Have you ever looked at your bike and wondered if there was a way to make the stock Harley pipes louder? If yes, then get ready because your wish is about to come true, and you’re about to get the answer.
Making stock Harley pipes louder is actually pretty simple and can be done in a multitude of ways. You can retune your bike, replace the baffles, modify the stock muffler, get a full performance exhaust system, and more.
In this article, you’ll get to know all about the stock Harley pipes, the benefits of loud pipes, how to make stocks Harley pipes louder, and more. Continue reading to find out all about it.
Making Harley-Davidson pipes louder
Sometimes, it is all about the sound, the deem rumble of your Harley-Davidson bike that gets the blood pumping. Harley-Davidson’s riders will be familiar with the excitement the bikers feel when their bike produces a loud sound. This sound feels like music to the ear. A loud and powerful sound will enhance your riding experience. A major portion of the thrill of riding a Harley-Davidson comes from hearing the sound from the pipes. If you’re looking to find out how to make stock Harley pipes louder, you’re not alone. Most Harley-Davidson riders love customizing and making their bike sound louder.Â
Change the exhaust to make your Harley-Davidson pipes louder
The sound your bike’s engine makes through the exhaust are essentially a pressure wave or pulses that are formed by high and low air pressure. The pulses will be created when the engine’s exhaust valve opens and releases a burst of high-pressure gas. The molecules from the high-pressure gas will collide with the molecules from the lower-pressure gas in the pipes. It’ll force them to stack on top of each other. The new stack of molecules will then continue down the pipe, where they’ll meet another group of low-pressure molecules.
Once more, they’ll stack and move down the pipe. They’ll continue to cascade over and over until reaching the end of the pipe.
The cascade will leave behind a low-pressure area. This will allow the process to continue repeating once the exhaust valves open again. The pressure waves will make it to your ear, where the eardrums convert the waves into the sound you hear. Your muffler will then take these pulses and pressure waves. Through a series of channels (baffles), it’ll try doing different things to offset/cancel the sound. This process is called destructive interference. It’s the process where multiple sound waves or pulses try to cancel out each other, so you don’t hear them.
Most stock motorcycle exhausts come with a whole bunch of legal requirements that range from safety to environmental protection. Two important requirements are noise levels and emission. These are two factors that greatly limit how loud your bike can get.
However, third-party manufacturers and aftermarket exhaust systems aren’t bound to these rules and regulations. This gives them the freedom to produce all kinds of exhaust systems and mufflers that aren’t bound to these rules. While your bike uses destructive interference for removing sound. There is also an opposite side, constructive interference. This is where one pulse or sound wave will get added to another. In case the pulses are in a phase, they’ll amplify and ultimately increase the sound. The aftermarket exhaust manufacturers make use of this theory for increasing the sound and making your bike sound louder.
How to make stock Harley pipes louder?
Most Harley-Davidson riders are always looking to customize and make their bikes sound louder. Luckily, there are many ways for you to transform your bike into a loud roaring machine. Here are some of those methods.
1. Re-tune your motorcycle’s engine
Did you know re-tuning your Harley-Davidson bike’s engine will help you achieve a wide range of benefits? By re-tuning your engine, you will be able to enjoy peak performance among many other things. This will help you achieve three things. Firstly, it’ll make the stock Harley pipes louder. Secondly, it will add much more power to the engine. Lastly, it’ll also enhance the performance of your motorcycle while improving the functionality of your motorcycle’s engine.Â
2. Get a full performance exhaust system
A great alternative for how to make stock Harley pipes louder would be to get a full performance system exhaust. This means getting your motorcycle headers with fewer curves running to the muffler part. You should ensure that the muffler has no restrictions or baffles in it. Having a straight-through design will be an ideal set-up for the exhaust system.Â
If you cannot afford a full-performance exhaust system, you can simply begin by using an aftermarket slip-on muffler. You should first try and hear how it sounds. By going for the right performance upgrades for your Harley-Davidson bike, like new air kits, you’ll be able to get both louder sound and better engine performance.
3. Remove the baffles
For increasing the airflow through the pipes, you should remove the engine’s baffles using a power drill. You can even make a couple of holes within the pipes. Once you do either of these things, you will ensure that the bike’s pipes have become louder than before. You can twist and remove the long cylinder in the middle of the muffler using a pair of needle-nose pliers for checking the pipes for any metal shavings. You should remove the muffler and then pump air into it for ensuring that no shavings remain.
However, there is a small issue with this method. When you’re drilling holes and removing the baffles, the performance level of your motorcycle will reduce over time. This means that by removing the baffles, you might be making your bike louder, but you’ll be decreasing the engine performance.
4. Replace the baffles
For making Harley-Davidson pipes louder, you can use another method. Instead of removing the baffles, you can simply replace them. At the end of the Harley-Davidson bike, header pipes will be joined with slip-on pashminas. The slip-on mufflers will help make the Harley-Davidson pipes louder while also improving the performance. You can achieve all that without having to swap out your bike’s entire exhaust system.
All you’ll need to do is take the help of cutting oil. Using the oil, try to coat the rear side of the interior of the muffler. The coating will help prevent smoke and sparks from coming out as you’re removing the muffler’s baffle. Moreover, it’ll also keep the debris from getting into the headers.
What are the benefits of making your stock Harley-Davidson pipes louder?
There are a number of benefits to making your stock Harley-Davidson pipes louder. One of the biggest benefits is that other riders on the road will know that you’re riding. This will greatly decrease the likelihood of you being involved in an accident. You must have heard the saying “loud pipes save lines”. Whether it is true or not is still up for debate. However, having loud Harley pipes will greatly decrease your chances of getting into an accident. A report found out that the ability to be seen/noticed is a critical element of Powered Two-wheeler safety. Most accidents happen because of the other rider’s failure to perceive that someone is near them.
Some people say that the sound is too loud, and it begins to annoy the people you’ve already passed. However, many say that this isn’t true. Instead, the voice sounds perfect and greatly helps you avoid accidents. Moreover, the people around you will also feel the vibration and know that you’re coming.
Another major benefit will be in terms of performance. Many aftermarket exhaust systems will not only make the pipes louder, but they’ll also increase the horsepower that your bike produces. Moreover, it will also remove a bit of weight from your bike. The average increase in terms of horsepower will be around 3%. While this might not seem like a lot, you must know that it is simply an added bonus. It will make your bike slightly louder while also adding to the performance.
The weight, on the other hand, will be something that you can notice and feel. You will be able to shed as much as 15lbs of weight from your bike. All you’ve to do is switch from a clunky steel exhaust to something lightweight, such as a titanium set. This will give you a lot of advantages, ranging from fuel consumption to overall handling. Many people choose to remove the exhausts for these reasons alone. Now add to that the fact that you’ll be able to make the pipes louder.
Important things to remember when making Harley pipes louder
While making stock Harley-Davidson bikes louder is something that most people feel they should do, that isn’t true. Yes, you might want to make the changes and get your bike roaring, but there are some things to consider. Using the methods above will have performance-effecting changes. You must think twice before going for one of those methods. One wrong move, and you could have a massive servicing bill.
Many experts recommend that instead of wasting time and resources removing the baffles, simply get an aftermarket slip-on muffler. Drilling out the baffles will be significantly complex but important, especially when the pipes are lacking the O2 sensor. It is important to keep in mind that the compression ratios for your Harley-Davidson bike can change once you replace or remove the baffles. This will greatly affect the power levels that your Harley-Davidson bike delivers when working.
If you’ve been riding a Harley-Davidson bike for a while, you would have heard that the right ignition point is wherever the sound starts, and you should not forget about the source. Out-of-factory ignitions are considered to be better than factory-made ignitions. Reducing the strain and kickback will also improve the performance of the bike. It is possible as it’ll give more power to the ignition timing.
Conclusion
Thank you for reading. Hopefully, now you know a lot more about Harley-Davidson stock pipes, the benefits of loud pipes, and how to make stock Harley pipes louder. There are multiple ways you can make your Harley-Davidson pipes louder. Some of the most common ways include re-tuning your bike’s engine, getting rid of the baffles, or replacing the baffles. The latter will depend upon the model of your Harley-Davidson bike. There is another method, a method recommended by experts, and that is to use an aftermarket slip-on muffler. This will help you avoid wasting time and resources trying to remove the baffles or re-tuning the engine.
