Pipes and Tuning

Your sitting in your warm chair… sipping on your favorite drink….its  -40 outside… visions of twisty roads and the smell of fresh cut grass dancing in your head …your thoughts turn to what you can do to the bike for the spring …one thing that’s done a lot is adding pipes.
But will it void my warranty?
We get this question a lot …in most cases NO it will not affect the warranty …however you need to check with your dealer before adding anything such as pipes, Air filters etc..In most cases the dealer will not say anything about it… you do need to have a good tune done after adding pipes or performance air filters.

What type of pipe?
Slip on… true duals …2 in to 1...
What’s the best?  In most bikes with not much
upgrades done a good set of slip on pipes will work fine … if you have a big bore or other
upgrades you may want to go with true duals they give a bit more power…the best power and performance pipe is a 2 in to 1 …but these look somewhat out of place on a bagger type bike.

Tuning wise you need to remember that a true dual changes the flow of the air and exhaust the most…they actually remove the cross over
balance pipe between the stock exhaust system this throws off the balance between the front and rear cylinders for the air fuel mixture and will need a good tuner that knows how to get this balance back…using a Screaming Eagle Race tuner or Power Commander..And a Dyno ….

Most of the Harely-Davidson® Dealers have sent Techs to the Harley Training Center in Fairview AB for the tuning course and having been there myself I can say that any one that’s been there knows how to use the SERT after… they have a new Dyno Jet Dyno and the Techs spend a week on it training … a good tune is worth more than any set of pipes and will make the ride ability of the bike much better. Whatever you do…have it tuned by a shop with a good reputation and your riding experience will be much better.

Rise Safe and have a Happy New Year

Brian - HTT
www.harleytechtalk.net
& Technician at Toys for Big Boys, Moncton NB