So, after quite a few years of riding sportsters and dynas I finally made my way up to a 2012 Street Glide. I was able to win a set of vance and hines big shot duals on ebay for 330, brand new...anyways...My husband and I are installing them today and I'm wanting to make sure I don't have to have a tuner or fuel pak to go with it. I've gotten mixed answers to this question. I also am wondering about going with no baffle. Can this be done? or is it not advisable? With my dyna whenever I replaced just the exhaust, I did not need a tuner. Just wondering if the same goes for the touring bikes, cause HD is telling me its an absolute must. I'm well aware of the decel pop, but is there anything else I need to know about before swapping these out. Just don't have a lot of cash to pick up a tuner at the moment. Thanks! Oh and I'm sure this has been discussed, so if there is a thread that answers this question, shoot me the link in a reply and i will read it. I was unable to find any in my search.

 

I was told by the guy that works on my bike that you could do either the exhaust or the intake and not need a tuner but if you did both then you needed one. I did just that. I went for the intake first and everything was great. A short time later I put the new exhaust on along with the tuner and everything is still great. Now, my RK is a lot older than yours so this might not applicable to you. I am sure someone on here will chime in who has a little more know-how that me when it comes to the newer bikes.

As for the baffles, I took mine out and I really didn't like the way it sounded and they went right back in. Plus you loose compression but there are other ways around that. I really like they way mine sounds with the baffles in but that is also a matter of opinion and we know what people say about opinions.

 

The main problem with these 103 motors is that they are tuned on the lean side from the factory to meet EPA. Even if you did nothing to your bike, it could benefit from a tune.

That being said, there are several "schools of thought". There are no absolutes because it depends on what your goal is. Are you looking for max performance, a cooler running engine, or just an engine that will run OK and be safe under most conditions.

Generally speaking, if you just change the exhaust, the airflow doesn't increase and you will be fine. I have had friends do this with no problems. If you're in the cooler/performance camp, you would consider this a major mistake.

If you change the air cleaner & exhaust, some say the computer will adjust, most think at least an HD download is prudent, and the rest believe a tune is in order.

Anything more than a stage I, there should be a retune.

For your application, I would go ahead with the exhaust and start saving for a tuner. I would be more tuned in to whether or not you get detonation under load and/or high heat. If so, back off on the throttle and get the tuner asap. The decel popping will probably happen with those pipes because of the OEM lean tune.

That's just my opinion, others will chime in I'm sure.....

Just for an FYI..... I have a 2012 103ci with stage II (cams) and the appropriate HD download. I also have an 2003 88ci with a 95ci big bore kit and the appropriate HD download. I recently bought a PowerVision tuner from FuelMoto with licenses for both bikes. I downloaded customs tunes from FuelMoto & DynoJet. Looking at the tune AFR tables, it is obvious that the HD download tunes are much leaner than the custom tunes. Once the bike were flashed with the new tunes, they run excellent... like different bikes!

Good luck with your mods.....

 

Trust me on this, with the big shot duals your not going to need to remove the baffels. The pipes are loud enough as is. And thats why I love mine....

 

It's a good idea to get it tuned anytime you change the way the motor breaths, in and/or out and I wouldn't recommend running without baffles, your motor needs some back pressure.

 

I appreciate the feed back guys. And you are all right about not needing to remove the baffles, these things are louder than I ever imagined, just like I like! I found a vance and hines fuelpak on here pretty cheap, gonna go that route for now until we get some cash flow next May. As for my goal, I'm not really performance driven, I just wanted some good sound on the bike and it maybe to run a little cooler as well. I'm not planning on doing the air cleaner, but that's good information to know. We just finished putting them on and it definitely was a two person job...we are whopped! Thanks again for the info.

 

I bought a '10 EGC and had it upgraded to a 103 stageII with VH big shot duals. Bike needed to be re-tuned after 1k. Stealer wasn't cheap on this one, about $350, just for labor. Said that they had to run the bike on a dyno for about 3-4 hours. Tremendous difference in how it rides! Dyno sheet said 75hp and 100 lb/ft. tq.