Looking at the Harley-Davidson line of motorcycles, the VRSC family is a high-revving, performance-driven group of bikes. If you want to hop up your VRSC model without going into the motor, swapping out the exhaust might be a good place to start. Offering looks, sound, and performance quality, CFR (short for Cary Faas Racing) designed an exhaust and Fueler to satisfy all three of these requirements.
CFR's megaphone pipe (MSRP $525.00) features a rolled, perforated cone and a stainless steel packing shell with a lifetime guarantee. With an overall length of 28 inches, the exhaust was designed to be much shorter than the stock pipe, therefore exposing more of the rear of the V-Rod. The exhaust is offered in chrome or black ceramic, and comes with all necessary brackets. It weighs in at about 6-1/2 pounds, significantly less than the weight of the stock exhaust. Of course, one of the pipe's biggest selling points, according to owner Cary Faas, is the sound, delivering a mellow, throaty rumble.
Now, since the V-Rod is fuel-injected, CFR offers their Fueler (MSRP $259.95) to keep track of the bike's air/fuel ratio and to aid in tuning fuel-injected motorcycles for top-notch performance using load-based technology. Designed as plug-and-play, the Fueler comes pre-tuned with a map pre-installed, and is simple to install and operate. Check out the installation on a stock '03 VRSCA followed by a run on the dyno at Anaheim-Fullerton Harley-Davidson in Fullerton, California. HB
1. Here's the V-Rod with...
1. Here's the V-Rod with the new CFR exhaust installed. The pipe is better-looking than the stock exhaust as it's much shorter, exposing more of the rear of the V-Rod, and it sounds awesome, producing a deep, throaty rumble.
2 & 3 Instead of the typical...
2 & 3 Instead of the typical standard of using a louvered cone, CFR uses a perforated cone rolled into a megaphone shape. And, instead of a fiberglass packing shell, CFR uses a stainless steel shell for a longer-lasting pipe. Below the pipe is the Fueler, pre-tuned with a specific map pre-installed for the application; it's a plug-and-play unit that's simple to install. Also pictured is the pipe in black ceramic.
4. The rear passenger peg...
4. The rear passenger peg was removed to gain clearance for installing the new pipe, followed by loosening the exhaust clamps. Then the technician removed the bolts attaching the exhaust mount bracket to the frame. After some finessing, the stock exhaust system was removed, then the stock exhaust bracket was removed and discarded.
5. Reusing the stock exhaust...
5. Reusing the stock exhaust clamp, the technician slid the clamp over the new exhaust...
6. ...then slid the new exhaust...
6. ...then slid the new exhaust back onto the header system. Note that it mounts up to the old exhaust bracket
7. Finally the CFR heat shield...
7. Finally the CFR heat shield was bolted to the new pipe and the mounting bracket was tightened to the frame.
8 & 9 To achieve maximum...
8 & 9 To achieve maximum benefits from CFR's pipe and Fueler, the company recommends an air filter change. After removing the air box shell and popping off the clamps, the technician installed a K&N air filter and oil filter.
10. Next, the technician...
10. Next, the technician started to install the Fueler, which connects directly to the fuel injectors and a suitable ground location on the bike. After plugging the Fueler into the existing injectors, hence plug-and-play...
11. ...the technician used...
11. ...the technician used the ground lead on the Fueler and selected the negative lead of the battery to ground the unit.
12. After connecting the...
12. After connecting the Fueler, the technician installed and checked all connectors from the Fueler to the bike's wire harness, and also checked that all the wire connections were properly locked in as well as the wire harnesses. Note: You don't have to splice into the wire harness using the Fueler. After applying the adhesive backed Velcro square that's included with the Fueler, the technician went back and securely mounted the Fueler, as shown here.
13. When we first dyno'd...
13. When we first dyno'd the stock V-Rod, we were pushing 105.72 hp and 73.95 lb-ft of torque. When it was time to put the CFR pipe and Fueler as well as the K&N filter to the test, the numbers went up to 115.23 hp and 82.30 lb-ft of torque: a gain of about 9-1/2 horses and about 8 lb-ft of torque. Cary said that he has seen even bigger gains by making modifications to the bike's air box, such as leaving the lid off or putting holes in the lid for it to breath easier-you don't want air restriction. With more than a significant gain of power, we picked up a good-looking pipe with great sound quality.