thinking of doing what might be called a partial Stage 1 on my 2018 Road King. Thinking about:

a) Leaving the stock A/C in place

b) V&H Slip Ons

c) The Screaming Eagle tuner.

Would appreciate all comments, including opinions on the V&H Slip Ons. The guy at the dealer recommended them over the Screaming Eagles.

 

Cant comment on the slip ons other than why buy a tuner if you're not upgrading the AC or headers?

 

Agreed - and also, which slip ons? V&H makes a lot of different models.

 

Add a breather and call it a day.

 

at least get the high flow K&N, it fits in the stock cover.

 

I would add the air filter, since you are so close to a stage 1, whats $70 ...

Since i like my SGS Power .....
I did the following...changed to K&N high flow air filter and added 2017 CVO slip ons, maybe she breathes a bit easier, but, who knows.....according to my HD tech the ECM can make minor changes to the bike without human intervention.
Would a catless exhaust be better, yes !!! but i have a heck of a long warrantee time, years in fact....

 

I did the slipons and stage I SEPST ahead of my AC swap, bike seemed ok with it. Then, I added the K&N and bike seemed ok with it. Not digging the poor design of the K&N plastic sleeves that tend to collapse under minimal screw torque, I changed to the SE upgrade filter in the stock cover. The bike let me know it liked that a lot better. My take away is that the M8 is touchy and The MoCo has nailed down their tunes very well and when components are substituted it may not be optimal.

 

here's my buddy's RK with SE AC, Street Canons and dyno tuned with SEPST and then with V&H 4" Monster rounds..apples to apples for the most part..the VH&MRs sound and look great...I have the same bike and parts, tune etc. except I kept my Street Canons which i like..he only replaced them because of his 3rd loose baffle, I'm on #2...if it happens again I'm going with the V&HMRs since I now know a retune isn't necessary, just a hot swap..hope this helps

edit: should have mentioned this..I recommend you do the AC but if you do the SEPST calibration with V&HMRs it might not behave optimum..the Street Canons will

 

if you are keeping it stock except for the slip ons.... u dont need to do anything....the Street tuner is a waste of money.....wait and do a real stage 1...... there is no 1/2 stage one.....

 

Do whatever you think is right.