E Zurcher
Registered
your bike will need to be re-mapped (dyno tuned is best) anytime you do anything to your bike, even just by putting on a K&N air filter or slip ons. I can always tell if a bike has had any adjustment or not if the backfires on deceleration. Without mapping or tuning your bike may make it run worse on certain powerbands.
Big difference between need and want! Tuning not needed for slip-ons. Your cat is the biggest contributor to exhaust restriction. Unless you change out the header there will be very little change in backpressure.
If you spend a couple of hundred bucks on a tune you may gain a horsepower or two but that's it. On my 09, I had no popping and no change in engine performance. Dropped about 20 lbs off the bike and love the sound.
My bike has NEVER backfired and I have a K&N also, not for performance but for cost effectiveness.
Tuning a bone stock bike will also give you a horsepower or two also and smooth out the curves. If a tune is worth 2 or 3 horses, go for it.
Maybe a tuner can chime in with HP gains for various mods.