German exhaust system

[James England]

A while ago, I had an exhaust system made in stainless and posted a load of photos here. Whilst I was pleased at the time, the lack of bevel at the end of the silencers detracted from the appearance, I thought. I stressed that I wanted the bevel at the end to the person who made the system but, after waiting ages for him to do it, punctuated by him being ill, he went ahead and made it without the bevel.

Because I really want the bike to look as standard as possible, I ended up selling the system after 25 miles' use and put the money towards buying one of the stainless replica systems which a seller called der-muede lists on eBay regularly.

Question: Would anyone like to see any photos of the system? I don't want to turn into an exhaust-bore, especially since I already posted pix of a system here. It's an expensive system and very unhealthy for your credit card but it's about the most accurate replica I've seen..... and it has the bevels....... it sounds good too.

[crazy steve]

While that system is all-but-unobtainium for probably most of us here, you betcha I would like to see pics.... if only to drool...

[CatatonicBug]

Nothing wrong with more pictures! Post away!!

[natemoen]

Absolutely I want to see it!

[cywelchjr]

Yes, those of us who will never be able to afford to get that exhaust system would LOVE to drool over it.

[James England]

Hi Folks. I'm pleased you'd like to see some photos of the exhaust. I've been drooling over it too and wanted someone to tell about it!. Just one thing though, everyone.... I'd hate anyone here to think I'm some rich kid with loads of money to throw around on expensive exhaust pipes etc. I had a hell of a job justifying spending a lot of money on it and dithered about for days. In the end, I convinced myself it was OK because I've not had a holiday for 13 years, dress like a scruff most of the time, possess no jewellery (not even a watch...), and economise a lot of the time. My bike is basically my only interest and I love it. Hell... I know someone who just blew $8,000 on a holiday!

Weather permitting, I'll take the bike out tomorrow and get some really nice photos and post them asap. I'd be interested in what you all think.

One thing that I find interesting... the tolerances on the pipe joints are so precise and well made that you don't need clamps at all. The pipes fit together with a thin smear of exhaust paste and that's it. It's a heavy system.... I'd say double the weight of the one I had made and it sounds exactly like a factory bike (which is what I wanted).

Anyway, pix on here asap........

[natemoen]

Totally awesome, I want one!

[foreda]

Exhaust

Patiently awaiting pictures!!

[James England]

Took a load of pix today but discovered I left my camera USB lead at work! Gonna pick it up tomorrow, Sunday, just so I can post the pix here! Dedication to the cause, eh?

[natemoen]

That it is! Thanks for the effort!

[James England]

Photos

Hi Folks

At the risk of sounding like Mr Exhaust-Boring, here are the pix of the German exhaust system and a few thoughts etc. First of all, it's a well-made system constructed from very thick steel. It's approx twice as heavy as the last system which I had posted details about. It fits together with no clamps on the header to silencer joints because the tolerances are so tight. I just used exhaust paste and only a thin smear, at that.

The system has the two baffle boxes on the balance pipe underneath the bike. One side was bevelled to allow the centre stand to retract but, annoyingly, the other side had not been bevelled and stopped the stand from retracting fully. I had to get it modified slightly at a local stainless welding place. The silencers have the Yamaha part number engraved on them for that authentic look.

The system requires the OEM hangars at the back and I bought these off eBay. It took an amount of jiggling about to get everthing to line up properly and I had to mess about with a few washers between the silencer brackets and the hangars in order to get everything to fit.

I would give the system 8/10 for the standard of polishing. The silencers are shiny. The headers are well-polished but the intermediate pipe is not highly polished. This doesn't matter so much because I've ordered two Yamaha heat shields which will hide all that anyway. Because the header pipes are thicker than the last ones, the yellowing due to heat is reduced.

Performance-wise, the system sounds exactly like the OEM system and this is what I want. It has that muffled kind of 'woof' when revving the throttle and, when riding, the slight whine of the transmission and light rustle from the cams is audible. I like quiet bikes rather than louder ones and this system is absolutely the same as the OEM sound. The silencers are not straight through and have baffles at various points. There is very slight rippling at points on the silencers where the baffles are.... nothing horrible and I seem to remember that the OEM mild steel systems were much the same. The bike is very slightly slower on acceleration than with the straight through system but the trade-off in terms of looks and reduced sound it worth it, IMO.

All in all, I suspect it would be difficult to get a more authentic looking system. The heat shields should finish off the look. The stainless heat-yellowing is unavoidable I suppose unless double pipes were used on the headers. I kind of like it though.

Here's the pix. Please forgive the newness of the building in the background. It's only 750 years old. Next time I take some pix, I'll try to include a historic building that's old

[James England]

Ps

PS Here's a pic which is not quite so dark as the others.......

[crazy steve]

Verrry nice. These are a much better fit compared to first set you got. The only 'flaw' I see is the mufflers appear to have a slight 'up angle' compared to the original pipes; the OEM pipes didn't quite hide the axle from a side view. Will your 'tire change cable' hold the wheel up enough to still allow axle removal?

The gold color is typical for SS exhaust exposed to heat, and if you don't repolish on occasion can get quite dark over time. But unlike chrome, it will polish off. As to the heat sheilds, I wouldn't bother; it looks 'finished' now, and all the originals were for was to hide the rather ugly factory welding in any case. You've got it, why not flaunt it?

[Rasputin]

That is one mighty fine looking bike and set of pipes. The pic of the background combined with that bike should be in a calendar! Nice to see it and hear about the pipes. Thanks.

[skids]

Hopefully, the outside head pipes wont scrape during hard turns. They do look great. I would get the heat shields (clamp-ons?) just to protect your skin and reduce "shoe goo" on the hot pipes.