glens, actually the stock mufflers on the RGlide are both set up the same. Baffle diverters (plugs, 2 each) in each muffler, unlike the standards which have that weird honeycomb in one muffler and baffle diverters in the other. So I'm thinking I should have no problems with just the headers (I might be wrong). The pipe won't be able to scavenge as the crossover will be deleted, so it may require a little fuel/air tweek.

 

duels
air cleaner
fuel mngt
synthetic
good pipes
about $1000 give or take

 

Wow! I'd never let my bike idle for 15 minutes. Any sort of construction delays at all and I shut mine off. Did the same with my Evo-engined bike. Absolutely no reason to leave them running.

 

No matter what you do to the motor it's still going to be hot on your lower thighs. The best thing I have found are the ":Saddle Sheilds" made by Kuryakyn and usually sold at most dealerships. I believe they are about $70, but are well worth it if you ride alot. I have used them on both my EG's.

 

On my '07 SEUC I DID notice the heat when at a traffic light. I had the dealer install V&H Tru-Dual headers to go with the '03 RG slip-ons, and the SE air cleaner. It already had the stage 1 download. No SERT or anything else. Made it much more comfy on the legs and sounds better too. Torque curve came down a little bit, I can run 6th gear at 65 MPH riding 2 up, and it pulls better. Still have to drop a gear on a big hill, but I can run 6th and not lug it below 70..

 

teach, if that's indeed the case (same-type muffler internals left/right) then the only problem I see would be a loss of torque down mid/low (about where I prefer to run; usually shift at multiples of 10mph; pulls just fine in top gear from 60). Might be a fair tradeoff for the heat, though.

I don't understand why they'd do the muffler scheme differently for the RG v. others. Doesn't make much sense. I figure the left "muffler" is the way it is (at least on the RK which is my only source of first-hand knowledge) to help produce their "commanding deep tone"; to limit possibility of back-washing the O2 sensor, causing an enrichment under closed-loop; to limit heat at the wye by biasing flow to one side; or some combination of the three. If any of that is "true" it should be the case for all the recent touring family.

I understand the mufflers were comparable L/R up 'til '06, thus my reasoning for some of those possible causes for [I meant "due to"] the change to dual O2 sensors in '07.

 

the mufflers on the 07 touring bikes are exactly the same there is no difference with the baffling or otherwise. I put the TD Fullsak system on my 07 rkc and did not loose any torque and it run alot cooler...i also have the thundermax autotune with the wide band o2 sensors.


just my .02

 

glens, yeah I don't understand it either (why the slip-ons are just plugged). I would have assumed they would be like the others I've seen but fortunately for me, my older brother picked up a set from a friends takeoff (didn't want them) to play with. I was thinking like you about the honeycombed chamber. He told me no honeycomb which I found hard to swallow so had a look. Sure enough each muffler has just the two metal plugs, one on either end. I'm not sure if all 07's are like this or whether they have some other design internally.
Anyhow, I think I'm gonna follow everyones advice and pick up the TD Fullsak's. Thanks for the input... T

 

No problem teach, and thanks WildBill and Ultrasweet. Sometimes my sarcasm doesn't come off right...
My 07 FLHT experience: (built 07/06 and purchased 08/06)
Bike ran fine stock, no heat issues at all other than what I expected when having more cubic inches. I expected it because when I went from a 1200 sporty to a softail, I thought that big twin was gonna burn me up.
In January I put Rush slip ons with the 2.25" baffles, bike ran great untilthe heat and oxygenated fuel arrivedin May. I had serious pinging under load and thought a stage 1 was the solution. Added the AC and the download, and man talk about heat!! Took care of the pinging, but it was hotter than hades in town and killed the lower end.
Put the stock air cleaner back on, went to another dealer that was kind enough to verify the correct download was loaded. It was, so I left the stock AC onto keep it richened up. Rode this way until the $140.00 air cleaner sitting on my kitchen counter got the better of me. E-mailed Rush and told them my story, they wrote back that 2.25" baffles won't fly in an 07 w/o a SERT or similar and suggested I go with 2.0 baffles, stage 1 download and stock air cleaner, or 1.75's with the SC air cleaner.
I ordered 1.75" baffles, which took forever to arrive and installed them a few weeks ago, leaving the stock air cleaner on thinking runninga little rich can't hurt. All was well except for occasionally the bike would load up at idle when it wasn't fully warmed upand stumble a bit at take off *sigh*..... this past Sunday I put the screamin' eagle air cleaner back on and found that Rush was spot on with their advice: 1.75" baffles and the stage 1 download w/air cleaner. The excessiveheat is gone, the bike runs great at all RPM's and Ican roll on in sixth gear from 75-up with zero ping. If I hammer it to wide open throttle in sixth, it willping a little bit so I don't dothat anymore.
One other thing that helped with the ping was switching from Chevron to Circle K (of all places) gas.Ifound out laterthat Circle K gas is provided by Shell.
If it matters, my bike is my daily driver and only means of transportation,and was ridden through out all the experimenting, so it wasn't like I had an unrideable $20,000 bike sitting there until it ran to my satisfaction.

Keep on keepin on and ride safe.

 

Well, then maybe a Road King Classic born at the end of January 2007 isn't an 07 touring bike because my left muffler is just a big empty chamber with a small plug at the outlet. It's a tube a few inches long closed-over on the inlet end and contains a dozen holes about 5/16" diameter. The right muffler looking in the inlet has a tube which deflects down and to the left and looking in the outlet a similar-looking tube deflects up and to the left. The pair together did produce a nice deep fundamental tone but they were too quiet to practically hear over the engine mechanical noise.

teach: congrats! sounds like you've got something decent to work with. Are you absolutely sure they are take-offs from an '07?

Time2ride: I sure appreciate you fleshing that story out like that. I've read a review somewhere of a project bike where going with a high-flow air-cleaner assembly netted a small loss of lower-end torque over the stock unit. Fortunately for me, the only time I've ever noticed pinging was the one tank of Shell fuel I got that was only 89 octane (the highest the station had). I was running on fumes at the time, literally, and figured it couldn't hurt too bad. Last time for that! Of course I haven't tried again since the 2" Rush, K&N filter assembly, and PC-III were added. Maybe some day when I feel adventurous...

For about 1000 miles I ran just the mufflers and it ran okay for the most part; maybe a tad hotter around town. Didn't notice anything at all like a loss of power anywhere in the rev range. There might be a slight loss of lowest-end now with the K&N gear up front but it's not much if any. I'm liking the ride as well as anything I've ever owned.

The only downloads I've had are from my laptop to the PC-III.

Have you kept track of your fuel usage throughout your ordeal? I'd like to know what it is you're getting. I started at about 35 and was getting a good glimpse at the low 40s when I did my 1k and put the mufflers on. It seems like it worked its way back down to the mid 30s again, where it stayed with the fueler/A-C and I'm having a bit of a problem getting it to trend back up again. Usually (with a good deal of in-town riding, admittedly) about 37 lately.