Loud pipes

[markl]

This is a little odd most threads are people wanting louder pipes. I have an 88 intruder which i've had for the last year but im just over the loudness. It would be good if it was just a weekend bike but for everyday commuting not so good. So i've heard chicken wire can help, apart from that does anybody know where i could get some cheap second hand stock pipes?

[Toaster]

You could possibly get a quieter custom pipe made, but given its an 88 vintage it may not make great economic sense. Tried any wreckers or Suzuki for parts/second hand parts?

[vifferman]

Given the number of people that ditch their stock pipes for louder ones, you should be able to pick summat up.
Alternatively, look at getting the pipes altered. WHen I had my Firestorm, the endcaps had been cut out and part of the baffles removed. I had some new endcaps/plugs made up that quietened it down considerably. Cost me $60.

<img src=http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=14229&d=1124245602 /img>

[Macktheknife]

Given the number of people that ditch their stock pipes for louder ones, you should be able to pick summat up.
Alternatively, look at getting the pipes altered. WHen I had my Firestorm, the endcaps had been cut out and part of the baffles removed. I had some new endcaps/plugs made up that quietened it down considerably. Cost me $60.

That would be my thought too, just get some baffles made and fitted, cheap and quick.

[markl]

Sounds good, would most bike mechanics be able to make baffles?

[vifferman]

What I did, was work out what I needed, drew up a sketch with measurements, and took it to Woolf mufflers, as they were one of the muffler places that were listed as manufacturers. They said, "Sure - that'll be ready tomorrow, and cost $60."

Prior to that, I'd been to two muffler places and Custom Chambers and talked to them about what I wanted. What a waste of time!
They were all too stupid to understand what I wanted, and either said, "No we can't do that", or (in CC's case) said, "Can you leave the bike with me? I'll have to cut the mufflers open and see what's going on inside then work out what to do and give you a price. Probably around $350 to $400."
So, I've just ridden for 35 minutes to get here, told you exactly what I want, and you want me to come back,and pay you some money to cut the mufflers open and tell me what I already know?!?

But as it turned out, all the endplugs / caps were was two bits of pipe and some welding. Anyone with access to the right size pipe and a welder could've made them. I went to Woolf because I thought they'd have various sized bits'n'pieces, and I'd already bought some perforated muffler core from them on my first fixing attempt:

You can see the vandalised innards of the muffler, with the core I added at the end. While this quietened things down a bit, it was crappy and not what I wanted, which was summat like this:

http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/showpost.php?p=318720&postcount=9

[The Lone Rider]

I have been through the "must be louder" modifications and ended up with "shit, too loud".

To go between I bought some harley baffles, which didn't quite fit the pipes, and had a new sleeve welded onto them.

Baffles, non-chicken wire like ones, are just tubs that divert the air flow so it's not all pounding out.. often have a funneling sleeve that thins in the middle with holes for the air to flow around.

[rainman]

I also had the problem of a too loud set of pipes - no baffles. Went to CC but they're too far from my home and the logistics just got too hard. Warren from Virgin sorted me out with a custom made set of baffles, good price, good service, and he did the work over two evenings, which suited me nicely. PM him here as blade1000....

[TLMAN]

Have you tried earplugs?

[Angusdog]

Wgtn M/Cs put a single simple baffle in each of my V&H Cruzers, took it from crazy loud to reasonable - loud but not offensively so. Cost about $160 from memory, but it would depend on your existing pipes. The V&H pipes have removable baffles which were easy to work on as you can take them out and work on a bench. I think they thought I was odd wanting to make them quieter, but honestly they were unsociable bits of kit.

[markl]

Have you tried earplugs?

Yeah i did for a while but putting them in and out of my pocket a few times a day didn't lend themselves to been particulary clean and healthy and changing them every day didn't seem that practical. I guess i could have put them in a container of some sort but then again as a biker there is already enough stuff to sort out, one less item makes it easier just to jump on and ride.

Thanks for you suggestions, i guess the bike is getting a bit old anyway maybe i should look around for a new quieter one :)

[Headbanger]

I must be getting stale, I consider my bike loud enough to be embarrassing.

look at me, LOUD MOTHER FUCKER, screaming along at 74km/h.

[The Lone Rider]

Yeah i did for a while but putting them in and out of my pocket a few times a day didn't lend themselves to been particulary clean and healthy and changing them every day didn't seem that practical. I guess i could have put them in a container of some sort but then again as a biker there is already enough stuff to sort out, one less item makes it easier just to jump on and ride.

Thanks for you suggestions, i guess the bike is getting a bit old anyway maybe i should look around for a new quieter one :)

EAR brand ear plugs. Have used them for years as a sound engineer, and use them at work as a technician in a factory as they are better then the ear muffs and plugs provided.

EAR brand plugs come with a nice little blue case that you can put on your keychain. They are reusable, just wash in nice soapy water and same goes for the container.

Or baffle your bike :P

[Grahameeboy]

Have you tried earplugs?

Arh, the voice of reason...........

[Plugz 4 Lugz]

........ we offer the best alternative to the foamies. Check out our website www.earmold.com.au. We'll also be at Big Boys Toys in a couple of weeks if you want to check us out. Cheers Sue

Yeah i did for a while but putting them in and out of my pocket a few times a day didn't lend themselves to been particulary clean and healthy and changing them every day didn't seem that practical. I guess i could have put them in a container of some sort but then again as a biker there is already enough stuff to sort out, one less item makes it easier just to jump on and ride.

Thanks for you suggestions, i guess the bike is getting a bit old anyway maybe i should look around for a new quieter one :)

[Timber020]

if your pipes loud enough for you to want airplugs, its time to think more about the people who dont love you bike as much as you do that have to listen to it. I found my neighbours much more helpful once I had a bike that didnt set off car alarms.

[imdying]

My neighbours are dicks, I'm looking forward to getting a new muffler, and then spending a few hours 'tuning it'.

[Hitcher]

Loud pipes should be banned.

[TLMAN]

if your pipes loud enough for you to want airplugs, its time to think more about the people who dont love you bike as much as you do that have to listen to it. I found my neighbours much more helpful once I had a bike that didnt set off car alarms.

Yeah I know what youre saying, every morning when I pull into the underground car park at work im met with a chorus of car alarms, Ive started wearing ear plugs now so that I dont hear them all.

[imdying]

Loud pipes should be banned.Loud pipes already have been banned... get with the program :lol:

[Hitcher]

Loud pipes already have been banned...

My ones haven't...

[imdying]

My ones haven't...Mine either, surprisingly! I actually sat at the lights, sprawled across my tank, talking to a copper who was holding up traffic, for about 5 minutes, with the SV booming away. He didn't even bat an eye :love:

[markl]

Well, found a solution...

http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/showthread.php?t=59503

And well, now i'm after some louder pipes :)

[TLMAN]

Ive heard a rumor with cruisers that if you ram a skinny crowbar down the pipes a few times it makes them sound beastly??
Would try it on someone elses bike before mine though.:stupid:

[Headbanger]

On my last Harley thats all I done, Using a heavy hammer and a 2 foot long spike, I rammed her through.

If memory serves me right I yanked off the mufflers and done it from the other side.

It worked very well.

[Pancakes]

.............Woolf mufflers........

Yep I've been to heaps of places for lots of (normally odd and annoying) things and quotes and Woolf have always been awesome with good prices too.

[Donor]

As the new occupier of said '88 Intruder, I'm absolutely torn - I find the pipes are somewhat loud and obnoxious, however at the same time I can say with complete confidence that the sound brought on by a quick squirt of throttle has saved my ass (and several other important features!) at least twice in the last week, warding off one cage pilot on the motorway who thought they could share the exact same section of meatspace as me, and alerted yet another mutant 4 wheeler at a give way who had not bothered to look my way.

So yeah, I had thought about the old Goldilocks scouring pad trick, but I'm fast warming to the volume...

Dammit, why must life be so unfair??

[Pancakes]

............So yeah, I had thought about the old Goldilocks scouring pad trick, but I'm fast warming to the volume...

Dammit, why must life be so unfair??

Goldilocks rust bud bud, Woolf Mufflers will sell you stainless wool for not alot.

[Angusdog]

<snip>I'm fast warming to the volume...</end snip>

Or you're going deaf.



I said OR YOU'RE GOING... oh I give up.

[Donor]

Or you're going deaf.



I said OR YOU'RE GOING... oh I give up.

A month later, and yeah - I bloody am!

So, I'm having some custom ear plugs made (and not those bloody lugz plugz or whatever the hell they are, cos they spam themselves silly over the website and piss me off!) and am SERIOUSLY needing to locate either some 2nd hand stock pipes, or a cheapish but not rangi-ish solution for silencing the beast. (Which I still love and will almost miss once I get my next bike...)

I found a set on ebay but fugged if I have 600 knicker to spend importing used parts from the US! (or some figure like that anyways...)

Might have to investigate Woolf methinks!

[scumdog]

I had the ends of my H-D mufflers whacked off where they taper down (at the outlet end!) and some nice stainless end caps fitted, - all the fibreglass and mesh guts were ripped out which cut the weight in half - at least!:eek:

So now they are just hollow cans with a cap which is held in place with button-headed 6mm Allen bolts (just in case I had to re-baffle them if I felt they're too loud) but as it turned out they are not too loud. (Ask anybody who was at the KB Staging Post rally.

And the best part is they look 'factory'.:niceone:

[Omega1]

I have a Screamin Eagle Supertrapp 2 into 1 on mine, I currently run it with a open end cap which is pretty loud however if things get tough with the Reg's then I'll just add the original closed end cap and a couple more discs to quieten it down.

[skidz]

Keep with the noise. There's that old safety thing about being heard before seen.

[vifferman]

Keep with the noise. There's that old safety thing about being heard before seen.
That's right!
Fuck everyone else - make sure you're noticed! :headbang:

[xwhatsit]

I was splitting up the Southern (?) Motorway behind Magua on Monday, who rides a CB400N with silencers wot lack quite a bit of baffleage. Cars practically changed lanes in their efforts to make room for us. I need a pair of those ones, Mister! :D

[Ixion]

I thought his bike was quite quiet. What you need is a Dunstall mega.

I suspect they made way because they thought he was Santa.

[vifferman]

I suspect they made way because they thought he was Santa.
Loud farty noises? :confused:

[Ixion]

Red. Bright red.

[xwhatsit]

I thought his bike was quite quiet. What you need is a Dunstall mega.

I suspect they made way because they thought he was Santa.

Don't make fun of his bike, just because the Wetdreams are as heavy as a sleigh (and rattle as much as the sleighbells).

I picked up a CB250RS wreck off Twinkle, massive internal damage (piston skirt, cracked bore... woot woot). It had a pair of downpipes and Dunstall Decibel copies on it. Fitted them up to my bike, still really quiet lol -- it whirs and thrums now, instead of bafflerattling. It's got removeable baffles but I can't work out how to get them out (took the three bolts off, it still won't budge).

They're all ugly and shitty, and I want a 2-into-1 to save weight, so my quest remains.

[AllanB]

I made some inserts for one of my bikes mufflers very easily. Can not find the bloody image though!.
I got a bit of off-cut muffler pipe from a muffler supplier (Magoo etc) that fitted inside the existing muffler pipe. I then hack-sawed a number of partial cuts in the pipe, one top one bottom then the next pair 180 degrees from the first and so on. Then I got a cold chisel and gave the leading edge of each cut a good whack indenting it. Continue for all cuts.
Insert the completed unit into the loud muffler, weld or bolt it in. About a 200mm length shut it up a lot.

I've attached couple of images that show the general idea of the indents. The pipe is still a straight through but the indents disturb the flow thus shutting it up.

[The Pastor]

I thought his bike was quite quiet. What you need is a Dunstall mega.

I suspect they made way because they thought he was Santa.


Red. Bright red.


Don't make fun of his bike, just because the Wetdreams are as heavy as a sleigh (and rattle as much as the sleighbells).




Gold pure gold!!!

We call him the flaming hemeroid.:2thumbsup:spanking::banana:

[The Lone Rider]

I've attached couple of images that show the general idea of the indents. The pipe is still a straight through but the indents disturb the flow thus shutting it up.

I have a set of those in one of my bikes, Custom Chrome 1 3/4" harley baffles. They don't "shut it up", but take some of the bite off the sound. It's a good compromise between loud pipes and brutal pipes.

To deaden them a fair bit, wrap the fibreglass stuff around the middle section. Just dont go sticking your nose in your pipes from then on :D

[Angusdog]

<snip>Then I got a cold chisel and gave the leading edge of each cut a good whack indenting it. Continue for all cuts.
Insert the completed unit into the loud muffler, weld or bolt it in. About a 200mm length shut it up a lot.<snip>

That's what Wgtn M/Cs did for my M50, although just one 'flute' in it. The difference is amazing - gentle, inoffensive burble low down, then a nice bark when you open 'er up. Still won't pass the new noise tests, so unless I find a deaf tester, I'll be changing pipes four times a year (twice for each WoF).

[Hitcher]

"Flutes"? What's wrong with bassoons?

[Angusdog]

Heck, push the boat right out and have a go on the pink oboe...

[markl]

A month later, and yeah - I bloody am!

I found a set on ebay but fugged if I have 600 knicker to spend importing used parts from the US! (or some figure like that anyways...)

Might have to investigate Woolf methinks!

Hey Donor, Ironically after switching from the intruder i found the M50 way to quiet so i set about getting some noise. Warren from Virgin mufflers PM'd me when i originally started this thread so i gave him a bell and he modified my exisitng pipes and now they sound just right. He'll be able to sort you out, send me a PM if you want his number.

[MissFitz]

The guy at CC is a rude twat, I rang & was willing to spend some big bucks to get a muffler built. He was rude, arrogant, completely unhelpful & quite honestly not interested in talking to me. Was this because I was a woman!! bloody well shouldnt be.....$$$ is $$$ no matter where it comes from!, now speaking to a few 'men' i find out hes offended others and lost their business as well............no wonder nz business's go under!

[The Lone Rider]

Hey Donor, Ironically after switching from the intruder i found the M50 way to quiet so i set about getting some noise. Warren from Virgin mufflers PM'd me when i originally started this thread so i gave him a bell and he modified my exisitng pipes and now they sound just right. He'll be able to sort you out, send me a PM if you want his number.

Do you know if there is any place similar in Christchurch?

[vifferman]

The guy at CC is a rude twat, I rang & was willing to spend some big bucks to get a muffler built. He was rude, arrogant, completely unhelpful & quite honestly not interested in talking to me. Was this because I was a woman!! bloody well shouldnt be.....$$$ is $$$ no matter where it comes from!, now speaking to a few 'men' i find out hes offended others and lost their business as well............no wonder nz business's go under!
Yeah, I wasn't impressed with him. Took me a whole lunch hour to find my way there, I carefully explained what I wanted, and he wanted me to come back and leave my bike and/or pipes with him so he could cut them open to see what they were like inside (which I'd already told him, and which had little to do with what I'd asked him to do). So before he'd even started on fixing my noisy mufflers, I'd be up for 3 hours off work, and $300-$400 in unnecessary investigative work.
Cost me $60 in the end for a satisfactory DIY job.

[Magua]

Red. Bright red.

Santa Claus was coming to town.

[xwhatsit]

Ooooooooh.... are we talking about his hair?

I was thinking `isn't his bike silver and blue?'

[The Pastor]

loal, his hair, his jacket, and that hideous tail bag.

Hes really into the christmas theme.

[Donor]

Well, have swapped a PM or three with Warren from Virgin Mufflers, hoping to get the beast out to see him sometime in the near future - he's given me an indication of price, and the missus is well happy, so it must be a good 'un!

Will hopefully have more to report sometime soon.

[Donor]

Holy shit - Warren is a GOD!

The Intruder - she sounds GOOD!

Loud and grumbly, but not deafeningly loud like she was - the 5-oh no longer give me filthy looks when I splat past them!

Blue Thunder accompanied me to see Warren, and on the return south, was able to sit behind me without trying to jam elbows into his ears to shut noise out!

Added packing to the mufflers (which was non-existent!) and added a custom made baffle.

Very VERY good price, and bloody knowledgeable guy doing the work - would seriously recommend anyone see Warren if you're looking for any exhaust repairs or mods!

A certain C90 rider is now booked in to have his machine made louder... muhahaha!

I'm happy... oh so happy... tra la la...

[MissFitz]

Do you know if there is any place similar in Christchurch?

We're dealing with him and hes awesome, good service, quality product....hes up at Lewis Pass though!
Motorcycle Exhausts Specialists
Private bag 55004 CHCH 8020
4 Rogers Cres
Engineers Camp,
Lewis pass
03 315 7988

[The Lone Rider]

We're dealing with him and hes awesome, good service, quality product....hes up at Lewis Pass though!
Motorcycle Exhausts Specialists
Private bag 55004 CHCH 8020
4 Rogers Cres
Engineers Camp,
Lewis pass
03 315 7988

Yeah thats the guy out towards hamner if I recall.