[Munch]

Hey gang,
Well today I did my first major mod to the 900. Boredom is such a dangerous thing for a mechanic I swear.
First let me give “sort of” an apology. In past posts there were questions about the 3Hole modification to bikes exhaust. I usually responded with a careful warning about bike with the new emissions standards and the consequences. Well I was right and wrong. Elwood… quit laughing and get back in your chair to finish readin’… I admit to being half wrong…lol.
After checking into things further I found that the law is strictly for the emissions portions of the exhaust. Some of the EPA “people” here decided it was their “moral” duty to exaggerate what it all covered. So with that being said… as long as you DO NOT change the emissions controls at the exhaust your only limitations legally are sound limits and the town your in or ride through. However …. unless your pipes have an O2 in it… rumored new 2010 standards you can do straight pipes with just few worries. However replace that system and exclude the O2 sensor and you are subject to the EPA money making system.
Now the change I made was to originally completely de-baffle my exhaust to get a deeper sound from it. I had found some sites that had given directions and decided in my boredom to do it myself. GLAD I DID. Though I wish I had been better prepared. I did not go to the full de-baffling of it… I got through the main covers and to the baffle “can”. Didn’t have the proper tools at hand so I decided to go more towards the so called 3 hole mod. Well …. 3 holes my arse… I put 8 in it. The bike definitely is a bit deeper and louder. Look into the pipes and it has a Gatling Gun look to it and sounds great. Performance is yet to be determined as the ride home was the only test drive. Though I have read where some small gains in power and fuel economy has been boasted…. we shall see. I will give it a month with this set up and if I let the inner redneck run rampant think about just finishing it off and completely removing the baffles.
My boss man laughed at me taking notice that I am probably the only person he has ever known to cut up a brand new motorcycle…lol… I will take pics and maybe a sound byte later in time, mostly due to wanting to clean the looks of it up a bit.
So…. there ya go…apologies…pat on the back.. and well…. back on the road!

[Matt]

First person to cut up a brand new motorcycle? Hardly. There’s no such thing as a Stock Harley around here. Everyone in my office (engineers or mat techs the lot of them) with a Harley has at one point had it in its constituent parts. If cutting holes in the exhaust was the extend of the rejigging they did, I’d have a lot of bored engineers around me.

[Munch]

Well my camera/recorder sux as far as sounds go. Was gonna try and post something…. luckily I played it back before hand. Some reason you can hear my daughter in the background a whole lot clearer then you can the exhaust I am standing beside in the video…. not sure why as in real life that is seriously not the case. So I guess I will read the manual that came with it and see if there’s a way to tweek it any. Sorry…. to be continued….

[Author]

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