Best Exhausts for Harley Davidson’s Street Glide

In this buying guide we’ll be covering the best exhausts for Harley Davidson’s Street Glide.

We first compiled a list of the best exhausts for Harley Davidson motorcycles that are compatible with the Street Glide, windling away at the top contenders before testing a couple options and then returning them to the manufacturers.

We’ve decided to only recommend full system exhausts because they provide by far the most benefits and value for money.

Overall we found Vance and Hines Big Radius to be an excellent choice of exhaust for the Harley Street Glide, it’s got an epic roar and unlocks massive amounts of performance you would never know was there.

Read on to find out about the big Radius and our top recommendations.

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Vance and Hines Big Radius ticks all the boxes and the sound it produces is my personal favorite. Other factors such as excellent weight loss, smoothness of the ride and power improvements makes this exhaust the be all and end all for Harley Street Glide owners.

The sound of the Radius is satisfying, yes it’s loud but even better the actual sound is excellent. From turning the ignition key to starting at idle this is an exhaust I’ve really enjoyed riding with. It’s got an iconic whoosh, whoosh sound when you hit the ignition, before levelling out into a deep growly purr, sitting at idle and listening to this exhaust purr away never gets old. But once you open the throttle this beast roars to life and you’ll see the raw loudness that is unlocked with the Big Radius installed.

While the sound is fantastic it’s not the only thing that this exhaust will bring to the table, it’s got excellent weight reduction when compared to stock alternatives. You can expect to half your weight or even more, firstly because the design is very compact, secondly the materials and manufacturing are of far higher quality. Requiring less materials, while maintaining superior durability and longevity.

We found performance power gains leaned towards the lower rev ranges, we noticed a sharp increase in torque and just flying off the mark from stand still. While we did see power gains in the higher rev ranges it wasn’t as noticeable and can be attributed to the weight reductions since we swapped out a stock exhaust.

Lastly, aesthetics are excellent and I personally find this compact curvy design to be my personal favorite. It looks fantastic with the black exterior plus the end tips keep their naked chrome to give some personality.

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The Comp-S takes power and performance to the next level, it’s a premium exhaust that we found to be superior to other alternatives we tested when it comes to your motorcycle’s raw power. All though due to it’s high price we felt it didn’t deserve the top spot as most Street Glide owners most probably won’t dish out this type of money on an exhaust.

Like most 2-into-1 exhausts the Comp S performs best at lower power ranges, but we noticed improvements in our Street Glides’s performance in higher rev ranges as well, just not as prominent. Two Brothers have managed this by first utilizing a two into one exhaust but then improving its overall design to funnel glasses more effectively and also cutting down weight by keeping it short and compact.

You’ll see a lot of power improvements because the Comp S is entirely made from Stainless steel, this is a far lighter alternative to chrome that most Harley’s use. This means a far lighter and compact exhaust for your Street Glide. The end cap is made of carbon fibre which we really liked, because the size to weight ratio is very heavy for end caps and it’s an excellent way to keep weight down.

The build quality of this exhaust is superb which is what you expect at this price point. All the welding is worked by hand, not to mention the workshop is based in the USA, if you choose the option without a heat shield, expect the metal to turn a golden amber colour. This is actually an excellent sign as high quality stainless steel changes to amber after a couple heat cycles.

Lastly the sound of the Comp-S is a thick roar, starting it up comes with a couple deep whooshes before leveling out to a low but deep growl at idle. Once you open up the throttle the Comp-S roars to life, just playing with it at the traffic lights is a ton of fun.

At higher speeds the exhaust is loud but not obnoxious, some Harley exhausts do get on your nerves but the Comp-S hit that sweet spot of satisfying loudness.

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Cobra’s Speedster Short Swept is arguably the coolest exhaust system available for the Harley Street Glide, it’s awesome aesthetics are accompanied by an aggressive tone and some serious power gains across the board, it’s a worthy consideration we had to include.

The style of Cobra’s Short Swept Speedster is excellent, it’s got a thick curvature that will give your Street Glide some real personality that a boring old standard design lacks in every way. This new design isn’t just for looks, it improves the funneling of gasses from your Harley’s engine, improving velocity which all contributes to better performance in both power and smoothness of the ride.

We felt this design packed the punch of what most 2-into2 offers while still keeping to a 2-into-2 design, power was significantly more than our stock exhaust. slightly leaning towards torque but higher revs were noticeable too.

Even though triple chromed pipes make the exhaust extra thick, Cobra still managed weight improvements compared to what we previously had installed, while it isn’t as significant as we would have wanted. It’s most probably due to how short the pipes are, this compact design has negated some of the added weight layers that chrome can bring.

Speaking of these triple chromed pipes, build quality is excellent, using hand welds and superior materials you can expect this puppy to outlast the Street Glide it’s installed on. Just holding the Cobra Speedster feels strong and weighty the way a Harley Davidson exhaust is meant to feel.

Our only gripes with this thing would be it’s got poor compatibility, while it does fit a good number of Harley Street Glide models it’s not all of them so definitely check fitment before you make a purchase. We also found the black version to not mesh so well with the engine, a mixture of silver and black pipes doesn’t look so great once installed.

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