Exhaust Busted?

[egleaves]

Over the weekend SWMBO and I went for a nice long ride to enjoy the beautiful weather we were having. At some point on the way home I noticed the bike sounded different and after twisting the throttle a few times I could tell that the exhaust had changed tone. At the same time, though, I noticed a pretty big increase in power over 5K RPM. When I got home and looked in the muffler (it's a Kerker megaphone style) I saw that the perforated baffle has separated itself from the rest of the muffler and is laying loose inside. I was able to re-seat the baffle in the end of the muffler, but a short ride caused it to dislodge again. The bike's a little bit louder now (actually sounds kinda wicked) and has a little more power so I'm wondering if I should just leave it be? Anyone else ever have this happen to them? Is my muffler busted? I haven't had time to take it off yet for further inspection.

[bikerphil]

kerker

Yep, thats happened to me with a Kerker. If you want it to stay in, take a pliars and slightly bend the rear part of the tube so it stays tight in the end cap. Tap it in with a hammer. If the end cap is also loose, put a sheet metal screw or two thru the canister to hold it in place. I run mine with the baffle out sometimes, and yes it does sound good, but it will cut back on the low end grunt.

[XSPastor]

You could leave it be if the noise is manageable, but keep an eye on the plugs. You may run leaner without the back pressure from the baffle.

[egleaves]

Well, this could be a blessing in disguise then. I've been running a little rich lately, so maybe this will balance out my mix.

[XSPastor]

If you've made no changes and have only been running rich lately, you may need to clean/change you air filter(s).