I have a 05 883 custom (before F.I.) I love my bike but it has stock pipes. It sounds like a sewing machine. I want loud but not every cop on the corner pulling me over loud. I have some conflicting opinions from people near and dear to me. Some are saying I have to do a stage one (jetting ect) if I go with short shots much less (mufflers). While others say as long as I go with 1"3/4 pipes straight or otherwise I shouldnt have to do anything more. So I am asking for help from the vast knowledge of those on this site.. Thankyou to those who respond.

 

If you just want loud , put on a set of rush slipons. No need to rejett if its just the pipes. If you do the AC, your gonna need to rejett.

 

Some here have been lucky. Me, not so lucky. I went with just V&H straightshots slip-ons
and my bike really ran lean. I had it dynoed and it was so lean, it was off the charts.
The stock slow jet was a .42 and the main was a .180

I now run a .46 and a .190 and I still think my slow speed jet could stand to bump up
to a .48. I also might add that since I had to do a rejet anyway, I waent ahead and put on
a high flow breather too.

My brother put the same slip-ons on his 883R and he said it was fine at stock. So, you may get lucky
and not have to rejet.

 

If you decide to go with slip-on's, you'll have the dilema of choosing which make/model to go with. I can honestly say that my V&H slip-on's are obnoxiously LOUD.

Another forum member stopped by this morning. His bike was quite noticable - loud, but not horribly so. He has SE II's with Big City Thunder baffles.

If I were to do it all over again, I think I would opt for his set-up.

Just my opinion though.

 

Other than bmkshort, I've never heard of a problem with just putting on mufflers or pipes to improve the sound. I put on cycle shack mufflers and nothing else at first, the bike still ran great, no increase or decrease in performance, just a better sound. Then I did the air cleaner, and re-jet for improved performance.

I would recommend staying away from Straight pipes, or "drag pipes". You get no back pressure from those, and will lose mid range torque. Other than that, pipes or slip on mufflers should give you the sound you want. Many options available.

 

i have an 06 with the vance and hines slip ons. yes, they are very loud! much louder than the se2's, and even louder now that I had the 1200 conversion done. But they sound amazing. I don't think they are too loud, but I'm sure some folks feel otherwise.

If you want semi loud, go on ebay and try to find some se2's, or try the rush pipes. I would stick with mufflers as you will not lose any back pressure and it's a lot cheaper than buying a full set of pipes, unless you buy the rhinehart slip ons, as they are extremely expensive...but also very very very loud!

Rob

 

Mine were a little too loud for my tastes, so I ordered the V&H quiet baffles. I think its just right now.
To put it in perspective, the sound is about halfway between stock mufflers and the slip-ons with a deeper tone.

 

How hard was it to change out the stock baffles to the quiet ones, did you do this mod yourself?

I may want to go this route as well.

 

Its been a while now, but I seem to remember taking off the heat shields, or at least loosen and move them, and one screw retaining
the baffles. It was real simple though, I do remember that part.

If you go that route, remember this. The baffles will come in with insulation wrapped around them with tape. DO NOT remove this.
I had to call V&H myself as it was confusing at first. Just slip in the baffles, line up the screw hole, reassemble, and DONE!

Btw, I did notice that as time went on, the carbon build-up, which is normal, will deepen the tone even more. It sounds even better.

 

Talked to many local Dealers and the way to go is Rush slipons no need to touch anything with the carbs,sound great, The dealer had a set on a Sporty in the showroom and started it up and I was sold.Found a set on the web for 226.00 + shipping.