Seems I remember someone saying putting it in gear & letting the clutch ALMOST start pulling while ya hit the kill switch helped, but Im not gonna swear to That one,,

I enjoy the big bang.  Many times, especially during colder weather, it lets go a whopper when I shut it off. On a good night, it'll send blue flames a foot or so and send everyone around ducking for cover.  Overheads and walls really amplify the sounds and make it a really big boom. I figure it's not too loud...hasn't set off any car alarms or anything yet.

Just part of the character of the bike.  

Embrace the boom. Enhance the boom. Enjoy the boom.

I will intentionally wind my bike up tight and heel the kickstand enough to stall it while rolling.. then pop the clutch and get an even bigger bang when the engine catches and fires off. The 2003 still has its safety switches.

My 1998 has a small gutted glasspack muffler shell as a resonance chamber and a 29 inch long fishtail extension. When it ran 155/55 jetting, I could wind it up and hit the kill switch (since deleted) and get 2-3 feet of flames out of the pipe. Sounded like a 155mm howitzer going off. Normal riding it sounded like a Vietnam War era Huey UH-1 helicopter...  

The huge afterfire potential, the squeaking belt, rattling headlight and speedometer, and multiple oil leaks are what allow the bike to have some character. The engine is very loosely based on old British racing singles, mostly the Norton Manx, it is just showing its heritage.

I always stall it out in 2nd or 3rd gear and I get no after fire. It was pretty bad when I first got the bike new from the stealership and the adjustment screw process did not fix the boom. Someone recommended the stall method and I have done that ever since. Works like a charm!!

1st2know wrote on 06/12/14 at 11:10:14:

my 87 still had it!

anebv8 wrote on 06/14/14 at 20:42:19:


When you come to a complete stop, reach down and pull the choke out then you can either put the kickstand down if you're in gear, or hit the kill switch. Yep, I've forgotten I had the kill switch on a few times, and don't forget to push the choke back in... that's another OOPS!!!!...  Too many things to remember!  

My bike use to poof and run like it didn't have enough gas at 60 mph until I switched to a 55 pilot

The bike still use to poof even with the 55 pilot, it stopped tho after tuning the mixture screw to 2 turns out, it runs great in all rpms too

Im at sea lever and running both cone filter and pretty open muffler

I still do tho get that loud backfire once in a while when I'm snapping the throttle shut quickly

Shut off "boom" is  now a fairly quiet "whump"... but upshifting sounds like there is a .380 in the muffler.  

Changed to a Mac or similar right side (upper) Intruder take off pipe/muffler. Bike sounds like a Honda CR500 (ginormous 2 stroke) race bike with a big bore kit...  Hate the sound, but the bike gained 12mph at regular cruising throttle position, and at 2/3 throttle was running 80+ and still accelerating. AND used a full quart less fuel on my commute.