OK, so this is one mod' I didn't do myself... some things are beyond either my capabilities or willingness to attempt. I wanted my bike to sound like a Triumph instead of a sewing machine, but I was reluctant to spend upwards of AU$1000 on aftermarket pipes. I'd seen several bikes on BA.com with one baffle cut out and was considering it, but when I heard it close up I was less than impressed. I also had to take into account the draconian noise pollution laws here down-under and the cops' joy in fining people who not only dare to wear leather and ride bikes, but actually be heard while doing it. In my travels I came across a place right around the corner from my Triumph dealer called Motorcycle Exhaust Professionals which for the sake of my fingers I'll refer to as MEP. They - like just about everyone else - have an aftermarket muffler (or silencer to the non-antipodeans out there) for the normal sort of price, but being on good terms with the Triumph dealer round the corner from them they've had access to bikes to test modifications of standard exhausts. Anyway, it turns out that the standard pipes look (to my understanding at least) a little like this:
Obviously that pic's not to scale. :) As you can see there's several plates, each with a tube roughly 23mm in diameter and about 100mm long, all offset from each other. The idea behind it all is that the chambers are shorter than the wavelengths of the loudest noises, and the gasses have to double back on themselves, both of which reduce the volume and harshness of the exhaust note. As a side effect it also robs the engine of some power as it's required to "push" the gasses through the difficult and tortuous passage. What MEP do is to remove the last two of the tubes, cut the associated holes larger (about 35mm) and more central and replace one of the removed tubes with a larger one. The finished product looks a bit like this:
This allows the gas an easier route to travel and more space to expand in, while still controlling it to some degree. The four tubes they took out and the two new ones they put in are shown here: (Don't ask me why some bits are pink, I'm sure they weren't when I took the pic!)
Of course one of the nice things about this mod is that the pipes still have their "This is an original Triumph part and falls within the legal noise limits blah blah blah" stamps on them, and since the modification's invisible, Mister Plod need be none the wiser. Anyway, down to the really important details.
- How much? When I had it done it was AU$270 (about US$180 at the time of writing).
- What's it go like? I'm not gonna tell you that I set light to my rear tyre and jerked my arms out of their sockets, but the bike definitley felt "free-er", more willing to get up and boogy in less time. I'll play with the air filter at some point, probably fit the FREAK (check out http://www.newspeedmaster.com if you don't know what a FREAK is) as well as getting it rejetted and dyno'd.. that should improve matters even more.
- What's it look like? See it for yourself... what looks like white overspray was actually metal filings and wiped straight off.
- What's it sound like? Hear it for yourself... the sound file has two parts - the first being the original muffler just before I left to have the work done, the second is the modified muffler just after I got home. Both parts were taken under the same conditions and in the same place. It's not deafening, it won't wake the neighbours, but if they're already awake they'll know I'm riding past.
So, am I happy with the results? Yep - it sounds like a Triumph now instead of an Elna. Are they as good as Epcos/Bubs/Staintunes/Thunderpipes etc? Don't know, never tried them, but I'd expect not. Would I pay lots of money now to replace them with Epcos/Bubs/Staintunes/Thunderpipes etc? No, not unless there was a DAMN good reason. Would I do it again? Hell yeah...
If you live in or near Brisbane and you want to get something similar, call Noel or Ivan at MEP on (07) 3808 9377 and have a chat with them. Oh, and while I was there a guy rocked up on a brand new Rocket III, they're in the middle of working out a very cool system for that machine too. Finally, I promised I'd make Ivan famous, so here's the man with the magic hands. :)
