Removing Baffles

[kevin1972]

Hi. can anyone tell me how to remove the baffles from my 1981 xs11 and if it will hurt any back pressure if i do remove them? any help would be appreciated.

[TopCatGr58]

You can't remove the baffles without cutting up the pipes, and if they are good clean rustfree pipes/mufflers, then you could get a lot of money for them. And yes, you'll mess with the backpressure which can mess with the tuning and performance of the bike/engine. These machines were built with OVERALL performance in mind with the pipes, crossover, and multichambered baffles and such.

I'm assuming that you're wanting to make the bike a bit louder sounding, the question is WHY? If you think it will help people in traffic to notice or be aware of you, nope, especially if they are in front of you.

If you just want a slightly louder/lower/throaty TONE without being obnoxiously loud, you can drill some holes on the end of the muffler cone area around the outer edge. Then, if you don't like the sound, you can put some bolts/screws in the holes to close them backup.

T.C.

[natemoen]

If you have the stock pipes then TC is correct in that you cannot remove the baffles, and if you have stock pipes please oh please do not go drilling holes in the end!!! Sell them to someone who wants them and get yourself a different set of pipes.

Some pics of your exhaust would really help us in telling you what you have and if the baffles are removable. and yes, if you remove the baffles you will loose your backpressure.

[James England]

Personally, I dislike loud motorcycles, simply because they don't need to be that way and I don't like to inflict unnecessary noise on every single person I ride past. Butchering an exhaust system just to make a louder noise isn't a good idea at all and yes, it will adversely affect the performance.

I read somewhere that a loud motorcyle driving across the entire width of London wakes up 100,00 people. I don't know how they measured this but it's enough to put me off making a racket.......

[jetmechmarty]

I won't pretend I know anything about the XS1100 stock exhaust, because I don't. I did knock the baffles out of my XS650 exhaust. I did it with a BFH and a length of steel rod. I added K&N filters to the airboxes and had to rejet a little bit. It could have been my imagination, but by seat of the pants, it seemed to wake it up a bit.

It is a little louder, but not too bad. I hate loud pipes too. I don't think it's as loud as the aftermarket exhaust on my XS11. I can drive it in my neighborhood without being a bother.

My XS650 had hot spots on the exhaust where the baffles were. (yellowed pipe) Removing them cleared that up.

I don't know if the XS11 pipe is built the same or not. Once the baffles are knocked out, there's no turning back. I have a spare set of OEM pipes for the 650.

[fredintoon]

Hi. can anyone tell me how to remove the baffles from my 1981 xs11 and if it will hurt any back pressure if i do remove them? any help would be appreciated.

Hi Kev,
if that's the stock system the outer pipes are each a complete weldment and most folks only replace the mufflers when the originals rust into holes. Replacing the mufflers is a hacksaw & weld job BTW.
Look here for my ex-Triumph mufflers:-

Like Marty sez, you can rape the stockers with a pointy steel bar and a club hammer but a stock system in good shape is worth a fortune these days.
You'd be better off DIYing a beat-up system for the noise factor and selling the stockers to finance the work.