Once you’ve narrowed down your Air Cleaner choices, it’s time to address the exhaust for your Stage One upgrade. (If you missed my Air Cleaner article, you can find that: here.)
Are you going the “slip on” muffler only route or do you want a full system? True duals? Or maybe a 2-1 that you can build onto at a later date? You can ask on one of the many social media pages, and you will generally find that everyone has their favorite. Mostly because they run that particular system on their bike, and think everyone else should as well. It can be a huge swamp of information to wade through.
First and foremost, as a dyno tuner I can tell you SOUND DOES NOT EQUAL PERFORMANCE!!!
You might be tempted to get those muffs that have cool names that sound like they came from the night of the living dead. I have seen some of those come into my dyno shop that are nothing but a chrome shell with a straight piece of pipe running through them. And the reality is they don’t work worth a darn. Loud as hell? Yes. Performance? Almost never!
Choosing an exhaust system that suits you is not going to be an easy task without good information from people who have been there—I am talking about your local dyno shop. Dyno tuners have seen just about everything out there and know what works and what doesn’t, and the information garnered from them can be priceless. If you have local dyno tuner you work with, get their advice.
Some advice I give my customers is make your choice based on looks, sure, but more importantly sound and performance. Too loud can not only make your ride less enjoyable but have the possibility of hearing damage over the long haul. For performance, a 2-1 will generally give a better torque curve on a street bike than a true dual system. If using a true dual setup, those that have some type of collector will work best. These are generally called 2-1-2 systems and can work very well when paired with appropriate mufflers. A couple that come to mind are the S&S Power tune dual or the V&H Power dual. One thing to remember is the exhaust is just part of a total combination of performance parts.
To help you narrow down your options, you can simply pop up the Dennis Kirk Exhaust Finder. This will give you many systems that fit your ride from great brands like Cobra, Rinehart, S&S, Vance & Hines, Freedom Performance and Supertrapp, to name a few. All available with extremely quick shipping as well as great customer service.
So once you have a few choices in mind; maybe your buddy’s bike had exactly the sound you were looking for, and you choose that route—but not many riders are conformists; or you took the advice of your shop; maybe you used the Exhaust Finder. Whatever the case, now that you have the high flow air cleaner and exhaust picked out you will need to address the next, and most important question: how are you going to get the proper air fuel ratio and timing for the mods you have done? That’s a subject for next time.
Don’t forget, support your local independent motorcycle shop!
Back in the late 90’s all a performance tuner had to worry about was a simple ignition and carb. But thanks to our old buddies at the EPA, more stringent standards for exhaust emissions came out and the Motor Company of course had to comply. And this called for a new system to tune a bike when you did performance upgrades—no longer was it as simple as a jet change.
To make a long story short, Bob had one of these early fuel injected bikes and wanted to build a good reliable performance motor.In those days, every “expert” seemed to have a different idea of how to properly tune a fuel-injected bike. And no one could answer the tough technical questions he had. It seemed clear to Bob there was a huge hole in the market for fuel-injection tuning.
After researching various tuning devices, and acquiring a knack for road-tuning, it didn’t take long for his buddies and their buddies to ask them to tune their bikes. He realized that collecting data this way not only had him breaking the speed limits but doing it in an area of dense deer population wasn’t the best idea. So, he purchased a dyno in Florida and the rest is history. His hobby became a job and he created Razorback Performance and Dyno tuning.
Bob resides about a half-hour south of the Twin Cities with his beautiful wife of 35 years, Deb. His shop, south of Eau Claire in rural Whitehall, Wisconsin, is on the same property where he grew up. And he has two kids and two grand kids—with one on the way.
- Stage One Exhaust - October 6, 2021
- Stage One Air Flow - July 30, 2021