buzzard55
Member
My only remaining complaint with my 2004 FJR is the lack of exhaust note. I wasn't looking for the track day bike wail, or the H-D "look at me" noise, just an aural confirmation that the motor is doing it's thing. I love motors, and like to hear them . I have no need of enhanced performance, this FJR has plenty. I have fretted about slip on pipes, they are expensive and might be more noise than wanted. So I took the plunge and ordered the exhaust tips from Bikejohnny.com. They offer several kits, I opted for the one that included all installation tools. Bikejohnny is in Great Britain, and delivery took about five calendar days! In the package I found two exhaust tips of excellent quality, a fabricated hole saw (very nice), a large bottle of cutting oil, two drill bits which fit the pop rivets, and twenty pop rivets (twelve are needed). The instructions say to remove the mufflers from the bike, so as to get the metal particles out of the pipe after drilling. I left them on the bike. I hole sawed the old exhaust outlet, then used a small parts retrieval magnet to pull all of the metal out of the muffler. That worked fine. I started the bike with the original outlets removed, and was suprised at how quiet it was. If it didn't look so unfinished, it would be an option to ride it like that. I then drilled the holes for the pop rivets and riveted the new tips on. It looks factory to anyone but another FJ owner. Installation took about twenty minutes, I was disappointed it was over so soon with no cluster-foxtrot associated with it. The new tips are a good bit larger than the stock outlet pipes, about 1.5" outside diameter. The sound was quieter than anticipated, but during the test ride I found the new sound to be very nice. Still quiet enough to never be annoying on a long trip (I think), but enough that I can hear the motor, both on and off the throttle. Typical of more sound, I felt the bike to be faster, and found myself riding faster than usual, enjoying the sound. I'm gonna have to watch it, 70-80mph comes on without realizing it. The instructions say that you get about 4db more sound. I believe the product is made in Germany. I give the quality of the parts and tools a full five stars, they are top notch. I will have no problems if I ride in a metro area like Denver with it's new bike muffler laws, it would be a rare cop who could determine that my pipes weren't stock, besides the fact that my FJ is still quiet enough to cause no alarm. I'm gonna have to put some miles on the bike to see how it feels on the long haul, but so far I think I got just about what I wanted. I like it!
