Keeping it down to a dull roar.

The winter break had just gotten started. I finally had a few slow days where I could do the things that I want to do instead of working myself to the bone keeping a base running. Since moving to Japan I have only used my tools to build some kitchen shelves. I wanted to give them a taste of what they were meant to do, wrench on Motorbikes. My wife took the kids to the park and I took off to a local bike shop. I'll have to do a post on the shop just so you can see the extent of off the shelf parts they have available. After warming up the credit card, I came home with a bag of goodies. One thing that I need to do to maintain good relations with the neighbors is quiet down my aftermarket exhaust. Follow along as I muffle the horses coming out of my tailpipe!

How often can you go into a bike shop and pick up parts for full maintenance and even some customization? I did a post on a visit to Japan where I visited a Ricoland bike shop for some window shopping and to rent an MT-07. I was amazed at the number of parts and gear sitting on the shelves. Most American bike shops carry consumables like oil and even filters. Some like Cycle Gear carry a few more things to help keep your bike on the road. Mostly you have to order the parts you want online. Here in Japan the big bike shops carry soo much more. I had a pretty extensive list of gear to get. I didn't get everything and that was only because I didn't have the right part numbers with me to make sure I got the correct piece. When ringing up my purchase the clerk asked if I wanted to because a point card member. After flashing forward to the hundreds of dollars I would most likely spend at this shop I whole heartily said yes.

Here is the custom exhaust pipe that came with the bike. The dealer said it is a copy of an old school Yoshimura pipe. It is a four-into-one where the the four headers merge into a collector underneath the sump. From the collector, the pipe is a continuous 67mm diameter. with just a couple of quick bends before lining up and existing in the vicinity of the OEM muffler. It has a removable baffle that is common on pipes of this type. The Japanese motorcycle punks like to pull the baffles out and run up and down the street making a bunch of noise. The really good ones use a combination of the throttle and clutch to play "calls" to signify which group they belong to. I like the flat black color as it blends into the rest of the bike's frame and blacked out engine. It sounds pretty good, just a bit too loud for maintaining good relationships with my neighbors. I don't want to stifle the bike too much, but I need to take the edge of the noise. Two quick bolts and the baffle slid out easily.

The dealer said he put in a bit more baffling before dropping it off with me. I don't think that is the whole truth. Looking at the baffle there was barley any fiberglass at all. There was just enough wadding to wrap around the steel baffle pipe once and even then it was very loose. The steel baffle pipe is perforated pipe with slits for the exhaust gas to exit from the rear. The gas comes into the baffle though a series of holes in the end cap closest to the engine before flowing through the packing and existing the slits. The inner diameter of the baffle pipe is 25mm. With a bit of extra packing I should quiet the bike down a bit, but still be able to hear the mighty roar of those shot glass sized cylinders firing away at 10,000 rpm!

I picked up some generic muffler packing at the previously mentioned parts store with the load of stuff I mentioned at the start of this post. It is a single sheet of fiberglass packing 500mm long x 200mm wide. This would give me just enough to get one good wrap with a bit of extra. I didn't take any picks of the process for fear of getting my hands and cellphone loaded with fiberglass strands. After a couple of rides to see how it felt, I pulled out baffle to see how it was doing. When I initially wrapped it all, it was tight when reinserting it back into the pipe. Pulling it back out still felt very snug. On the road I can definitely tell that the bike is a bit corked up. It has more engine braking and first gear feels a bit taller. Once I get into the bikes rev range it feels almost the same as without the new packing. I can't tell if the bike is running rich with the carbon build up on the packing since I don't have any basis of comparison. The only way to really tell is to pull the plugs and carburetors to check everything out and see if someone has monkeyed with the jets in the past. I'll save that for a later project.

Since my previous post about my first real ride in Japan I have been on two more rides around the Miura penisula. I am slowly getting the feel for how the bike behaves and how traffic works around town. I've been commuting to work on my electric bicycle since Thanksgiving. I use the roads since the sidewalks are tight and the number of pedestrians make it slow and tedious. Using the road has gotten me used to lane splitting and watching for traffic. It seems to be paying off as I feel pretty safe riding the edge of the road alongside traffic. A few times I have had other motorcycles and scooters pass me when I was waiting at the lights. Some of the spaces they squeeze through are a bit tight for my comfort. Maybe after a bit more time I'll be there with them. Anyway, my winter break will be over by the time you read this. It was good to relax. If you have the chance, get out and ride safe.

Old Blue