Yikes, I am no mechanic but would not consider that a normal condition. What is your oil temp? I would be very, very, very inclined to have that checked out by a good mechanic. Call it preventative maintenance. Faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaar better than an engine failure.

 

OK, so I'm gonna rich it up a little with the PCV, but after doing a little more research it seems that it is very common for these bikes to glow a little just outside the heads. Next time you guys take your bike out for a ride, let it idle for a minute or two like I did and check your pipes for the first few inches outside the heads and see if it glows a little. I'm not talking bright red, melting metal hot, but glowing. You might be surprised at how many of you have the same thing.

 

when it glows its still a little lean on that cyl. it shouldn't happen when idleing for a minute or two. If you idle for 5 to 10 minutes it may happen.

 

I definitely think you ought to be looking into having it tuned on a dyno. The couple hundred bucks you spend now will save a lot more later down the road.

 

OK, so I talked to Jamie at fuel moto today and asked if he could revise the map for my PCV to add a little more fuel, and told him the reason why. He said that it's absolutely normal for the pipes to glow a little for the first few inches, especially after idling for a couple minutes. He said there's no reason to remap it. I still might get a dyno-tune once the local shop gets their new machine up and running, but for now, I think I'm fine. Also talked to the dealer and they said the same thing. So did any of you guys check your pipes after ridding today? I'm curious to see if I really am the only one...

 

Glad to hear that the glowing is normal, 07' Deluxe stock exhaust and AC... Idling for a couple minutes, both headpipes were glowing red. I'm sure the factory settings are on the LEAN side and the stock head pipes might be thinner guage steel, letting them glow quicker.
I checked the plugs... little to no carbon build-up, clean and white with the warm weather coming, I will be getting a PC3 and appropriate map (stage 1 ) richer= cooler and piece of mind

 

I just got back from a short little run tonight and the front wasn't glowing at all, but the rear was a little from the lack of air flow. Still gonna go for the dyno tune though. might as well see if i can cool it off a little and get another hp or two...

 

From my Panhead to this 08 SG only one bike I had out of 10 had any glow.. IT was the 05 Softtail.. Glowing from extended idle yes.. But not after a few minutes.

 

Yes, this happened to me, and I started a thread about it a couple years ago but can't find it now. Vance & Hines Straightshots with Stage I air cleaner and remap. My pipes were red at the rear, not just the cylinder ends! Pipes were louder than usual that day, and I seemed to have more power. Don't know what it was exactly. If too lean, it solved itself. Perhaps it was the gas.

 

plugs should show a hint of pastel tan coloring. even in a twincam efi. white is still too lean.

my 06 dyna: white plugs = glowing pipes and hot!! after i tuned with tts mastertune plugs were showing a slight bit of tan (pastel tan) and no more glowing head pipes!!