diamond jim wrote on 03/24/09 at 14:20:57:Dasch, what kind of muffler is that? It doesn't look tapered like the HD.
Gary, my ADHD won't let me leave my bike alone!
A flap on the end would work but I don't think it would sound very good. Having some hollow open pipe after the baffle/butterfly is what helps develop the deeper tone.
Gary, I used 1 3/4" pipe. The muffler guy had to spread the end open a little to fit over the header. Simon (Simontuffguy) just had one made. Him noted that another person standing 15 feet behind his bike could feel the exhaust when Simon drove off. I noticed that, when idling in the yard, I can see the grass 7-8 feet away being blown by the exhaust.
For the cutting, while the pipe was on the bike but cold, I put blue painter's tape on the section I wanted to cut off making sure my bottom and top points lined up correctly. The edge of the tape was my cut line. That way I knew the point would be precisely at the top when the bike is standing up. I took the pipe off and I drilled 1/8" holes about every 1/4" along the edge of the tape (which marked my cut lines). I secured the pipe to the workbench and used a hacksaw to cut basically along the line of drilled holes. It kept me lined up and having drilled all the holes left less metal to have to hacksaw. I hit the cut edges on the grinder a bit then smoothed the edges with a hand file.
Riding a friends V-Star 650 today. Last week I spent a good bit of time on a Honda VTX 1800 and a V-Star 1100. All being cruisers, it made me realize just how much faster and more fun my bike is to ride than all of them. Mine is also roomier than both V-Stars and about equal to the VTX. I wouldn't trade mine for them. It's a helluva lot more fun!
Yah I'm putting a straight pipe on mine too, just had to go back and get another one made up didn't have the flair put in the first one so it wouldn't fit over the header, duh
. That and i had him put a 10 degree bend in it after the flair so it wouldn't run into the end of the bike. That and I really like the idea of drilling a bunch of holes in the pipe before you cut it makes sense cause i sat there and cut the tail pipe straight through with a hack saw, and i was sweating like a sleeper in church after i got done. And how much of difference in sound did you get with the slash cut? I should have my pipe by like tommorrow but we'll see, the guy said he was busy don't think it takes that long to cut one pipe and put one bend in it, but hey not my shop.