I have an 09' SG. I have read so many post of this site about different exhaust it is making my head spin. I have a few questions as I am new to the Harley world. I know when it comes to exhaust everyone has their own opinion but I wanna hear them. Which is better as far as performance, duals or a 2-1? When it comes to 2-1 is there anything that can compete with a D&D Fat Cat as far a look and performance? I know its usually a love/hate thing with the D&D sound. If I was to go with duals should I change the head pipe or just go with slip ons? I have read where some people feel like with duals they lost low end torque, is this true. Any insight into this matter will greatly help. I know there is hundreds of post of this subject and I have read many of them but am still not sure.

 

D&D FatCat, can't comment. I am running a Vance&Hines Pro-Pipe full system and could not be happier. Perfect sound and performance w/ mods I have done. Many factors to your questions, ie...are you only looking for top end or bottom end. Pro-Pipe give great bottom end torque and grunt.

You will loose some top end, if you live with that. On my roadglide I am running true duals w/ Bub7's. Again, GREAT sound and performance w/ completed mods. Custom mapping w/ SERT done by Nick Trask at Custom Performance in Phoenix. I won't let anyone else but Nick and his crew to wrench on my bikes for tuning or major work.

 

Hey Travis- exhaust is a matter of choice (YOURS!). I just put V&H fishtail slipons on my FLHRC, and I like the old school looks and the V&H sound. Best thing you can do is match your pipes to the style of your bike and the look you like! Some of the pipe manufacturers have sound on their websites so you can listen to the pipes. Most of the standards (Vance & Hines, Bub, etc) all perform well.

As far as loud, I assume you're in the US and there are laws in your state regarding the Db level allowed legally. Maybe you don't care, but if you want to avoid tickets, you may want to check the sound levels of the pipes you're considering versus the allowable limits in your state.

True duals are said to have the best performance, and will be a complete set including headers which don't collect into a 2-1-2 manner like the stockers. Slipons are easy to install and imho, suit the majority of riders. They're also less expensive than a full set. The bigger cost is in the high flow air filter system and the re-mapping for your ECM. I'd really suggest you have the bike dyno'ed when the stage 1 is done to maximize the performance.

Hope this helps- ride safe

 

I don't want to loose a lot of bottom end. I think the bike has plenty of top end now and if I had to give something up it would be a little top end. I have a SE Heavy Breather on it now. Is there anything performance wish to be gained by just putting a set of slip ons on the bike?

 

High flow slip ons will make a difference, yes. As I said previously, the best route when completing your stage 1 upgrade is to have the bike dyno tested and adjusted with a race tuner. The race tuner isn't cheap (just paid 600.00 for one in Canada). Running your bike with the SE heavy breather without remapping means you're probably running excessively lean, and that can damage your bike.

Ride Safe