I'm thinking of doing an exhaust upgrade on one of my bikes. I have narrowed it down to one exhaust but it comes in a Stainless version and a Titanium version. Stainless is cheaper than the Titanium. Obviously the Titanium exhaust is lighter and sexier but I'm wondering if going the Stainless route might be a better option for an exhaust that's more rugged and is less likely to crack. I tend to keep bikes very long term. Opinions welcome.
Go total Bling with Carbon!!!!! or on a serious note Ti is great until you need a repair... In Georgia I only know of 1 guy to weld Ti... And he retired... Stainless is more durable.. Less issues... Weight? I dont think any one will notice a difference riding but it all does add up... i have had all 3.... Now I have a combination of all.... Ti Header.. Stainless MidPipe and Carbon Can.... LOL
Marc, Thanks for the input. I have a TI exhaust on one of my bikes already and I'm always slightly worried about it. It's sexy as hell though. Lets pray I never have to have it welded. The major motivation here is appearance (say it aint so!) but I certainly don't mind the performance enhancement even if it's not needed. Since they are identical pipes in just different materials the power gain is exactly the same. I just want that chrome plated "whale penis" and hideous box under it to go away. It's the classic devil and angel on the shoulder thing for me. The Angel is saying "go stainless, its cheaper and tougher" and the devil is saying "go Titanium, it's lighter and sexier and screw the cost".
If you're looking for the BMW, i went with the stainless steel with TI pipe. I couldn't justify $700-800 more for around a 2lb difference. You will already be losing around 15lbs just from geting rid of the ugly cat.
I am a practical type... and a little tight fisted when it comes to spending money. For a track bike, I would go stainless just because of the potential for repairs. Ti isnt the easiest to find a welder for. The weight savings is negligible but cost is a major difference. After a couple times on the bike you won't even notice the bling factor. That all being said, when ti is sliding across the pavement, the sparks look like $$ flying in the air.
That's part of the conundrum here. This bike is a hybrid. Street and track. So far I have used a bit of sanity and went with Woodcraft sliders and rearsets for the durability and parts availability over the much sexier BMW HP parts. I did not realize the weight difference was just 2lbs. I'll just skip the steak for dinner before I ride and have a much more rugged exhaust that I don't have to worry about. That cat is the main reason I'm even considering this upgrade. It's HIDEOUS. I never really noticed it until.....
Indeed. They seem well supported by BMW. I don't really want to deal with dyno stuff at the moment. In the future I might do their ECU upgrade but currently even with the ugly exhaust the bike is way faster than I am.
Titanium is cool but SS is the way to go. 1. Its cheaper 2. Its easier to repair 3. SS is very sexy also in the brush finish it comes in. I am a metal fabricator so im a little biased. Ti is cool once again but i just dont see the point in spending the money. Looks to me like youve already spent enough on that bike.
Thanks for the tip. I agree stainless is sexy in it's own way. This is more of a practical bike for me that will do most of it's time on the street and the track. It's entirely more powerful than I need (100hp more than my previous bike) but I have found they work quite well at the track and I fit well on them. It's tempting to do the pretty iridescent metal but with a minimal weight savings and the potential for damage I'm going to take everyone's advice and go for the stainless system. The cool thing as well by going with the Akro Stainless system is if I decide in the future to do the ECU upgrade and the Race Calibration kit it's a plug and play situation. One other question. There's two versions of the stainless. The street legal system and the one without the cat. While "technically" the racing system is illegal on the street has anybody run into issues?
If no one has mentioned it yet, the money you save on the stainless system over the Ti is more tire money. And I have never heard of any more issues from using a "street" version over a full race version on the street. Legally, they are probably BOTH not legal on the street. But the ticket you would get, in most states would be a fix-it ticket, not a moving violation. When I was in CA, it was a $20 ticket and a trip to the CHP office to verify that the stocker has been put back on. Now how would I know that?.....
That's certainly true on the tire money. That's one joy of living in the South really. If you did manage to land yourself with a ticket typically all they really are interested in is your money. Just write a check and they go away happily and don't really care if you fix it or not. I was just wondering if anybody's ever actually been ticketed. I have had a Yoshimura system with no cats on one of the R6's for years and have never even been given a second look.
Never had a ticket for an exhaust, GA or otherwise. Of course I've never had a bike in California, but for our purposes I'd say you're fairly safe. Someone riding my bike got stopped for the license plate since I have a Comp Werkes fender eliminator kit, but they didn't get a ticket; it was more of a holiday weekend "let's check paperwork and try for some revenue" kind of stop. I don't think any GA counties have emissions tests for bikes, do they? I know Forstyh doesn't. At any rate, I say go for it, whatever you choose, and just keep the hideous OEM exhaust and put it back on if you happen to get a fix it ticket. And if you're really concerned about the price and repair feasibility of the exhaust, take a look first at bodywork. I'm not sure about BMW, but just one panel on my Duc costs more to replace than a full set of track bodywork. Something to think about if you take the bike to the track fairly often.
