Has anyone besides me actually heard them? I bet not.

I really think you should give the new for 07 SE pipes a chance. I know the term "street legal" turns some people off but I can tell you for a fact they are louder and better sounding than stock. To me they are the perfect balance between loud and offensive and are exactly what I was looking for. Hopefully some other people will install them and comment as I think I am the first test monkey on these.

An interesting note in the accessory catalog is that these pipes are legal when installed on a bike with a "stock motor". This means they are too loud when installed on a stage one bike. hmmmm. Methinks they are not too much quieter than SEII's and that Harley is dancing around the EPA. Very few people put just pipes on their bike.

 

for me, the jury is out (because I am making my purchases over the winter) but I am leaning towards vance and hines, for a couple of reasons.
1) Price
2) I have been told they are not a loud as the SE2's, by a dealer.

Now, there are people who work at Harley Dealerships that wont put wont put them on and went with a different brand, take that anyway you want to. But, for me it comes down to the price. Some want the preformance and not the sound.

 

Since they are street legal, then Harley should have put them on the bikes right from the factory instead of charging $300. What a freaking ripoff. In the past they had an excuse for the seII's because they were off road use only. What is their excuse now except greed? Better sounding and better performing mufflers on the bike from day 1.

 

Not sure what V&H's you heard, but they are pretty friggin loud!

 

Which pipes actually perform better? V&H of SEII? V&H makes more sound, but does that mean more power?

 

I wondered the same thing myself. No doubt it's greed but you can't "legally" do the mufflers AND the stage one air cleaner/download on an 07 so they probably figured they would be shooting themself in the foot by adding the mufflers at the factory and missing out on sales of stage one upgrades AND slip on mufflers. This way they can legally sell/install both, just not together.

 

the vance and hines slipons are WAY louder than se2's. Not sure what your dealer was thinking.

 

Go with V&H Propipe. It will give great sound and great power gains!

 

For normal street riding on a stock or slightly modified bike, the performance difference between various aftermarket exhaust systems is so slight it won't make a bit of difference.

Just purchase the system you want based upon your own personal preferences (look, tone, etc), throw them on, and hit the road..

If we were talking about a "track only bike", spending it's life in the upper end of the RPM range, pipes would make more of a difference.

But for a normal street bike, in normal driving conditions, much of the riding is in the lower powerband, and the additional 1 or 2 horsepower you might get in the upper RPM range with the most expensive, tricked out exhaust system won't even be noticed.

Don't fall for all the marketing hype.

 

Marketing my man, marketing. It's all about getting MORE $ out of us for the stockholders.