I got some Big City Thunder QQ baffles for big radius $170 incl shipping, yeh I know expensive, I havent got them in yet looking at next week to do install.
www.bigcitythunder.com/
The claims are better low and mid range performance, and should take the loud bark out of the pips and give it a deeper rumble sound.
I will let you know when i'v got them in.
Bugger, I bought the same baffles but haven't had a chance to fit mine yet either. I'm planning on cutting the original v&h baffles and fitting the QQ baffles alongside/inside of them. BCT staff suggested it might quiten the exhaust up to 5db which would be good considering mine is at 97db on idle.
I'm hoping to do mine this week and will let all know how it sounds. Would be interested to hear your feedback too, Bugger.
I have no tips for you Fatbat, Im clean out of ideas and Im starting to think its in the to hard basket.
I have tryed twice now and every time Im damaging the pips. ( end up giving up, putting pips back on as is)
Im havnt been intouch with BCT, Im starting to think its a $170 con, ( quote easy installation) bullshit !!!
yeah I couldnt get a grab on them, theres nothing to hold on to.
There not much in the way of baffles, more like a pip with in a pip with scails on the inside. ( but nothing to hold onto)
yes I have tryed both pips
Finally got both of the baffles out of my V&H Big Radius exhaust (with some thanks to Steamer for his above advice also). For those wanting to do the same (forum user 'Bugger'), the following worked for me:
Sprayed a heap of WD40 spray into the pipe using the thin straw-applicator thing that comes with the spray can.
Screwed the little screw that holds the baffle into the exhaust from the inside-out but only a couple of threads so the screw only screws into the baffle and not the exhaust. Turned wire coathanger into a hook and hooked onto above mentioned screw and yanked on the baffle in a pulling and twisting fashion. It's best if you have somebody sitting on the bike to weigh the bike down against the force used on pulling on the baffle. Person sitting on the bike can tap on the exhaust with a rubber mallet or similar. Whilst this didn't actually work for mine, it may have reduced some of the carbon and assisted with the next step.
Use a small punch and hold it against the outer rim of the baffle. Hit the punch with the hammer, tapping the baffle forwards (the wrong way) but this unsticks the baffle and enables one to use the above mentioned hook and pull the baffle out.
Anyway, the V&H Big Radius baffles look like the following:
As you can see, you can look straight through them and the only disruption to the exhaust flow (and therefore noise) are the fins around the mid-section that look like scales and enable air to flow through and around them. It's no wonder these pipes offer no performance for most HDs as they are a large diameter pipe with practically no baffling for back pressure. Not good imho for a NA low hp engine that doesn't rev high. Whilst these pipes are expensive and offer poor performance, they obviously sell well on account of their brand, (innovative) styling, reasonable build-quality (even if poor exhaust design) and many HD owners liking the loud and raspy sound.
I like the look of the big radius pipes but want reduced sound and increased back pressure. As V&H don't offer any alternatives, I've looked elsewhere but there is limited choice to fit in the curved pipes. My local service shop weren't aware of any alternatives and I wasn't prepared to risk what my local exhaust shops would custom build and charge, let alone how much time they would even allow to explore some options. Perhaps I should have but not dwelling on this now. Internet research suggested a reasonable alternative were the Big City Thunder baffles available from the US. Not cheap ($170 USD delievered) but one of the sales reps suggested I will get increased back pressure (so more torque down low and midrange where most use it) and if I used the back quarter of the V&H baffle attached to the new bafflesh, it was suggested that the noise could be reduced by up to 5db. Remembering that a db curve is logarithmic and not linear, a 5 db drop is significant. Here are some pics of the Big City Thunder QQ baffles.
I have cut my V&H baffles and will weld the new QQ baffles to the rear cut of the V&H baffle, fastening the welded combo-baffle to the exhaust via the V&H rear screw.
I will post some feedback as to how this works tomorrow night. If it's a winner and there are enough people interested, I would be happy to pull my QQ baffles out and have them looked over by a local exhaust shop for consideration of replicating or perhaps improving, as the $170 cost for these baffles is extortion for what they are!
Great report fatbat, I'll think I'll have another go at pulling the baffle after my ride up the vic hight country next week,, interesting how you removed the baffles while the header pips still on the bike, I toke the whole pip off the bike.
yeah its a lot of money for baffles, best of luck and thanks for the pics and removal tips.
My Big City Thunder QQ baffles are now fitted to the V&H big radius pipes on my bike (and welded to the rear third of the V&H baffles). The results, including noise testing is as follows: 2007 twin cam 96ci with V&H Big Radius 2 into 2 pipes (and Fuelpak) Noise testing results below were tested at oem idle setting 1) With V&H baffles - 97db (as tested by NSW EPA in Jan) 2) With no baffles at all - 100 db (as tested today at mechanic mate's place) 3) With BCT QQ baffles welded to rear third of V&H baffles - 93db (also tested today) Obviously the two noise meters used could be calibrated to different levels of accuracy but the results and noise to the ear suggests both noise meters were similarlycalibrated .
The only back-to back riding test I did comprised of riding with no baffles at all and then riding with the BCT QQ (welded to V&H) baffles. There was a significant difference in back pressure and performance in the low and midrange, with the quiet combination obviously outperforming the baffle-less setup. I didn't ride it at high revs at all. Remembering how the bike rode with the standard V&H baffles, the bike performed somewhere in the middle of the noisy and quiet combinations, as expected. The bike is still popping on decel, but only slightly. In terms of my speaking of performance, I am referring to torque at low and medium engine speeds. I'm reasonably happy with the change to the baffles but for $170, the value is questionable, particularly since the bike is still noisy enough to wake up the neighbors and attract police attention. Perhaps it will get a little quieter as carbon builds up in the new baffles, particularly since they feature many small little holes. If I'm finding it still too noisy in the next month, I'll pull the baffles out and explore some other options to add to the existing baffles.
Makes sense about already failing the test only at Idle !! Would have been interesting to see the results at the correct rev's. Not sure how current this is, gives the procedure but not the levels.: www.ntc.gov.au/filemedia/Reports/NatStatExhaustNoiseTestSept2006.pdf
Pritty disapointing result FB, but very good info, I'm woundering weather to go ahead with installing the BCT, hummmmmmmmmm, there very expensive just to provide good back presure and a bit of touch and go weather one can get the V&H baffles out with out risking damaging the pips.
I'v got the black pips and have scratches on them just from handle the pips trying to pull the baffles out. ( yes heat shelds were removed) But still the black V&h pips scratch ver easy.
I have a cobra tuning system that tunes similer to the fuelpack, no need to tune but still pops a little.
Cant help but think these Big Shitty Thunder baffles are a bit of bullshit and just another way of rapping owe wallets.
Thanks for your good work FB, saved me the trouble.
