Mike G
10-03-2004, 11:50
FatCat is Back – AGAIN !!
I love going round and round with my exhaust. Hell its only money and my tree is in full bloom so WTF right? This is the third time I have changed the pipes out but with only two types. I went from stock to a D&D FatCat, to Rinehart flush, and now back to a D&D FatCat. Talk about fickle. I loved the performance of the FatCat but thought I wanted the traditional Harley sound and look. So I sold my original FatCat on Ebay after only 600 miles and had Jim send me a set of Rinehart flush. Great sound and I found myself so wrapped up in the sound that I did not pay much attention to the performance. I knew I had lost some low end grunt, but the sound was so good I didn’t care. I didn’t care until I started paying attention to the bike’s performance particularly with the OL on the back. She had to take a short break from riding due to her back and neck hurting from an old injury. Now that she feels better and it is cooling off a little she is riding again. She loves riding as much as I do. It makes everything about owning a bike that much easier and we have been riding together since 1974.
The bottom end was gone along with some mid range with the Rinehart. What a disappointment. I went to my tuner and spoke to him about my seat of the pants evaluation and he laughed at me and said “I told you so”. He is a big FatCat fan. We decided to try a little more tuning in hopes that he could get the bike to run better down in the cruising rpm range. There was no way on earth he could get any more power where it was needed. The overall numbers were kind of sad compared to the FatCat. I was down 8 hp and a ton of torque. I don’t remember the exact number but it was much worse than the hp loss.
I decided right then that the Rinehart would have to go bye bye after only 1,300 miles. I listed the Rinehart on Ebay and called Jim to order another FatCat. The FatCat is back on and I loaded the custom tune PowerCommander map back in. What a huge difference! The bottom end is back with a vengeance and it feels good. I guess I’ll just have to get used to the look and sound of the FatCat. Plus I know that with the engine mods I’m planning that the FatCat will add that much more to the performance.
I love going round and round with my exhaust. Hell its only money and my tree is in full bloom so WTF right? This is the third time I have changed the pipes out but with only two types. I went from stock to a D&D FatCat, to Rinehart flush, and now back to a D&D FatCat. Talk about fickle. I loved the performance of the FatCat but thought I wanted the traditional Harley sound and look. So I sold my original FatCat on Ebay after only 600 miles and had Jim send me a set of Rinehart flush. Great sound and I found myself so wrapped up in the sound that I did not pay much attention to the performance. I knew I had lost some low end grunt, but the sound was so good I didn’t care. I didn’t care until I started paying attention to the bike’s performance particularly with the OL on the back. She had to take a short break from riding due to her back and neck hurting from an old injury. Now that she feels better and it is cooling off a little she is riding again. She loves riding as much as I do. It makes everything about owning a bike that much easier and we have been riding together since 1974.
The bottom end was gone along with some mid range with the Rinehart. What a disappointment. I went to my tuner and spoke to him about my seat of the pants evaluation and he laughed at me and said “I told you so”. He is a big FatCat fan. We decided to try a little more tuning in hopes that he could get the bike to run better down in the cruising rpm range. There was no way on earth he could get any more power where it was needed. The overall numbers were kind of sad compared to the FatCat. I was down 8 hp and a ton of torque. I don’t remember the exact number but it was much worse than the hp loss.
I decided right then that the Rinehart would have to go bye bye after only 1,300 miles. I listed the Rinehart on Ebay and called Jim to order another FatCat. The FatCat is back on and I loaded the custom tune PowerCommander map back in. What a huge difference! The bottom end is back with a vengeance and it feels good. I guess I’ll just have to get used to the look and sound of the FatCat. Plus I know that with the engine mods I’m planning that the FatCat will add that much more to the performance.