Purchased the Bassani SFT211 head pipes and SFT539 slash-cut mufflers for my 2003 H-D Heritage Softail in 2009 after searching many different manufacturers for "True Dual" exhaust systems. Before this purchase, I was LOYAL to Vance & Hines exhausts and installed many systems on many different motorcycles with NO problems. However, Vance & Hines True Duals just did not have "the look" I was looking for and that is why I went with the Bassani system instead.
The Bassani system was VERY expensive (over $900 for head pipes and mufflers which are sold separately). When the system arrived, I immediately began installing it and almost immediately ran into problems which required modifications to my motorcycle as well as the exhaust to make the installation work. The first issue was the rear cylinder heat shield — It interfered with the operation of my shift linkage. I had to remove the heat shield and grind a new radius in the end of the heat shield to clear my stock shift linkage. After reinstallation, the edge of the heat shield was rubbing against the bottom of my stock ignition coil and, after studying how to correct this, I decided that the best solution was to remove my coil and mounting post (any of you that have had to remove this post knows what a job this is), cut the coil mount off of the post and re-weld it 1 inch higher and repaint the post before reinstalling it and the exhaust.
The front cylinder pipe was even worse (if you can believe that), the front heat shield was interfering with the exhaust stud (at the cylinder head). Again, the heat shield needed to be removed to grind a new radius in the end of the heat shield to enable me to install it. After installing it, the edge of the heat shield was rubbing the side of the cam cover and again, I had to remove the heat shield again to grind a radius in the edge of the heat shield to clear the chrome cam cover.
After making all these modifications, the edges of the heat shield began to rust so I contacted Bassani Tech Support to explain what was needed to install the exhaust. "Randy" in Tech Support advised me that an "updated" heat shield design was available to correct these problems and, if I would fax a copy of my invoice to him, a replacement set of heat shields would be sent to me. Of course, those heat shields never arrived. I recently sent an email message to Bassani Tech Support to repeat my problems with their exhaust and received NO RESPONSE!!!
BOTTOM LINE: Bassani exhaust systems are among the most expensive on the market but their quality, workmanship and non-existent "customer service" are the worst I've ever encountered for ANY motorcycle part!!! Buy their exhaust system if you want but be forewarned, you will be paying for a product that you will need to re-engineer to fit (even though the part is SUPPOSED to fit your particular application).
There is NOTHING that special about the exhaust to warrant the excessive price!!! You could get a much better quality exhaust from Rhinehart, Vance & Hines or Paugho!!! I, for one, will never buy anything "bassani" again!!!"bassani" = "junk"!!!
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