If the weather ever warms up I`m thinking of doing a stage 1 drilling on the stock exhaust. My bike is an 2013 Road Star with EFI. I was wondering if this would change anything either positive or negative on the way the bike runs ? Other than a shield and bags the bike is stock.

Won't change nutin but the sound. Will run the same.

If you stick to just stage-1 should be no problems.

Make your next project taking off the AIS

stage 1 is a bit louder than i need, would have tried it with 2 holes only. louder than u think.

Thanks for the replies. On the Tech Articles it shows cutting away the outer cone first and drilling 4 1/2 holes. The elimination of the cone seems like a pain. My thoughts was to drill thru the cone and use that as a template to drill the plate below it. I also don`t think I have drill that will hold a 1/2" bit so I was thinking 8 3/8" holes . Does that sound feasible ? You think the sound would be similar? Thanks again , Jim.

Smaller holes will give you more flutter, which can be partially reduced by making the holes into slots.

Doc

You can buy 1/2" bits with a reduced shank that will chuck up in a 3/8" drill.

We did the stage one on my 2013 with EFI
I have NOT removed the AIS
I am not convinced that the AIS is not necessary for a FI R*.

I have very little popping on decel.

we did not remove the outer cone as described in the tech articles, for one thing on the 2013 exhaust it is not shaped the way it is shown in the tech article. we drilled through it, through the plates behind it, and since we already had a very long drill bit for drilling our stryker exhausts, I saw Toby playing with that too.... LOL not sure what exactly he drilled through deeper in but the exhaust sounds nice, The bike runs fine, it seemed to run a tad cooler in fact, the airbox is cheesed as well, tho I am still running a stock air filter. When it is time to replace the air filter, will put in a k&n filter.

I like the way she sounds now, it will do until she is paid off and I can save up for an exhaust system.

I did it on my FI. Someone already mentioned it but the cone is not a cone on the FI Roadies. It's flat and very hard I burned up a couple of bits. The secound plate is in there about an inch and a half and is much softer than the outer plate. Lay it out with a scribe and center punch it so the drill doesn't wander then drill small pilot holes. Drilled 8, 1/2 inch holes took the shop vac and sucked all the shavings out and painted it up with some engine paint. Now has a little more rumble but not obnoxious. Didn't tell the wife and she still hasn't noticed any difference. Oh one more little edit. I put a K&N filter in the stock air box and that make a big difference in how she runs. More air in and less restriction out. Not any faster but sounds better and runs smoother.