Mufflers and silencers

Volume has to do with the speed and amplitude of the sound waves: the greater the two variables, the greater the volume. The combustion gases must therefore be slowed down, so that deer and wild boar do not pass while riding offroad and the neighbor and his dog can continue to sleep while you leave for your favorite Sunday activity.

How do you slow down combustion gases?

In principle, there are two methods: reflection damping and absorption damping. For reflection, a labyrinth of partition walls and pipes is installed inside the silencer. As the gases pass through the labyrinth, they are slowed down more at each stage. Reflections on the partition walls ensure that the sound waves overlap and slow each other down. All old original mufflers, from JD models to knucklehead fishtails to the cigar muffler of the Panheads and Shovelhead Electra Glide, are designed according to this principle. Absorption damping allows the sound waves to travel through perforated tubes against a rock or glass wool packing. In this way, they lose a lot of their energy. With both types of silencer, the volume of the silencer is a decisive factor. This is why a cigar muffler silences better than a Shortcut muffler.

Harley mufflers in the W&W Cycles selection

First question: should it be an original replacement, do you plan aperformance measure or just give it a different look? Stock or custom? The mufflers are sorted by model group. There are also universal mufflers, which are selected more according to shape and appearance: Fishtail, tapered ends, megaphone style, or the good old Trumpet mufflers. The silencers with the SuperTrapp disc system can also be used universally. If the connection does not fit your pipes, reducers can help.