As part of my on going effort to get a true comparison of the different options we continually discuss here on the forum, this past week I had the opportunity to evaluate some Vance & Hines Pipes. I met a girl on an883 with the same screamin eagle air cleaner as my 883, that had Vance & Hines pipes.

I explained to her & hubby about this forum, and how I was trying to get a true comparison of the various options available. They agreed to let me ride her bike for a short while. This is my analysis:

Her Vance & Hines pipes versus my Cycle Shacks is this. The chrome is somewhat better quality. The sound is a lower throatier rumble. They are not as loud as the Cycle Shacks, and I noticed slightly less mid range torque on her bike.

 

I'm kinda like you. I don't know what direction I'm going at this point. I liked the baffless OE's but knew I was missing out on the midrange. I put drags with baffles, but the tone is too high. Without the baffles they sound awesome but too loud. I'm going to mod the baffles. I have heard the V&H and they aren't loud enough. Guess I'm going to experiment with the baffle thing.

 

I made some BCT knock-offs for my V&H pipes. All they are is a washer on a stick (also known as lollipops); cost a couple of dollars to make, if that. If you have larger diameter pipes, you will need a reducer too, but that was unnecessary with my 1 3/4" O.D. pipes. They create enough back pressure for good mid-range torque, nice deep tone, and loud as hell.
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This is what I was going to try. My pipes are 2' O/D. The baffles are 4 inches long that reduce to about 1' I/D. They have 8 small deflectors. Not loud at all! I took a cheater bar and knocked them back almost flush with the baffle wall. Getting close, but the pitch is too high. Tell me what you think about this. I'm going to cut them in half and add one deflector at the very end. Am I wasting my time or will this work?

 

I wish I had the answer to that. I was going to try to modify my existing baffles, but after talking to the guy at BCT, it didn't seem like it would work. Based on what I learned, I think the V&H baffles are too restrictive. I am guessing yours would be, too.

Anyway, I decided to DIY a pair of BCT's first as a test. They sounded so good, I just left them in and decided to forego the purchase.

If your pipes are that large you will need reducers according to BCT. The guy I spoke to there said the larger the diameter pipe, the slower the exhaust. Apparently, there is a sweet spot for pipe diameter, and the BCT baffles ( I hesitate to call them baffles) compensate for that, if necessary.

Here in a link to the ones that fit your pipes:

http://*******.com/2dermk

I wish I had taken pics of how I made them. If you are interested, I can try to describe how I did it.

BTW, I hope all this makes sense. It is taking me forever to write this right now...can't...gather...thoughts...[sm=icon_guiness.gif]




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Makes sense. BCT looks like for my pipes would be 1-7/8x1-1/2x1-7/8, I.D.

 

I rode three Sportsters today- my 07 883 with the V&H slipon mufflers with baffles, my wife's 06 883 with cycle shack slipons, and my sister-in-law's 05 883 with V&H short shots and no baffles- here's my 2 cents: the cycle shacks sound great but have a higher pitched tone than the V&H and there is a noticeable loss of low end torque, the V&H short shots without baffles are loud but have an "obnoxious" tone and a wierd sound on decelration and a very noticeable loss of torque, my baffled V&H slipons have a deep tone, good sound volume and quality, and no noticeable loss of low-end grunt. Just my opinion.

 

Thank you all for the critiques. I have the cycle shack slip on's and am happy with them. There might be some slight differences and that would be understandable. The most important difference for me is the performance and, I believe the cycle shack model is best for me in that catagory. Appreciate the input and for you starting this thread sportypig.

 

Are the Vance & Hines Slipons that much quieter than the Cycle Shacks?

I currently have the Cycle Shacks and they are too loud for me. I want a deep tone but not too loud.

What does the quiet baffles do for the VH slipons (I know it quiets it down)...???

 

The Vance & Hines are somewhat quieter than the Cycle Shacks, and have a considerable lower rumble. Keep in mind this is a comparison of pipes on carb models. I'm not sure at all what differences happened with the EFI and cat. converters etc in 2007.