decrease. I get 40mpg from what I've read I could improve that by a few points with a tuner and a run on the dyno.
I'm pretty happy with my bikes performance for the most part and I can live with 40mpg but some day I may drop the cash for a tune.
There are only two places around where I live that have a dyno the one I trust is 120 miles away

When I first got my bike - the baffle plug was drilled out. I took a 1" diameter jack hammer bit and pounded it through the baffle plug to open it up completely. The bike got 1 more mile per gallon and the sound level went up slightly.
I took the mufflers off - put it on end on a thick piece of carpeting and hammered it through - IT got stuck and I almost freaked out until I got the bit loose... then I did the other one -

twoiron72 - you might want to try something like that - it's not expensive - and by what I've read it might be something along the lines of what you're going for.

I heard that!!! I have 3 dealers w/in 60 iles of me the farthest being LAconia. I go the extra distance to Laconia because the other 2 have caused me grief over the years.

I think its important to have a good mechanic you can trust even if they are a distance away. I never met mine - he wrote my shop manual.

Great news for me and my Mertle. I was recommended to a shop approximately 50 miles away that does the kind of work I am looking for. This shop will replace my stock header with a new cat-free Kuryakyn header, install a race tuner, install an air breather, and dyno tune for under $1,000. I can save even more money if I want to purchase a HD header with cat removed from a guy in Denver for $100.

I don't want Mertle to be so loud that she is annoying, but I do want more and better sound than I am getting from the slip-on Vance and Hines exhaust.

Thanks to everyone for your help and advice.

Just a follow-up to let you fellow Harley riders know that my Mertle has a new deep voice! I found a custom cycle shop just north of Springfield, MO called Ray John's that installed a new Kuryakyn header, a race tuner, Kuryakyn air breather, and dyno tuning for half the price quoted to me by my local HD shop. My Vance and Hines oval slip-ons sound much better with this new setup. Mertle's new voice isn't annoyingly loud, but she sure sings pretty when I crank her open a bit.

Ray John's takes their shop on the road for rallys at Daytona, Laughlin, and Sturgis. If you ever run across Ray John's at a rally, introduce yourself because they are a great group of motorcycle enthusiasts.

Good for you!! And thanks for sharing your results!! So now that you have her what you wanted - how's the MPG's and performance? Did you get better/worse/same?

Sorry it took me a while to reply. We completed a weekend ride to Hannibal, MO, the hometown of author Mark Twain and his characters of Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn. I checked the fuel mileage on one tank and it was approx 48 - 49 mpg, which is a little better than before. Hard to tell performance wise since we seldom break the speed limit, but my riding partners were envious of Mertle's new sound. For me, it was worth every dollar and I am considered by my friends to be rather tight and conservative.