Many people have a habit of changing the exhaust of their motorcycles. Some do it for the sound while others do it for performance. The thing here to be considered is that most of the times what difference in performance you might feel is nothing more than a placebo effect because the stock setup in most of the bikes is such that you already are getting the maximum out of the vehicle and there is hardly anything left really to improve. But still if you wish to go about tinkering with the exhaust, it is important to do it the right way and hence this article is for you and all those who are looking to change the exhaust of their bikes.
Glass Wool vs Ceramic Wool
First of all let’s check the acoustics when it comes to exhausts. Every exhaust is made using a specific thermal insulating material to make sure it doesn’t get too hot and also creates a lovely sound which is a treat to the ears. Two such materials used here are glass wool and ceramic wool. Now this is what happens, the wool is placed in the silencer at a very strategic position which creates a voice modulation of the sound coming out resulting in different thumping sounds of the bikes from different manufacturers.
One thing here is that glass wool is more of a sand based unit while ceramic wool is an aluminum-silica unit which gives ceramic wool a longer life and higher operational temperature. This is the reason why in most high end bikes with multi-cylinder setup, ceramic wool is most commonly used. Whichever is the wool, at the end when it deteriorates and the exhaust becomes free flow that is when it starts making a lot of noise.
How to Improve Performance of the Motorcycle?
Now that is taken care of, we need to check the performance part of things. Just by putting any damn exhaust on the bike does not make it faster. Rather it simply becomes a lot noisy and slow. The reason you feel your bike is performing better is because of the placebo effect making you seem like the bike is going faster. But using proper free flow exhausts too so make a difference (though only a little) to the bike.
The reason people go for free flow exhausts is because it does create a back flow which creates an excess oxygen inflow and that results in more fuel being burnt and hence the performance improvement. Many people don’t understand the concept behind it and just put up an exhaust that looks good and is really loud and hence end up causing a performance downfall just for the sound of it. So if you want to increase your performance in a proper manner, then this is what you should do.
First of all visit a proper branded exhaust shops and get your bike checked as to which exhaust will suit your bike the best. Remember that with free flow exhausts, it is more about creating the back flow than the noise it makes. So accordingly a proper exhaust needs to be selected. Once that is done then it takes quite some testing to actually check if the back flow creating is resulting in the performance improvement or is it just giving a placebo effect. And this can be done only on a dyno.
Also one more thing which causes an issue with an exhaust change is the balancing of the bike. The exhaust and everything of the bike is designed with the weight balancing of the bike in mind. So if you simply go on to change the exhaust, then the weight imbalance causes a lot of issues like leaning problems in corners, going at fast speeds in the straights and overall toll on the body by causing pains as it then takes extra effort on your end to keep the bike balanced.
So to summarize in short, to actually improve the performance of your bike through exhaust change is more than just fitting a new free flow unit. It takes a lot to properly tune the bike accordingly and only then does the bike become more powerful which is actually very rare since the stock is actually made with the maximum output in mind. So those who are looking to change their exhausts please do go through this article once and also share it with your friends who are planning to get their exhausts changed as it will be helpful for them in the long run.