Harley Davidson Performance Exhaust

Every Harley rider wants his or her bike to be awesome. One of the most distinctive aspects of a Harley Davidson is the exhaust. Harleys are identifiable from blocks away, and set off car alarms. Loud motorcycle enthusiasts have a saying: "loud pipes save live." This is a reference to the fact that motorcycles are simply harder to see and avoid than cars because of their small size. A loud motorcycle has more chance of being seen than a quiet one.

Harley Davidson performance exhaust is a common way to upgrade one of these bikes. When adding an exhaust kit, there are several goals. Often the biker wants the bike to look and sound better. There is nothing more amazing than a pack of bikes roaring down the highway. The sound a few hundred Harleys is like a jet engine. Other times the biker is looking for more power. It's great to sound like you're sitting on top of a rocket, but some bikers would rather have the power to back up the roar.

However, while there is some overlap when striving for these goals -- not everything that makes a bike loud increases power and vice-versa. The loudest bike would be one with no exhaust pipes at all, but that would be illegal, and the engine would suffer.

Engines need exhaust pipes not just to put the heat somewhere away from the rider's legs, but because air has momentum. When you're blasting along those motorcycle back roads, it might be hard to realize that air has mass and develops momentum just like anything else. In a long pipe, exhaust air picks up some real speed, about 300 feet per second to be exact, and when the exhaust valve closes on the cylinder, the air keeps moving. If the next valve opens at just the right time, the partial vacuum that forms because of the speeding air will draw the spent mixture out of the cylinder. Longer pipes tend to do a better job at this than short ones, so there's a trade off with volume. However, harmonic headers sound good while increasing power.