| Author | Message | ||
     Dr_greg |
I'm not at all (repeat NOT AT ALL) picking on those who are fitting aftermarket exhausts to their XB12X's...this will be the first bike in a long time that I've not done so. Nevertheless, I really enjoy the nature of the Ulysses as a fairly quiet bike. Riding it---for me---is so relaxing, so natural, that---for once---I don't really want any additional engine noise intruding on that experience. I'm actually surprised I feel this way; my Ducati and Aprilia V-twin sportbikes both have relatively, uh, authoritative exhaust notes which---to me---sound great. But the Ulysses is a different beast, and one that---again, for me---succeeds by stealth. | ||
| Milar |
I'm with you Dr Greg. M | ||
| Jim_sb |
Loud bikes are selfish (Hey everybody listen to how loud my bike is!  ) and only serve to mobilize the voting majority against motorcyclists. Noise does not equal power or speed. Dirt bikers and the manufacturers have already learned this the hard way as riders have already been permanently banned from millions of acres of government land. Santa Barbara HD is getting BEAT ON by the "locals" who are FED UP with the barrage of noise. It is a serious business problem; people want them shut down. I'm guessing the HD/Buell decision to stop selling "race exhausts" is part of this problem. My Uly will remain quiet so I can ride it in the forest and pass the 96 db test. Best, Jim in Santa Barbara | ||
| Thunderbox |
I am going to fit a Drummer on mine this weekend. I will give it a bit of time to see what it's like before I give an opinion. I like the quiet also but I do have to say I will probably like to performance increase a lot. I may not keep the Drummer on but if I do put the stock pipe on it will get a different outlet and outlet angle from stock. I'll keep you all posted and I will have Dyno specs for both pipes. | ||
| Jim_sb |
Tbox, there are many performance pipes out there that are reasonably quiet. The Drummer may be such a pipe. Best, Jim in Santa Barbara | ||
| Lorazepam |
I dont mind the quiet at all. Having a loud bike on a trip is very tiring. The extra noise causes fatigue, and linits your comfort range. The way cars are sound proofed today, coupled with big sound systems kind of invalidates the loud pipes thing to loud pipes lose rights. I dont mind a nice sounding bike, I can appreciate the sound of a well tuned and piped machine. I dont care for car alarms going off at 3am, or someone revving the motor at a traffic signal and rattling the windows 200 yards away.  I would rather be extra visible than extra loud. | ||
| Thunderbox |
I hope it is. I had a Wileyco on the M2 but they don't supply a pipe for the XB series. | ||
| 2old2bfast |
Riding to me is about the sights and the sounds that go with it (my first street bike was a CBX so I got used to awesome sounds early on). It's about being involved in a really connected type of experience, so I am looking forward to the pipe swap in my Uly's near future. It's not really about the power, and I have little to no tolerance for the straight pipe, ear splitting, window rattling, type blatting that is prevalent in so many of today's "custom" V twins, but I am hoping the pipe I add gives the bike a little more "personality" so to speak, and I feel more connected to it through sound, rather than isolated from it as I feel I do with the stock pipe. I sure hope it won't turn out to be an expensive experiment as it would if it takes away all of the Uly's long ride capability, or otherwise degrades an awesome ride! Being obnoxious on a bike is being obnoxious on a bike! Whether it is the aforementioned sounds, or the "extreme" style stunt riders that seem to be growing in numbers, despite what has to be a natural shortening of the respective lifespans! I am hoping to enjoy my bike even more than I already do, but also to do so without offending anyone. And FWIW, from everything I understand the SS version of the Drummers is a little on the loud end of the spectrum, but after having ridden right beside one on a Uly last weekend, I can tell you that anyone off the bike would never have even taken a second look based on the sound alone. It sounded rich as it revved up, but absolutely NOT obnoxious in any way. I think when John Q. Public looks up and sees a Uly now, they are probably surprised it is so quiet, while if someone looks up and sees one with a race kit pipe or Drummer, I think it will just seem that the sound they hear, will match in their mind with what they see (an awesome bike). Just my thoughts... | ||
| M2nc |
Trying to add horsepower with an after factory pipe on an XB12 is an act of diminishing returns. The active valve works and if you do not get a pipe with the valve you may gain peak horsepower but will more than likely lose horsepower over most of the rpm range. For XB12's, after factory mufflers are all about the sound. For me the Uly needs to be quiet. I do not know why I just don't see this bike like all the other Buells talking load and proud. The fact that I will spend a lot of money for little gain just cements the deal for me. The Uly stays as is. By the way, I have the M2 with the V&H muffler to talk the V-twin talk. | ||
| Fubar |
I gotta agree with 2old2bfst. My Drummer has increased my enjoyment and "connection" to my Uly. The wind noise is a real issue and has forced me to wear ear plugs. The Drummer has made the experience alive again. *AND* it did add noticeable performance increase. It's *not* all about sound. | ||
| 2old2bfast |
If the dyno charts I've seen are to be trusted, I have to agree that there is significant power to be gained not only in the top of the rev range but in the mid-range as well when these things are allowed to breath easier, but I think the point of this thread is about the sound issue, or the lack of it on the quiet side. The way I see it, other engines and configurations (like my ZX10R) might benefit from the power valve type exhaust systems to boost their relatively low mid-range output, but I really think the inherent torque in such a large displacement twin has really made that feature very limited in it's effectiveness on all the XB12's. I love the bike no matter what, but think I'll enjoy it more when it's less quiet, maybe gets a little bump in power, maybe runs a little smoother down low as reported in other threads, and maybe even runs a little cooler (which might be good in Florida) with somewhat less fan activity. Oh yeah, and it'll lose a few pounds too. But now we're off the quiet topic again. Sorry! We'll see what happens when I get mine all swapped out, but no matter the individual's preference I don't think any of us that bought Uly can really lose... | ||
| Imonabuss |
Love quiet, HATE loud. I like to ride aggressively, and the last thing I want to do is announce it. Give me a silent fast bike, and I'll be happy! | ||
| Reepicheep |
I went from stock to a loud prototype special ops pipe, and then back to stock, and am happy there. Odie makes a fine pipe, but I like a quieter bike. Well.. sort of.. I have an open airbox, and I would not give up that rip, roar, and snort from the intake for anything.  | ||
| Jerry_haughton |
Imonabuss, there's a lot of sound territory between "quiet" and "loud." i wonder if the Ulys are as quiet as they are because Erik wanted it that way, or because the EPA wanted it that way? my impression, after having ridden a Uly from Wisconsin to California, is that the engine would be happier at low to moderate speeds with a louder, i.e. less restrictive, muffler, one that lets the engine breathe easier. thoughts? ride to lean, FB | ||
| Windaddiction |
I love being loud.... all the guys I ride with ride jap bikes and they rev their engines and it's loud and high pitched. So I like letting them hear what a real engine sounds like.... mind you i wear ear plugs cause it is loud! BTW thanks for a wicked pipe Kevin! | ||
| Two_buells |
My S3 and S1 have the Buell Race Kits. I love their sound and performance. I really like my Uly stock, in fact I think the Uly is pretty loud in stock form. I wonder if the K&N filter and Race ECM will increase my performance. | ||
| Smcnamara |
Reepicheep- When you put your open airbox setup in, did you disable the exhaust servo? The setup I saw didn't have any provision for the valve control mechanism, and looked like it was intended to be used with the race ECM and potentially a valve-free can. I've heard if you simply remove the exhaust servo with the stock ECM, you have a continuous check-engine" light. I'm very interested in the open airbox, but held off since I'm not quite ready to drop the money for the new ECM and can. | ||
| Tomfrey |
I have a Drummer and love it. I have always had aftermarket exhaust on my Harleys and they sound and perform better. I dont like real loud (straight pipes and Thunderheaders come to mind) but do appreciate a nice sound. | ||
| Blake |
Sean, Reep rides and XB9 City-X, no exhaust servo. I can see riding a Uly with the stock quiet exhaust. It fits the nature of the bike. | ||
| Brat |
I have the race kit, bought primarily for the noise! Having a quiet harley engine would be like dating the prom queen and sending her home with someone else, why bother! (Message edited by brat on April 06, 2006) | ||
| Paul56 |
I like mine stock. I start it up in the driveway before 6 a.m. 6 days a week. I'm sure the neighbors prefer it quiet, too. I always ride with earplugs to dampen the wind noise and I find that the stock exhaust has a subtle but persistent presence that gets noticeably louder when it's necessary to get on it. All in all it's very satisfying as is. | ||
| Birdmanrh |
I like mine quiet and have not even thought of changing it. Today on a rather long ride a guy with a XB12R asked me what I had done with my bike as I kept walking away from him when he had the throttle pegged. I told him nothing... I asked about his bike and he stated that he had the race kit. Interesting, huh? | ||
| Coolice |
I like the stock exhaust, I have not worn my earplugs on the Uly. With my 9R,it has the racekit, its earplugs ALL the time. I'm really enjoying the Uly, GREAT BIKE ERIK!! Sure likes to wheelie! I need to check the helium level in the front tire....... | ||
| John88030 |
With over 30 years of riding Harleys that have always had loud pipes the sound of the stock Uly is OK, at least for now. I would be quite curious as to what a dyno chart would look like will all stock parts and a re-tuned ECM by Dave or Al. My thinking is that maybe the are a few horses hiding in the stock bike that the EPA took away. John | ||
| Crusty |
Stock and quiet keeps the legislators from noticing me. Stealth is good. I also start work at a very early hour and dislike disrupting my neighbors. While I would always enjoy more power and torque, I don't want it at the expense of having to make more noise. | ||
| Fastfxrs |
I've never kept the stock pipes on any of my Harleys for more than a couple hundred miles. I've had some pretty loud (but sweet sounding) exhausts: Thunderheader on a high compression FXR, Pythons, cycle shack, then strangely went to Supertrapps on my bagger. It sounded great to me but when I rode with my buddies I could barely hear my bike run. I feel the same way about my Uly stock exhaust. Great sound when blip shifting down through the gears. Its got a kind of muscle car growl. I rode with my nephew on his S3T with a Vance and Hines and I couldn't hear my bike run. Not until I wheelied past him coming out of a corner and stayed in front. I think I'll keep the stocker for a while ( If it doesn't completely rust out on me). (Message edited by fastfxrs on April 07, 2006) | ||
| Reepicheep |
Like Blake says, the 9sx has no exhaust servo. That would be easy to leave in place though, my "open airbox conversion" is arguably just the stock inner airbox with lots of holes. If I were going to do it again now, I would just switch to the 06 inner airbox. I ran it with both Race and Stock ECM, and dyno'd both (with the stock exhaust) and got the air fuel plots. Neither showed any dangerous lean conditions (according to the dyno tech at my servicing dealer). Running wise, I think it might rev up a *little* faster, but the main reason I keep it that way is for the honk when I whack the throttle. | ||
| Eor |
I thought about changing the exhaust on the Uly, but I'm glad I didn't now. I have noticed that I am becoming less tolerant of loud pipes lately...and I ride. We are p***ing off allot of people and we're going to pay for it....soon. The future is in hacking and tuning ECM's for improved performance with stock exhausts, IMO. It can quickly be determined by a street cop if a bike has a stock exhaust or not, but few states will have resources to confirm actual emissions meet EPA figures. | ||
| Anonymous |
Jerry, Here's a historical quote I heard once: "Willie and I discussed noise when I was working at H-D. Willie said the ultimate exhaust would be two brass trumpets pointing at the sky with no muffler. I said the ultimate exhaust would be absolute silence." Guess who said that? | ||
| Anonymous |
BTW, anyone hear the 150HP XBRR's at Daytona? I didn't think so...  |
