Stock ST Exhaust Mod

[twerth]

Hmm. This may be a little louder than I thought. I set off a car alarm yesterday while at an idle. Maybe the alarm was set a little to sensitive, but that never happened with the cruiser I used to have (Road Star Warrior w/ Vance & Hines Bigshots, no baffles). Still love the sound though.

[tonered]

I set off an aftermarket alarm in a parking garage. It happens. LOL.

One thing, start the Duc and go around back about 6ft behind and bend down to the level of your outlets. It is an entirely different sound since you are along the line of the boom.

I have yet to hear my own bike at speed. I'd like to know just how obnoxious, or not, I am. I suspect that I am somewhere just between, depending on time of day and position of my right hand.

Have a good one.

[fisher7508]

i was just about to get the grinder out and tear into this mod until i read the last two replies......

So am i going to wake my neighbors as i leave the driveway at 6:30 am on my way to work? I am not sure i want that headache.

[va duc]

The pipes are louder with some of the mods you can do. They are still not as loud as my buddies Triumph or any given Harley. Or do what I did, move to the county!

[GeorgeInDallas]

Twerth - in your original post, you mentioned a problem with spending money on your motorcycle vis-a-vis The Wife. I got rid of The Wife...solved THAT problem - along with many others.

Thanks for the great how-to post.

I'd love to have a set of pipes like the old Norton Dunstall megaphones with the little reverse cone tip. That would look SO much better than the "tin can" pipes we now have. Hope some entrepreneur out there is paying attention.

[dr1445]

have a look at the emgo megs. jc whitney and d kirk have them. you just need to fab the connector pipes and add some stainless steel wool to take the edge off the sound. i put the shorty version on a dr650, it worked out well. i think they also have what they call "dunstall" version. here is a link to a pic of the dr meg equiped.
muffler scheme

[twerth]

Originally Posted by fisher7508

i was just about to get the grinder out and tear into this mod until i read the last two replies......

So am i going to wake my neighbors as i leave the driveway at 6:30 am on my way to work? I am not sure i want that headache.

As far as the car alarm goes, I think when I backed out of the parking space, my pipes were probably within a few feet of the car and aimed straight at the grill. Otherwise, there might not have been a problem.

The Duc's not as loud as my Warrior was, and I left for work on that bike at 6:45am for four years with no complaints. Naturally, I take it easy until I'm out of the neighborhood. That said, people have to be able to hear it inside their houses. If someone was looking for something to complain about, that might do it. You'll have to gauge your relationship with your neighbors to decide if it's worth making the change.

[tonered]

Originally Posted by fisher7508

i was just about to get the grinder out and tear into this mod until i read the last two replies......

So am i going to wake my neighbors as i leave the driveway at 6:30 am on my way to work? I am not sure i want that headache.

Seriously, anything you do to the mufflers is nothing compared to the steel clutche rattle in the ST2 and ST4. Prior to messing with the exhaust and without the quiet clutch, I could not have a conversation with anyone if my bike was idling with the OEM cover in place. With the quiet clutch, open cover, and cored/aftermarket cans, I can easily talk with someone inside my garage with the bike idling. I will contend that exhaust noise is a much more pleasing note than clutch rattle. Alloy clutch rattle is much better, but still. . .

After that, it is all in how you leave the 'hood. I'm at work by 6a to 6.30a. Since I've started modding my ST, four bikes have shown up in our small neighborhood, most with aftermarket pipes. A couple were already there, and one more is one the way once the economy improves. Crazy.

Have a good one.

[fisher7508]

thanks guys....i may give it a try this weekend. It is supposed to rain so i should have lots of garage time

[Winston001]

Originally Posted by GeorgeInDallas

I'd love to have a set of pipes like the old Norton Dunstall megaphones with the little reverse cone tip. That would look SO much better than the "tin can" pipes we now have. Hope some entrepreneur out there is paying attention.

Yes I love the Norton pipes too with the "whistle" note in with the rumble.

I've just gone through this mod exercise too with stock pipes. To be accurate, I picked up a set of Ducati 888 mufflers for $100 because I want to keep my stock pipes. I had an engineer make extension tubes to fit the ST4.

The engineer then got a long drill and bored out the centre tube so that gases ran freely straight through. Interestingly this made almost no difference to the sound. After scratching my head I decided this was because the outlet pipe is half the size of the inlet and most exhaust gases were still taking the long way round.

So......I then asked the engineer to cut two slots in the end of the muffler, on either side of the outlet pipe

OH BOY That worked. In fact I suspect it worked too well because peoples heads pop up on the street when I'm still 100 yards away.

In hindsight we should have bored two holes, tried it, maybe bored one more and job done. I haven't put the end-caps back yet so it may quieten slightly. Still, its an effective mod and I think drilling down the centre-pipe was unnecessary.