I bought a 2004 XL that the previous owner put on V&H straight shot slip-ons. He said he also had rejetted the carb. I installed quiet baffles and was wondering if it will cause me to run richer or leaner or will it have no affect. I pulled the plugs the other day and they have a darker glazed look to them. I assume that means I'm running rich right now. Is it better to run a little rich than run a little lean?

There, I used up my alotment of stupid questions all in on post.

 

Prob just a hair richer if anything, but the QB's also supposedly kill power and dyno results can be found supporting this on XLF. Stock intake? Maybe just swap for a K&N filter first, then open up the backplate a little at a time to compensate. I'd rather be a little rich than lean.

 

I agree with this 100%. I had V&H side shots that I put the quiet baffles in on my EFI and it required a different tune according to V&H so yes it will run richer. I took mine out because there was a noticeable decrease in power.

 

I put quiet baffles on my EFI sporty and did not notice any decrease in performance. I am running sideshots and SE intake.

 

Power at wide open throttle (WOT) may decrease somewhat. Open pipes excel at the top end of RPM ranges. However, if jetted correctly you should see an increase in useable power in the 2500-4000 RPM range. The minimal amount of additional backpressure created by the quiet baffles helps a lot in low and mid range torque. The regular baffles in short shots make it an essentially straight through exhaust system, although one that is too short to be maximally effective. There is a reason that drag pipes have traditionally been 39 inches (I think that's the dimension). The length is optimized for top end horsepower with no baffling.

Remember when you are looking at dyno charts that horsepower is simply a mathmatical calculation. Torque, on the other hand, is an actual measure of work. The formula to compute horsepower is Torque X RPM, divided by 5252. You'll see that max horsepower generally occurs at the very end of the RPM range where you rarely ride, but torque peaks at a much lower range, generally where we do most of our riding. It's all about what type of riding you plan on doing. From a personal viewpoint, I'd much rather have 80 lb of torque at 3000 RPM than 100 HP at 6200 RPM, but that's just me.

 

agree with the advice to put on a better air sucker- then check your fuel settings. i bought baffles for my straightshots, but got talked out of using them. that was several years ago and i am glad for the advice. love the way this bike looks, sounds and runs with straightshots unbaffled (with a big sucker and fuel set properly).
btw, i also agree that it is better to run a bit richer- bike performs much better and who cares about a few mpgs... we already get good enough and the difference is not worth sacrificing performance and safety.

 

As others have said, definitely better to run rich than lean!. Gives you a safety margin, even thought it will cut down on your fuel mileage and power a bit. Definitely better safe than sorry though, you def don't want to risk your motor...At least my 2 cents.

 

Well rich or not I really like the way the bike sounds now. I will be riding to work most mornings and starting up at 6:30a I won't be pissing off the neighbors with them. Thanks for the replies. BTW any a/c better than the others?