First, here's a brief story. I purchased a used Night Train about 15 months ago. When I got it, I thought it was all stock besides cosmetic stuff like footpegs. Come to find out, it had a nice lowering kit and a few other things, all of which ended up being a bonus. The exhaust looked stock. It was relatively quiet, but after riding with others, we decided that the baffles were definitely drilled or somehow modified.

Fast forward to a few weeks ago. I had my bike at a local dealer for tires and some basic service. When they dropped the bike back off, the mechanic discussed various things on the bike with me. When he was leaving, he mentioned one last thing. When he had the bike in the air, he noticed that one of the mufflers had a busted off mounting bolt. He tried removing the busted bolt, but it already had a bolt remover busted off in it. Instead, he found a take off muffler in good shape (better than my old one to be honest) and put that on my bike. Between the title and the story, you can probably see where this is going, right?

We had a few days that were warm in the last few weeks and I've managed to get about 100 miles on my bike. I've decided that I don't like the sound now. The friend that I ride with the most even commented on it. I'm not upset with the dealership or the mechanic really. The dealership has treated me very well. This was just a case of someone doing a good deed (I wasn't charged for the muffler) and it not turning out.

So, my choices are to try to drill this muffler or else just go with a set of slip ons. I think I've decided on a new set of slip ons. I spent a few hours reading through this forum and I think I have it narrowed down to a few choices. What I want is something with possibly a deeper tone than stock. However, I don't want to set off car alarms or cause hearing loss to myself or anyone riding on my right. I want to be able to sneak through town or back to my house late at night if I keep the throttle mostly closed. A little bark when I crack the throttle would be nice though!

Right now I'm thinking either just a set of the Screaming Eagle slip ons or else some Rush slip ons with either 1.5" or 1.75" baffles. I'm worried that the SE's will be too close to stock, but I'm also worried that the Rush slip ons will be louder than I want. So, any advice here on what's going to put me into the noise range I'm looking for?

Also, does anyone have any experience with the diameter of these slip ons versus stock? The stock slip on is already as close as I want it to get to the passenger footpeg. Pictures of these on a bike would be great too!

Thanks for any help!

 

i have the SEII slip-ons and i like them a lot. i have never been able to compare them to Rush slip ons, but i do get a lot of compliments on the sound of them. they have a removeable baffle (which i removed) and i think it has a great combination of loudness and deepness. i put the baffles in once last summer, took a 15 minute ride, and came back to take em back out as they were too quiet for me, but they WERE louder than stock. my wife rides with me all the time and though the foot peg looks close, she has never melted any shoe on the pipe. but she also knows to stay away from it.
you can do a youtube search for both and even be able to see the pegs

 

You're going to want the SE Slipons. They're a little louder than stock (not much), but they won't bother anyone. They're also 100% street legal. You can get the same pipes from V&H (straigh shots) but they'll be louder and have a deeper, more throaty Harley sound. V&H makes both.

 

Kromewerks mufflers, good performance deep tone not outrageously loud and cheap (in price). They and cycleshack do not spend $$$$$$$$ on advertising, like V&H so they are cheaper in price. Excellent quality.

Get the 3" HP mufflers, you get them through Drag Specialties at the dealer.

http://www.khromewerks.com/

 

Here's heres a link to a clip of my SEII slip ons. took the video with a close shot of the foot peg too. hope this helps. this is with no baffles.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9f0jyKWuqY

 

I agree... you are probably gonna want to go with the SE's. I think they sound the best out of all the Slip-on's.

 

I have a set of Cycle Shack slip-ons for sale in the classifieds. They were bought from Dennis Kirk, and I only used them for a short period of time. The part number is in the listing, if you want to check them out on Dennis Kirk. Just a thought for ya.

 

Thanks for the replies and especially the youtube link. That got me listening to bikes for a good 30 minutes. The SE's sounded nice without the baffles. I'm guessing that's going to require some rejetting and maybe an air cleaner though, right?

One question more about the SE's. Are there baffles from other companies that work in them? Some of the youtube videos made me think so. If so, what kind of modifications are required to make them work? I'm a fair hand with a wrench... on a car. I have a big learning curve with this bike stuff.

I also listened to the Rush slip ons at their site. About the biggest thing I learned was that computer speakers just don't do bikes justice (that's even with my set of 6.1 surrounds with a huge subwoofer). On the computer, the Rush 1.75's seemed perfectly acceptable. Maybe I need to crank the volume and try again?

refuseandrezizt, I see I blew it and didn't put the year of my Night Train in my post. It's a 2000, so I don't think those slip ons of yours would work.

 

they do make other baffles for a direct fit with no modifications. try www.bigcitythunder.com

 

I had the rush 2.25 and the 1.75 and stock. the 1.75 sounds low when cruising but just open the throttle and the can get louder but not enough to set off car alarms. the 2.25 would set them off all the time. I would get the 1.75 and if they are too loud them I am sure you can find someone in the forum that will swap you a set. that is how I got my 1.75. the forum classified.