Gratuitous New Member Pics

[JReviere]

The reality is that makers come up with an exhaust that meets legal requirements and gives an optimum power output from the engine. A different can might be louder (and sound more powerful) but it seldom is unless the engine has been otherwise tuned. The net result is that good money has been spent on making something that might attract more attention from the law but gives little else in the way of real world gains. It's more a psychological satisfaction and, as you suggest, some people may interpret the attention-seeking as implying a deficit elsewhere...[/quote]

Absolutely RIGHT Steel... Besides that isn't it a violation of FEDERAL LAW to alter the emissions controls (including mixture, carbs, fuel injection, induction, or exhaust system) of a motor vehicle?     I may have to shop for an OEM exhaust for my 01B12S... a PO put a D&D muffin on it... Not really loud until you twist her tail... then she screams in a very angry sounding blast.

JR

[Nedmold]

I was able to get in 400 K or so this year.  

Is that total mileage, mph, or mpg?  

...my first couple of rides in early April totaled 400 K

...but I'm still trying work out whether you mean K as in kilometres or K as in thousands and your first couple of rides were 400,000 miles! Some ride!!!

kilometrers

[ZenMan]

The reality is that makers come up with an exhaust that meets legal requirements and gives an optimum power output from the engine. A different can might be louder (and sound more powerful) but it seldom is unless the engine has been otherwise tuned. The net result is that good money has been spent on making something that might attract more attention from the law but gives little else in the way of real world gains. It's more a psychological satisfaction and, as you suggest, some people may interpret the attention-seeking as implying a deficit elsewhere...

Absolutely RIGHT Steel... Besides that isn't it a violation of FEDERAL LAW to alter the emissions controls (including mixture, carbs, fuel injection, induction, or exhaust system) of a motor vehicle?     I may have to shop for an OEM exhaust for my 01B12S... a PO put a D&D muffin on it... Not really loud until you twist her tail... then she screams in a very angry sounding blast.

JR

You guys are right to a point... but altering the exhaust does change the performance.

In the case of my B1250, opening up the exhaust would probably increase the horsepower at higher revs, but at the expense of some low-end torque. I like my torque the way it is. Grunt at 4K is much more useable on the street than power at 8K. Not to mention the better mileage.

Thing is, my exhaust is so quiet that I can't tell what gear I'm in sometimes unless I look at the tach. I'd like it a little bit louder just for that reason... but not so loud as to be a cop magnet either.

As far as Federal law... there are no emmissions requirements where I live. Removing the catalytic convertor would not be an issue, and the rise in the level of hydrocarbons would be negligible, especially with the proper CPU settings.

We'll see... I haven't decided what I'm gonna do yet.  

[JReviere]

Zen Man... I was referring to Federal Law, not state law. The Federal Law has simply been being ignored by most everyone including the EPA.  Recent Supreme Court rulings however may be changing that. We'll have to wait and see.  I'm also fortunate in living in an area where there are no state anti-pollution mandates, but I do believe the Federal Laws which mandate Cat Converters, No Lead Gas, etc. on other vehicles for example applies here and at your house too.

What I'd like would be a gear position indicator... say a digital LED or some such read out. Some other bikes have it and I've found it useful. But on Bandit, I do watch the tach.  Keep that needle under 4500 at all times and end up getting 50mpg... which is increasingly attractive as the price of gas climbs to Hugo Chavez pleasing prices.  

JR

[ZenMan]

Zen Man... I was referring to Federal Law, not state law. The Federal Law has simply been being ignored by most everyone including the EPA.  Recent Supreme Court rulings however may be changing that. We'll have to wait and see.  I'm also fortunate in living in an area where there are no state anti-pollution mandates, but I do believe the Federal Laws which mandate Cat Converters, No Lead Gas, etc. on other vehicles for example applies here and at your house too.

What I'd like would be a gear position indicator... say a digital LED or some such read out. Some other bikes have it and I've found it useful. But on Bandit, I do watch the tach.  Keep that needle under 4500 at all times and end up getting 50mpg... which is increasingly attractive as the price of gas climbs to Hugo Chavez pleasing prices.  

JR

In the years I've been a professional auto tech, I used to perform emissions inspections on cars, so naturally I've snuck a few motorcyles into the shop and ran the probe up their pipes. I found that in a proper state of tune, (100% efficiency) even my race bikes would register zero or nearly zero Co2 and unburned hydrocarbons. Of course they were there, but the machine we used for cars wasn't sensitive enough to measure it.

I do care about emissions, and this may not occur to some folks, but riding a motorcycle is sound ecological policy... it has a lot smaller carbon footprint than an automobile does. And a hell of a lot more fun.   I firmly believe that by removing the catalytic convertor on my B1250 and remapping the CPU, I can achieve below legal emissions while increasing performance and losing weight.

As far as the gear indicator goes, I'd still have to look down at it. I prefer to use my eyes for riding, and my ears for monitoring my RPM's. Old road-race habit, I reckon.  

[JReviere]

Zen, I can agree with the carbon footprint of bikes for sure. It's simple logic. Smaller cubes burn less fuel, burn less fuel, emit less carbon.    And yes, you can probably do a tune job and achieve better than "stock", but since the machines are aimed at a mass market and there are darn few of us either experienced or equipped to do an adequate tune job, unfortunately in true politician form, the laws were written aimed at the lowest common denominator.

I'm an old retired pilot. I prefer to fly instruments for safety reasons. In the "soup" all the poorly qualified "week end fun fliers" are grounded and not out there trying to fly into me.  

One of the very first thing learned in flying instruments is an instrument scan. Then flying under Visual conditions it's easy to include a horizon and sky scan to the instrument scan.

Ones eyes have to be kept moving for we are all subject to the hazards of "target fixation". I see a hazard there when allowing self to lock onto a line thru a curve or some such, particularly when the potential for opposing direxion traffic exists.

Racing is a specialized circumstance, particularly in which all the others using the space are superbly qualified to operate their machines under extreme conditions and moreover, all the traffic is going the same direxion.  

You are right, old habits learned in one endeavour or environment can serve you well when transitioned to  different set of tasks. Yet, they have to be calibrated to deal with the unique conditions extant in the new circumstance.

I've found bikes which have gear position indicators to be easy for incorporation of the gear position read out to be added to the instrument scan, but only during situaitons in which gear changing is a factor.  

JR

[ZenMan]

Zen, I can agree with the carbon footprint of bikes for sure. It's simple logic. Smaller cubes burn less fuel, burn less fuel, emit less carbon.    And yes, you can probably do a tune job and achieve better than "stock", but since the machines are aimed at a mass market and there are darn few of us either experienced or equipped to do an adequate tune job, unfortunately in true politician form, the laws were written aimed at the lowest common denominator.

I'm an old retired pilot. I prefer to fly instruments for safety reasons. In the "soup" all the poorly qualified "week end fun fliers" are grounded and not out there trying to fly into me.  

One of the very first thing learned in flying instruments is an instrument scan. Then flying under Visual conditions it's easy to include a horizon and sky scan to the instrument scan.

Ones eyes have to be kept moving for we are all subject to the hazards of "target fixation". I see a hazard there when allowing self to lock onto a line thru a curve or some such, particularly when the potential for opposing direxion traffic exists.

Racing is a specialized circumstance, particularly in which all the others using the space are superbly qualified to operate their machines under extreme conditions and moreover, all the traffic is going the same direxion.  

You are right, old habits learned in one endeavour or environment can serve you well when transitioned to  different set of tasks. Yet, they have to be calibrated to deal with the unique conditions extant in the new circumstance.

I've found bikes which have gear position indicators to be easy for incorporation of the gear position read out to be added to the instrument scan, but only during situaitons in which gear changing is a factor.  

JR

Wow, that's great... I always wanted to learn to fly. Maybe I'll get to be one of those weekend "air squids" you mentioned before I leave the planet for good.  

Just so you don't worry about me though, I don't "fixate" if I can help it, and not looking at the instruments frees up my eyes for a lot of scanning. I look through the exit, not the line, the line comes naturally. And these old eyes do a lot of darting around for traffic and obstacles, believe me.

In fact, the older I get, the more nano-seconds it takes for me to focus from close-up instruments to the road ahead. Works for me.  

[JReviere]

Zen,

I know what you mean about things slowing down when the age numbers incease. I don't like the loss of physical strength,stamina, or balance... but I like the idea of the alternative much less.  

I saw my first military aircraft just about the time of the start of WWII. It was a Curtis "Warhawk" AKA:  P-40 the type flown by Chenault and the Flying Tigers in China about that time. The guy was probably illegally doing acrobatics over my home town (probably showing off for his girl friend or some such). I knew then I was hooked and would someday just have to do the stick and throttle thing. Born and reared in poverty, my only chance was the Military... at the time, and until 1947, the Air Force was an Army Corps... Army Air Corps... Somehow, some way... I managed and looking back at the crooked roads I traveled to fulfill that childhood dream look impossible and highly unlikely... but fly I did... fixed wing recips, fixed wing jets, rotary wing recips, rotary wing turboshafts... If it would fly and I could wrangle permission to fly it, I flew it... WHAT A RIDE!  

JR
"Old Pilots never die, we just smell this way."

[Pod99966]

Wow, from my small penis to aircraft, in less then 2 pages.

But seriously, less restriction on the exhaust, and more air and fuel for the intake, means more power.

From what I've seen on the dyno tests, about 16 hp for a slip on and about 20 hp for a full pipe.

There is a reason the Matt Mladins bike doesn't run stock exhaust.

I'm stepping on the bandit from a 3 GSXRs in a row. all with aftermarket pipes. This big 1200cc bike sounds like a moped with the stock exhaust on it.

My wife actually laughed at it..... the exhaust, not my penis.

[SteelD]

My wife actually laughed at it..... the exhaust, not my penis.

When she sees the size of the 1250 exhaust she won't be laughing.  

[tonek1]

this is my 2005 bandit 650s k5, soon to be replaced by a new 1200sa k6

[BANDIT#999]

There is only one reason for big cans, well several really...lickin', squeezin', jigglin', and playing motor boat.   Well there is one more, but it don't really do anything for me!