Exhaust wrap

Absolutely. this way I will not have to think about it so much if I am going to fry the crap out of my leg. There are still a couple of mods that I have to do the baffles though. Either I am going to get brand new ones that are 2.25 od to fit inside the pipe or i am going to buy the same baffles that I bought and am using now and do the same thing to them as I did with the current set. HMMMM, decisions and choices.

Your comment here struck me. This debate started with shielding the rider from heat, and then we discussed the cosmetics.

But isn't the debate also making a commentary on the heat the engine is producing? If the bike engine is running so hot that it's uncomfortable for the rider, isn't shielding or re-directing the heat just masking the symptoms?

Before we just go adding shielding, shouldn't we look at the engine and its settings and/or construction?

I also had my bike checked (and properly dyno tuned) to solve any problems with running lean.

I have the stock chrome heat shields covering my pipes. While I also believe in heat shielding, I suspect that these chrome covers are simply cosmetic. If you look at the headers under these covers, the pipes are deep purple.

The heat shields do work,not purely cosmetic...the little bit of air gap between the exhaust pipe and the shield will cause the shield not to be as hot as the pipe....a simple way to confirm this is remove the heat shields and go for a ride....bet it won't take you long to put them back on
The pipe wrap will keep you from burning your leg and aid in exhaust scavenge, by keeping the exhaust gases hot in the pipe and the velocity up(faster in+faster out= more power)
Tourist, the bags of ice you see on drag cars is to cool the intake, not the engine...cool air is more dense than warm air...ever notice that bikes and cars run better when it is cool.

Thanks for the info. I did not know that. My 1989 5.0 Mustang is long gone. I foolishly sold it.

I do often wonder why a complete re-design of our CPU engine management systems might be a better idea.

For example, look at the way some folks look at helmets. They want the best possible chance to survive a crash when classes on how to avoid incidents might be better.

I think that's a factor here. A few years ago I saw a plastic appliance MoCo was selling to re-direct heat. It was sort of a butterfly shaped gizmo that kept excessive engine heat off of the thighs of the newer Electra Glide owners. Yes, it was an answer, and my guess is this stemmed from trying to hit EPA numbers.

But I also would have had a computer geek re-designing a better computer download.

MoCo got it pretty tough to meet EPA requirements and keep an air cooled engine cool...the engines are getting bigger and they gotta run 'em leaner so the heat has to go up...add some fuel to cool them and they don't meet EPA, there is only so much you can do with fuel and timing to keep them running decent and not melt and meet the EPA without adding a water jacket so they came up with a band aid fix to try to keep the excessive heat away from the rider.
Classes on how to avoid incidents would definitely help lessen the chance of needing a quality helmet but not eliminate all of them so a good quality helmet will increase the chance of survival when a situation arises that all the skill in the world ain't gonna get you outta

I think you are misunderstanding the purpose of why I want the wrap or am exploring it. The reason why I want the wrap has nothing to do with the heat from which my bike is producing. What heat? I have no issues with that at all. The problem that I am having is that my front header pipe sticks out a ways and does not allow me to bring my leg in closer to the bike so I can be a little more comfortable and the pipe being out as far as it is does not allow me quick access to my brake pedal. When braking, I have to be somewhat pigeon toed while braking. This is a safety issue for me. I have considered getting a new pedal made because I am somewhat reluctant to put a new set of pipes on WhipLash, but I will if I cannot find a satisfactory solution to my problem. I want to be on my bike and not have to worry about losing skin or ruining a $300 pair of chaps. This is where the performance of the wrap is also discussed. Most of us on the forum are performance junkie's and are always looking to make our ride run more efficiently, performance is not just limited to horsepower or torque.

HotRoadKing is basically responding to the objection that someone rose to fact that wrapping the exhaust does not improve performance. I appreciate it a lot that he does this because it gives me the opportunity to make a better informed decision.

Spot on the Point Brotha!!!!

This is one of the area's that I noticed instantly other than performance of my bike when I put the high hp stuff on my bike. Since the SE heads have such big fins, I noticed right away that WhipLash runs a lot cooer than before. Now all I need to do is put the SE jugs on as well!!

Is this a stock Harley pipe? Perhaps that's the misunderstannding.

No. Check this out.

These are pictures of how my pipes are.

Here check this link out so you can get a good idea of just how much the pipe sticks out.


YouTube - S7300053.AVI