| Re: An exhausting Subject...
Yet another interesting treatise on Exhausts. A little on the "techy" side, but excellent information. (See Attachment below)
I am yet to be totally convinced of the true "performance" benefits of many an aftermarket exhaust offering that is:
a.) Street legal (<94 dB)
b.) Non overly loud or annoying to everyone but... the offending rider?
c.) Not negatively affecting the stock low end torque/powerband.
Folks maybe do not realise that the stock crossover pipe, amoung other beneficial features, also allows both headers to utilise the opposing silencer. That said, when viewing your exhaust system, realise that the exhaust is exiting through both silencers, not just one. Now how restrictive do you think it is?
This explains why most (99%) of the folks at a formerly informative and popular Website who eagerly posted about their respective shiney new exhausts (341 posts) did not need to re-jet. (actually, only 1 out of 341 posters mentioned it, so it is more than 99%)
Almost ALL on the other hand, noted the great loud sound, and how the new $1000 dollar silencers had "transformed" their rides. Hmmm. Also important to consider is the HP/Torque increase per $$$ spent. 2 HP at the very top end for $1000 is $500 / HP way outside the powerband, and of little use to everyday riding. But a lot of noise maybe?
Sounds like a classic placebo effect perhaps, but yes, there is a definite benefit in weight savings.
Don't overlook the possibilities and benefits of considering a well planned and well crafted "baffle-ectomy" on the stock cans. The $/hp gain is drastically reduced, and the flow improved significantly. On the negative side, no weight savings are achieved.
All that said, I've yet to see anyone test a silencer, or perform a comparative analysis of competing silencers - on a properly set up and unbiased flowbench. Usually you see a paper dyno chart, but the tester has also combined other mod's as well, so there is no "apples to apples".
Does this endless rambling mean that you should not consider buying aftermarket exhausts? Absolutely not. What is does hope to offer is the friendly reminder to tread extremely carefully, and choose very, very wisely. All state a "Massive Performance Increase", but I reckon you need to fully define "massive". Sometimes "louder" is convincing as "faster", especially when the wallet dyno is in full effect.
Ride Safe (with good, quiet, high velocity scavenging)!
Bob
__________________ - A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving. ~Lao Tzu
- Wisdom is what's left after we've run out of personal opinions.
- Saying what we think gives us a wider conversational range than saying what we know. ~ Cullen Hightower
| 
