New guy's question on aftermarket exhaust

[Tfrank59]

Ha ha, I'm afraid I probably won't make that trip, but if I do would a Valkyrie be welcome?

[CDNRatMan]

   You might re think that after you ride to WI for the Drifter Rally in Sparta next year.......

[Tfrank59]

Actually, I was thinking of gearing the bike down.  I find first gear much too tall for a little bike like this. And on long trips I'm going to take my Valkyrie --she's the packhorse .  But yeah absolutely, I'm going to ask my forum friends for help every time I need it – Forums are the best thing that ever happened from the Internet!

[CDNRatMan]

   ok get your carb and muffler issues squared away. Once you get that done then the next best mod and the easy one that even you can do is the sprocket swap. Stock is 17/40 set up and on a long trip you will be looking for a sixth gear, so you go out and buy a 18/38 set up for the bike, and wow what a difference it will make for your riding experience. Doing your own work will save you funds and will let you learn more about your bike and be really good when you do have an issue because most times you can fix it.
If you have an issue with an 800 there is 2 really easy fixes to any issue that you can not solve or figure out and it is a simple phone call to either of these numbers.......
1-800-Call-Troll
1-800-Call-Greenbarn

I always ask them for info......

[Tfrank59]

OK, a follow up on this – I got some baffles today I purchased them online, got them installed and they brought the decibel level down to tolerable.  One way you can tell is when you go down the street people don't all look at you angry and hold their dogs tightly by the leash . As for engine performance, the jury is still out, but it seems to be pretty good maybe a little bit of hesitation in the mid range.  I've actually got some fiberglass muffler packing coming as well, so I will probably put that in there and see if she likes it.

[Troll]

Please keep us in the loop. Everybody is interested in solutions to problems we all share.

[Tfrank59]

Troll, I hear you on the voting cage drivers   Better keep 'em happy or they'll vote us off  the road.  But I don't like rude bikes either – especially when I got my driver's window down and they're sitting on my left.  I think I'm going to go with Retrorider's advice – first get some baffles in there, then figure out what the carb wants.  I'll let you know how it goes.

[kw-retrorider]

Tfrank: To comment on one of your questions. Putting in baffles on those straight pipes and getting some backpressure back on the engine will help. I have a stock carb on mine with a roadhouse exhaust that started with nothing in it. Bike ran awful and was loud. After a combination of a correct baffle and then a smartparz baffle, sound is right and the color  of the exhaust darkened again, and the popping went a way and there was no stumble...so you can move it in the right direction with baffles.

Cannot disagree with Troll either....if you re-jet, you can tune to your exhaust.....but IMO you have to start with baffles or a different aftermarket so you can get some back pressure on that engine.

[Troll]

I sure wish noise really equaled power, but it doesn't. The stock exhaust and the stock carb jetting are EPA certified, and hence, both quiet and lean. Even with all the correct parts, there is still an off-idle lean condition that the EPA seems to like, but everybody else hates. Get a DynoJet carb kit and rejet. This will fix the too lean condition, and please do something to quiet it down. There are lots of potential voters and non riding citizens who do not appreciate motorcycle music...

[Tfrank59]

Hey there my first post on this, as I just bought an '06 800 drifter.  So this bike has shotguns with no baffles, I got to say way too loud for me, and I'm already looking at picking up some baffles for it.  I really wish it still had the stock exhaust, with that fishtail on the end, but the PO ditched it for some reason.  Anyway, the thing is running way too lean – apparently they didn't reject the carb for these open pipes -- so it really doesn't want to take the gas at all.  Now my question is this, when I put baffles in, should that get it close enough to the OE back pressure that I don't need to do any tweaking of the carb?  In other words, I want the bike to run richer than it does, and at the same time I plan to make it a little "constipated" and I want to know if that action alone will make it perform like I want it to?  Thanks for all your help.
Tom