Choosing an Exhaust for the Harley
Davidson V-Rod
A Racer's Perspective!
by Kevin Patterson - The Tin Man
In the Harley
Davidson world, the exhaust system is probably the most popular upgrade out
there. Who can resist the custom look, the richer sound or the enhanced
performance anticipated by this relatively simple modification? With V-Twins,
getting that deep traditional Harley Davidson sound is very important. Many have
reported that a simple exhaust change on a standard run of the mill Harley will
deliver big performance gains, thanks to EPA design requirements as well as very
conservative stock tuning.
Now enter the V-Rod. Introduced in 2002, a water-cooled, overhead cam, high performance cruiser
designed through a unique partnership between Harley Davidson and Porsche. The
reigning king of style got together with the world renowned masters of high
performance. There is nothing traditional here. Even the bike’s designation
“VRSC” defined the ambitious design objective – a V-Twin, Racing, Street,
Custom. The look, feel, sound and performance were all carefully engineered to
meet this lofty design standard. The V-Rod was engineered to be a revolutionary
machine.
So the revolution
begins, the dawn of a new era. We bought one, brought it home, broke it in, rode
it, washed it, admired it and the next thing we do with our revolutionary new
machine…. we need modify it! The age old tradition of
customizing the Harley continues. Our objectives are simple. We are frequently trying to
get that traditional Harley sound from our “Revolution” engine, seeking a
classic custom look on our new race inspired design, or trying to improve the
performance so carefully created by some of the best engineers in the industry.
Some things will never change, if it’s a Harley its custom.
Sound
So let’s take a look
at what we can do with an exhaust setup on the V-Rod. The first thing is sound,
those stock cans just don’t cut it. The good news is that every available
after-market exhaust will outperform the stock system regarding sound – at least
if you are looking for a louder option. The stock set-up does exactly what they
were designed to do, quietly propel the machine around town without bothering a
living soul. Unfortunately, this fails to meet almost every rider’s expectation.
The easiest and most cost effective way to address
the sound issue can be found at
www.v-mod.com.
For $150 plus postage, the stock mufflers can be modified to create a much louder
sound that has proven to be quite popular. The product is known as V-Mod. A similar option is also available
for Screaming Eagle Slip-ons (SE1) as well as with the 16 Gauge Screaming
Eagles. The SE1s are my personal favorite – it's a bit quieter and has a mellower sound
than the stock VMOD.
From a sound
perspective the Screaming Eagle systems are bit louder than stock and unlikely
to be accused of being too loud. The aftermarket offers many alternatives that
can range from mild to wild. These systems are outlined in the earlier
article
by Chopper Steve from
www.v-mod.com.
There is a wealth of links discussing the virtue and sound of these systems on
www.vrodforums.com.
Use the search command in the menu bar and you will be busy for some time
reviewing members impressions of these systems, looking at movies or listening
to sound clips.
Since this aspect of
exhaust performance is so highly influenced by personal taste, hearing them in
person is very important. Local rallies and bike gatherings are often the best
place to find bikes with various exhaust setups. Listen until you find the one
you like.
Performance
Here comes the good
news and the bad news. Remember the discussion about Porsche and the high
performance engineering that was designed into the stock machine – well the good
news is that the stock system was really well designed. The bad news is that you
will have a hard time out performing what came box stock. Based upon what
I have seen at the track experimenting with 5 set-ups, as well as discussion
with many tuners and builders around the country, I believe that the stock
setup will perform about as good as any system out there. Basically I think that
the V-Rod is intake and tuning constrained, not exhaust constrained.
The fly in the
ointment for the stock system is their weight – they are a good 20lbs
overweight. There is a saying at the track – “Weight is Horsepower” and this is
the area that one can capture some performance improvement. Twenty pounds equals
approximately three horsepower as it relates to acceleration in the quarter
mile, equivalent to about one tenth of a second in ET. Of
course, this this small performance improvement may be meaningless for the
street. My premise is actually quite simple – when
choosing an exhaust for the V-Rod there is little performance to be gained from
the exhaust system – therefore it is probably best to make your choice on personal preferences such as
style and sound.
From my perspective,
the track, racers,
tuners and builders have confirmed this premise over the past few
years. Let me give you some examples. Dan and I race together at Pittsburgh
Raceway, both on VRods – mine has SE1 VMods – his Supertrapp. He is running
about 30 lbs lighter. I am geared lower and have electric shift. He launches off
the rev limiter and I at 6,000 RPM. All said and done setups are about equal
except different exhaust. His best time is 11.36x @ 115.x MPH while my best time
is 11.358 @ 115.6 MPH. Virtually equal!
Another track
validation is looking at what exhaust folks are running – if there was a superior system out there, in
no time it would be on race bikes around the country. If you are wondering what
systems are popular with racers – some are shown in the gallery on this page. Let
me give you some other examples from racers I know – I am running VMOD SEs but have
run D&D, VMOD, Stock and SE1. In my opinion any of the above will do the trick. As mentioned
earlier Dan prefers Supertrapp, Rick likes D&D 2 into 1, Larry is running gutted
SE1s, Kaz liked Turbotec, Rob and Mike are using FAIC, Paul is impressed
with CFR, Don is impressed with Rienhart. I am sure that I can find examples
with Force, Joker, V&H, SE 16 Ga,etc.. Pretty much everything out there is represented.
I have had some pretty
interesting conversations with tuners over the years as I have sought out the
best choice inexhaust. One went like this “Yeah, we have tried allot of exhaust,
haven’t really found anything exceptional out there. You know the funny thing is
we tried everything with that stock set-up and couldn’t really get anywhere –
hell we took the mufflers off altogether and still ran
the same times". Another was telling me about a setup (cams, throttlebody, etc)
that he was able to get 120 HP using SEs. I asked if he thought that was the best choice in pipes and he said he was able to get one additional
pony with Rienharts in a similar setup if he dropped the baffles at the track
- then noted that you can't really justify the cost for new pipes based upon the performance
gains. Then he said that they had tried about a dozen sets and never really
found a real winner in the group – This of course is exactly my point….. style, sound, build
quality and weight are where there is a real differences.
Finally, try not to forget that overall
performance is more than peak HP figures. My earlier examples demonstrate that racers
- who crave peak
HP and are constantly testing or evaluating every available option - have not come
to a consensus. For those V-Rod that live on the street the peak HP issue
becomes much less relevant. Let style, sound and build quality guide your
decision. I think that a properly tuned, quality system will give
you all the performance that you desire.
Style
This is where
there are major differences in the various systems that are available. The
distinct style of each system is very apparent and allows each of us to exercise our own creative judgment – for beauty truly is in the eye of the
beholder. The gallery was designed to help folks work through the style
decision by including pictures of the various systems on some great looking
V-Rods.
I hope that you find this collection valuable
and enjoyable as you evaluate style of the many exhaust system shown there. Many thanks to the members of
V-RodForums.com
that have posted pictures of their rides in the gallery, which was the source for this
collection…. I am sure that you will agree that there are some amazing VRods out there!
Sample V-RodForum.com Style Poll
Note: I figured out how to do it!!!!!!
| View Poll Results:
What is the best looking exhaust system for the V-Rod? |
| Stock, VMOD, SE1 or SE1
VMod |
  
|
75 |
36.59% |
| Vance and Hines, HD SE 16 Ga
|
  
|
25 |
12.20% |
| Joker |
  
|
5 |
2.44% |
| D&D 2 into 1 |
  
|
7 |
3.41% |
| D&D Slip On |
  
|
1 |
0.49% |
| Cary Faas Racing
|
  
|
17 |
8.29% |
| Tubo Tec |
|
3 |
1.46% |
| Super Trap |
|
16 |
7.80% |
| Samson |
|
8 |
3.90% |
| Rienhart |
|
31 |
15.12% |
| Bubs |
|
3 |
1.46% |
| Force |
|
7 |
3.41% |
| Thunderheaders |
|
3 |
1.46% |
| FAIC |
|
4 |
1.95% |
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