does the vance and hines exhaust have the crosover tube on the header like the stock exhaust? and does that tube serve a real purpose once you change mufflers? i would think that changing to a different muffler would alter the spec of the exhaust enough to render any careful tuning by the manufacturer useless.

input anyone?

No it doesnt have the cross tube.  The cross tube helps with low end power so you will loose some of your low end but gain a decent amount in the mid to upper range.  You could probley do an ignition advance to compensate for the low end loss.

OK that cross tube I dont believe does anyhitng bad ... and V&H does not have cross tube ... but that has nohting to do wiht theirs being batter ... the reason it has no cross tube is ... ready for this ...
The lack of cross tube and the fact that its made of thin cheapass shaZam! ... yea even worse than the stock shaZam! ... is that the same pipe can be used for the EX500 as well ... You cant spread the pipe if you have a welded brace 3 inches away ... get rid of it, say that that was robbing power and use the same piece for many bikes ... having said that ... yea cross piece doe nothing ... so big f%$king deal ...
Cool.
Srinath.