I don't have a tach so I don't know where I ride, I go strictly by sound and feel. I've been staying in higher RPM's lately because of the ability to accel better and stuff.
I do stay in low RPM's though when coming home from work at 11 at night or leaving for work at 6 in the morning on a Saturday.

 

i can't count the potatoes that fast, you all must have incredible hearing....

 

All I got out of the article was that unless you live at the redline, stock intake and pipes are just fine. Those mods don't show any gains until 5000 rpm or higher. Just richen it up a little.
Gary D.

 

That's what I got from the article. That adding a stage one kit doesn't give you any real gains in torque or HP until you are over 5000 RPM. He is saying it is cheaper to just ride your stock bike at a higher RPM to get up to a 50% power boost. So, if you are not the run up there RPM-wise or are a WOT-type, than the HP/Torque increase from say a stage one kit is not a good bang for the buck upgrade.

I also came to understand this after years of modifying my harleys (a little late in the game to not save me thousands of dollars unfortunately). I believe in richening up the bike in the closed loop mode (the open loop mode I am told is fine) by the addition of cheap XIEDs (which by the way smoothed my bike out better than the IDS....I actually like the 5th gear whine BTW...let's me know I am in 5th). The thousands of dollars I save on not going to a stage one, stage two, etc is better served to me by adding comfort to the bike and financing trips with my wife.

If I need to get on it for any reason, I just drop down a gear or so and take advantage of the big increase in torque and HP at 4500 RPM and more. Never had a problem passing anyone even up steep hills.

But, that's me. I don't have the discretionary income I use to have after I took a $30K a year salary cut last year. So...comfort and trips are more important than any power increase from any mods...can't afford all.

BTW, my bike loves to cruse at 85 Mph (the sweet spot for my bike). That's turning 3000 RPM on my '07, which I understand has a higher gear ratio than the '09s. I typically don't go to 6th gear until at least 70 mph, but have no problem (since installing the IEDs) using 6th gear a 60 mph...but that's lugging it to me.

 

I am almost never under 3200 rpm unless on the highway tooling along. One of the things I thouroughly enjoy about riding is twisting the throttle and feeling the power, no matter at 35 mph or 60 mph. I almost always shift at or around 4500. Yes, my neighbors love me!

 

I try to keep her at 2600-3000 for cruising and setting the Cruise Control. Accelerating, I can feel when the bike gets "off the pipe" and shift from there... On my bike, thats around 4500RPM... upshift, jam the throttle some more... Mileage wise, cruising at 2450-2600 is the best mileage. FYI, thanks for the earlier post about "on the pipe" brings me back!

 

I haven't seen the article, but I have read claims by exhaust and slip on muffler companies saying their pipes increase power without any further mod.
It would be interesting to see dyno result after each component of a stage 1 is added starting with just fuel enrichment, then pipes then A/C. That would tell the tale.

I know my 05 softail standard ran better after I put slip ons on it and nothing else.
My butt dyno could tell a difference in low end torque and drivability. It may have run even better had I put a fuel enricher on it and an A/C but I don't know. I did have the bike on a dyno and it showed 70hp and 75 torque with just the muffler change. I didn't do a base line but the tech said that was quite a bit more than what he usually saw stock.

 

Pulling power is torque, not HP.

Twinkies have always been notoriously rev happy, and I've heard it rumored (no facts to back it up other than seat of the pants) that the new throttle by wire set up don't even go WOT until the engine hits 3k RPM regardless of how much you're twisting the wick.

For normal highway cruising, I'm usually around 2500-3200 RPM, in the twisties, I never let it drop below 3k RPM. Hit 4500 RPM often though.

 

The problem is that most dyno sheets are WOT. I don't know about you, but I almost never drive WOT.

There is definitely a noticeable difference in power between stock and stage 1, but my personal experience has been that it's 90% exhaust, with intake/fuel controller splitting the remaining 10%.

The major advantage (to me) in a stage 1 that's not obvious on a dyno is the cooler engine from running a richer AFR. Someone above mentioned the (X)IEDs. I had originally intended to go that route, but they weren't available for 09s at the time.

I've very happy with the FuelMoto "package" and think that it's a pretty good value. Less than $800 for better flowing intake and exhaust, and a complete fuel/ignition controller seems very reasonable.

I will admit, though, that I didn't think the engine was a "dog" even when bone stock.

 

I run WOT when passing and may or may not down shift. Depends on how fast I'm going and how much room I have to get around. That's when I want power, at WOT.

I'll say my 06 RK ran like crap until I put the full stage 1 on it. Cooled it a lot and def. accelerates better. Less coughing also so I'm good with it.