I use non-resister plugs, caps and wires on some of my bikes with no ill effects. The car near me in traffic might get a little static on his/her radio but that is about it.
Eric
The resistor caps (and plugs) were popularly thought to be added to reduce spark noise, and in the 1950s cars, this was true. In later engines, though, it was discovered (probably by some electrical engineer like me) that having resistance in the high-voltage path does not impede the spark, but instead EXTENDS it for a longer spark duration. In the SOHC4 engines, which are swirl-charge engines where the swirling chamber charge nearly breaks the sound barrier at higher RPM (700 ft/sec speed) this business of having a LONGER spark makes for a much wider flamefront ignition. The result is a less cold-blooded engine that develops significantly more power because the burn is wider and pushes longer down the bore. In particular, the undersquare engines (750 and 350F) benefit noticeably from this. Myself, I proved it during the gas-shortage days of the 1970s by installing either the 10,000 ohm "F" caps (in 1976 tests) or by adding the resistor plugs to the standard (then 7500 ohm) caps in the K4 bikes, using the DR8ES-L sparkplugs. By changing just the resistance, we could nudge the bikes up over 52 MPG at 55-60 MPH, where they were running 43-45 MPG before, on the same mountain routes. This route was: Denver to Buena Vista via Hwy 285, up over Independence Pass to Aspen, then back along I-70 to Denver again. It has a lot of high-altitude mileage in this 300- mile trip, so it was a good way to test.
It's also a beautiful ride, and a great reason to go out and "test" something all day!
