Exhaust

Exhaust systems for Harley-Davidson

Everything that enters the air filter and carburetor or the fuel injectors has to exit at the back through the exhaust. That seems simple, but in reality an exhaust on a Sportster, Duo Glide or Softail is a complex system. A combustion engine without an exhaust system or with only short pipes after the exhaust port only runs in a very narrow speed range. Only longer manifolds, additional interference pipes, headers and silencers extend the effective speed range so that the air-cooled single or V-twin can run from idle to maximum speed. Even if it is at the end of the mixture processing chain, so to speak, the exhaust has an enormous influence on the composition of the mixture. This can be seen from the fact that if you make major changes to the silencer, you also have to retune the carburettor on the FXWG and FLH or change the mapping on the Dyna Glide so that the engine continues to run properly.

Buy a complete system or individual parts?

Harley-Davidson has always offered all parts individually. W&W Cycles does the same with the parts for the original replacement. Manifolds, mufflers, clamps, clamps etc. are all available individually, as good to excellent reproductions of the original parts that are no longer available. The complete systems are available for the IOE models (F and J 1915-1928), simply because you mostly need everything for the restoration of bikes that are around 100 years old. However, performance-enhancing exhaust systems make more sense as complete systems in terms of performance and look.

How do I find the right exhaust for my Harley?

If you know the year of manufacture of your Harley model it is fairly easy and straightforward. It's even better with the spare part number from a parts manual. Once you have it, you can type it into the search field and click directly to the part. And if the search comes up empty? This is not supposed to happen, but it does sometimes. Then it's best to contact the W&W Cycles service department.