Lets make some noise!

So my friends at TopBike were kind enough to supply me with the new magazine just before the weekend, and inside I found a lovely little article about the Buell Ullyses.

They opted to have what I initially thought of as a backyard mechanic job, exhaust modication done on their longterm bike. When I was in Johannesburg to test ride the XB9SX they told me about this mod their dynotuning guru Malcolm does to the stock pipe, to make it virtually identical to the Buell Race Exhaust which is no longer being manufactured due to treehugger regulations.

Of course being the prat that I am, I wasn't too bothered listening to the story, as I generally believe in buying from supposedly reputable sources, and already had my eye on the Micron Serpent full exhaust replacement for my new bike.

Well I quickly changed my tune after reading the praises for Malcolm's work in Topbike, and having a very long ogle at the Power & Torque curve changes. Malcolm completely gets rid of the low down flatspot and adds quite a few horses which I can't remember off the top of my head now.

I had a long talk on the phone with this Malcolm fellow from Buell Johannesburg. Basically he makes a Buell Race pipe from the standard pipe, by cutting it open and modifying or replacing internals. Naturally he won't give away all his secrets, but he promises me that the outputs are virtually identical to that of the Race kit, and that even though they need to cut open the pipe they clean it up and repaint it so nicely that you would never notice.

At the top of my priority list with regards to the modification is fuel economy. I was quite suprised to find that it makes virtually no difference in the real world, especially with the air filter swopped out as well. The stock ECU and oxygen sensor makes the system completely dynamic, and thus compensates for the modification. The Ullyses which is a 12 has an average fuel economy of 5.76l/100km which means the 9 should be on par or possibly even better.

Naturally the biggest reason to do any exhaust modification has nothing to do with power, and it's got everything to do with making a noise. Well no dissapointments there then, since the barbarian noise coming from this baby will make the earth move beneath the cages long before they even need to see me. You see, it's all in the name of safety!

All of this for a mere R 2 500 including the new air filter(which won't need to be replaced), compared to the Micron Serpent system which would work out to almost R 10 000 inclusive of labour, and doesn't really offer all that much more.

So essentially Buella will be dynotuned and modified straight out of the box, and costing me almost R 90 000 after the modification, fitting of swingarm sliders and fork protectors and not to even mention the mandatory registration fee.

Do you see me complaining? NOT AT ALL!