|  | Topic : Exhaust Volume |  |
| | | quilopian | | Set |  |  | | Reg. Date | : | 05/07/2012 | | Posts | : | 28 | | Location | : | Weeki Wachee, Florida, United States |
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| | Posted : 26 Nov 2012 - 15:51 Post title : Exhaust Volume | | | So...after all the discussions on exhausts notes and tuning methods, what is the general consensus on the most noticable sound. Basically, what is loudest. Down here in the Tampa area, between the blue-hairs, snow birds and texters on the roads, I need someting that not only sounds good, but can get attention. The V-Twins have it easy since Florida doesn't seem to enforce noise limits apparently. Half of the cruisers here are running straight pipes I think.
I am currently running short-TORS with one 1/2" and two 1/4" holes drilled in the back plate. The sound is really good and my father said the sound kind of reminds him of the Triumph chopper he had back in the 70's (I vaguely remember that bike), just deeper.
| 2012 Triumph ThunderBird 1600 ~ Red Haze
1987 Honda Rebel 450
1992 Honda Nighthawk 750
1988 Honda V45 Super Magna
1994 Suzuki Katana 750
2005 Suzuki Bandit 1200
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| | | daz | | Zeus | |  | | Reg. Date | : | 12/05/2009 | | Posts | : | 7,709 | | Location | : | United States |
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| | Posted : 26 Nov 2012 - 16:05 Post title : Re: Exhaust Volume (Re: quilopian) | | | You can't get any sort of volume as long as the cat is still there. It will get probably 3 times as loud once it's removed, but even with the TORs off and no muffler at all, the cat will still keep it quiet. So till you remove it you won't get much louder than it is now.
That said, because the headers are a smaller diameter than a harley, this model never gets as loud as those. The headers are actually smaller than they look because they are double walled to avoid bluing. The inner pipe i believe is only 1.5". Not sure what harleys are, but they look much bigger and even if they are double walled too they'd still be considerably larger. There is a dealer in so cal that said they will be offering larger diameter headers. They have `them on the Tbird they build to run at bonneville. Not sure if they are available just yet, but when they are they will be single wall and unfinished. So you will have to finish them yourself, be it chrome, wrap, ceramic, whatever.
So in answer to your question, remove the cat for much more volume. For volume to compete with harleys, get those headers when they become available and run them catless. I can't say for sure how much louder it would be like that, but afaik the header diameter is the only thing i can see that would make the bike so much quieter than those loud harleys. A friend has one and his bike is quite a bit louder than my catless bird.
| 2010 Blue/White Thunderbird, "Brutus". 1700 kit, short tors, gutted cat, UNI filter, filter seal off, custom tune. Brutus in his native habitat: Link
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| | | Rev | | Set | |  | | Reg. Date | : | 02/02/2011 | | Posts | : | 266 | | Location | : | United States |
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| | Posted : 26 Nov 2012 - 18:38 Post title : Re: Exhaust Volume (Re: quilopian) | | |
quilopian wrote:
So...after all the discussions on exhausts notes and tuning methods, what is the general consensus on the most noticable sound. Basically, what is loudest. Down here in the Tampa area, between the blue-hairs, snow birds and texters on the roads, I need someting that not only sounds good, but can get attention. The V-Twins have it easy since Florida doesn't seem to enforce noise limits apparently. Half of the cruisers here are running straight pipes I think.
I am currently running short-TORS with one 1/2" and two 1/4" holes drilled in the back plate. The sound is really good and my father said the sound kind of reminds him of the Triumph chopper he had back in the 70's (I vaguely remember that bike), just deeper. |
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Removing the CAT will give it a different tone, but I didn't notice any substantial volume increase. If you just take the exhausts off and listen to the motorcycle running through the Cat only you get an idea of what those exhausts do to change the tone and sound. If you take the cat off and start it, you get a really good idea of the difference in volume of cat vs catless. I just gutted the catalytic converter on my T-Bird, and the tone changed some, but it still doesn't have a great deal of volume VS the straight pipe V-Twins.
I think the best I've heard so far are the Foran Razorbacks. They just sound mean. Very cool pipes.
| "I know just what I'm gonna do..... I'm gonna ride on" ~ Bon Scott
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| | | daz | | Zeus | | | | Reg. Date | : | 12/05/2009 | | Posts | : | 7,709 | | Location | : | United States |
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| | Posted : 26 Nov 2012 - 19:38 Post title : Re: Exhaust Volume (Re: Rev) | | |
Rev wrote:
Removing the CAT will give it a different tone, but I didn't notice any substantial volume increase. If you just take the exhausts off and listen to the motorcycle running through the Cat only you get an idea of what those exhausts do to change the tone and sound. If you take the cat off and start it, you get a really good idea of the difference in volume of cat vs catless. I just gutted the catalytic converter on my T-Bird, and the tone changed some, but it still doesn't have a great deal of volume VS the straight pipe V-Twins.
I think the best I've heard so far are the Foran Razorbacks. They just sound mean. Very cool pipes. |
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Wait...are you saying that with cat removed and straight pipes in it's place like using those elbows that the volume difference is small, or that with gutted cat it's small? Because i've done both and while the gutted cat is indeed not much different, elbows in it's place is literally 3 times as loud ! It's nite and day, so if you are saying that cat removed isn't much louder than i'm really confused. Mine went from "i can hear it" to WW2 ! Oddly tho, at idle or steady cruise with little load (IE: not up a grade or slight accel) it's about the same.
| 2010 Blue/White Thunderbird, "Brutus". 1700 kit, short tors, gutted cat, UNI filter, filter seal off, custom tune. Brutus in his native habitat: Link
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| | | cnas122 | | Set | | | Reg. Date | : | 17/10/2012 | | Posts | : | 85 | | Location | : | United States |
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| | Posted : 26 Nov 2012 - 21:47 Post title : Re: Exhaust Volume (Re: daz) | | | I like the fact that at idle or low throttle, it remains quiet. Keeps me from pissing off my close neighbors on the way home :)
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| | | daz | | Zeus | | | | Reg. Date | : | 12/05/2009 | | Posts | : | 7,709 | | Location | : | United States |
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| | Posted : 26 Nov 2012 - 22:03 Post title : Re: Exhaust Volume (Re: cnas122) | | | Me too, big time. Not only that but i would hate it if on long freeway rides it was constantly loud. At steady cruise i can hardly hear it, a far cry from even mild acceleration !
| 2010 Blue/White Thunderbird, "Brutus". 1700 kit, short tors, gutted cat, UNI filter, filter seal off, custom tune. Brutus in his native habitat: Link
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| | | mjgt | | Thor | |  | | Reg. Date | : | 16/09/2011 | | Posts | : | 2,201 | | Location | : | North Somerset, United Kingdom |
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| | Posted : 26 Nov 2012 - 22:05 Post title : Re: Exhaust Volume (Re: daz) | | | I totally agree with you, very loud exhausts only sound good to pedestrians, when you are on the bike the noise can get on your tits. I would like a little more though.
| Mick . . .  Keep the rubber side down!!
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| | | daz | | Zeus | | | | Reg. Date | : | 12/05/2009 | | Posts | : | 7,709 | | Location | : | United States |
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| | Posted : 26 Nov 2012 - 22:36 Post title : Re: Exhaust Volume (Re: mjgt) | | | If i didn't wear ear plugs i'm not sure i could keep my bike catless. Luckily i have been wearing them forever so it wasn't something i had to do to comfortably run catless. I wear em mainly for wind noise. W/O them i'd probably have the cat still.
| 2010 Blue/White Thunderbird, "Brutus". 1700 kit, short tors, gutted cat, UNI filter, filter seal off, custom tune. Brutus in his native habitat: Link
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| | | davetac1 | | Thunderbird | | | Reg. Date | : | 06/09/2010 | | Posts | : | 8,379 | | Location | : | Haverhill, Ma., United States |
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| | Posted : 26 Nov 2012 - 23:10 Post title : Re: Exhaust Volume (Re: daz) | | | If I can throw my two cents in here,since I've broken the 50,000 mile mark,my stock pipes have naturally,gotten quite a bit louder,but not in an offensive way.In other words,you can still hear yourself think,unlike with straight pipes,yet the machine is runnin stronger and stronger which I suspect will get even better as the mileage piles on and the system breaks in,or up,  , even more,but without bein offensive to the rider,the passenger,or any by standers on the side of the road.After all,ya don't wanna draw too much attention to yourself. Dave!!!
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| | | mat1600 | | Thunderbird | |  | | Reg. Date | : | 06/03/2010 | | Posts | : | 8,596 | | Location | : | Bridlington, Democratic Independant State of Yorkshire, United Kingdom |
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| | Posted : 26 Nov 2012 - 23:26 Post title : Re: Exhaust Volume (Re: davetac1) | | | 
| My first natural instinct is to breathe. My second is to evade tax's.
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| | | fab | | Thor | |  | | Reg. Date | : | 12/10/2009 | | Posts | : | 2,515 | | Location | : | wyong, nsw, Australia |
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| | Posted : 26 Nov 2012 - 23:47 Post title : Re: Exhaust Volume (Re: mat1600) | | |  a set of ape hagers and he would be set
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Remember, soft cocks hang around all life long, hard ones come and go
ahh f**k im deep
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| | | mjgt | | Thor | | | | Reg. Date | : | 16/09/2011 | | Posts | : | 2,201 | | Location | : | North Somerset, United Kingdom |
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| | Posted : 27 Nov 2012 - 19:33 Post title : Re: Exhaust Volume (Re: fab) | | | They will ruin his economy figures. 
| Mick . . . Keep the rubber side down!!
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| | | hoonish | | Set | |  | | Reg. Date | : | 29/04/2012 | | Posts | : | 87 | | Location | : | New Zealand |
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| | Posted : 02 Dec 2012 - 06:11 Post title : Re: Exhaust Volume (Re: daz) | | |
daz wrote:
You can't get any sort of volume as long as the cat is still there. It will get probably 3 times as loud once it's removed, but even with the TORs off and no muffler at all, the cat will still keep it quiet. So till you remove it you won't get much louder than it is now.
That said, because the headers are a smaller diameter than a harley, this model never gets as loud as those. The headers are actually smaller than they look because they are double walled to avoid bluing. The inner pipe i believe is only 1.5". Not sure what harleys are, but they look much bigger and even if they are double walled too they'd still be considerably larger. There is a dealer in so cal that said they will be offering larger diameter headers. They have `them on the Tbird they build to run at bonneville. Not sure if they are available just yet, but when they are they will be single wall and unfinished. So you will have to finish them yourself, be it chrome, wrap, ceramic, whatever.
So in answer to your question, remove the cat for much more volume. For volume to compete with harleys, get those headers when they become available and run them catless. I can't say for sure how much louder it would be like that, but afaik the header diameter is the only thing i can see that would make the bike so much quieter than those loud harleys. A friend has one and his bike is quite a bit louder than my catless bird. |
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Interesting about the header diameters of HD and Triumph, you would think that with all the effort Triumph has gone to to capture a hunk of the cruiser market they might have tried harder to create an exhaust note to compete with a big block Harley for appeal. I am not a big fan of HD but there is no disputing that they make a cool sound, the TBird is lame in comparison. I have come to the conclusion that the entire T bird exhaust system is a piece of crap designed to please legislators and environmental watchdogs rather than the ears of the motorcycling public. I have already wasted money on short tors and a cat eliminator that could have been better spent on a set of custom built big diameter headers, like how hard is it for a fabricator to bend up some tube and weld on a few bits - bring it on!
IMO blued up headers look great, nobody was complaining about it on triumphs or nortons back in the day
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| | | AleXL4 | | Chaac | |  | | Reg. Date | : | 17/09/2012 | | Posts | : | 571 | | Location | : | Gympie, Queensland, Australia |
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| | Posted : 02 Dec 2012 - 12:53 Post title : Re: Exhaust Volume (Re: hoonish) | | | G'day Allan,
Contact this bloke ( Link ) at your leisure,
for he is exceptional on the pipes etc. 
Cheers Alex
| Enjoying the Journey
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| | | hoonish | | Set | | | | Reg. Date | : | 29/04/2012 | | Posts | : | 87 | | Location | : | New Zealand |
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| | Posted : 02 Dec 2012 - 17:38 Post title : Re: Exhaust Volume (Re: AleXL4) | | | Amazing craftsmanship! Looking through that photo gallery I have never seen so many great looking exhaust systems, can't wait to see what he comes up with for a thunderbird. Thanks for the link Alex
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| | | quilopian | | Set | | | | Reg. Date | : | 05/07/2012 | | Posts | : | 28 | | Location | : | Weeki Wachee, Florida, United States |
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| | Posted : 03 Dec 2012 - 12:47 Post title : Re: Exhaust Volume (Re: Rev) | | | Thanks. Catless is the next major step I am taking after I get back to the US in February. I don't want to compete with the V-Twins, I just want to wake up the young girls who think they can text, put on make-up and drive all at the same time. One step at a time I guess.
| 2012 Triumph ThunderBird 1600 ~ Red Haze
1987 Honda Rebel 450
1992 Honda Nighthawk 750
1988 Honda V45 Super Magna
1994 Suzuki Katana 750
2005 Suzuki Bandit 1200
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| | | TBRider | | Chaac | |  | | Reg. Date | : | 21/10/2011 | | Posts | : | 834 | | Location | : | Foothills, The Mountains, United States |
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| | Posted : 04 Dec 2012 - 20:57 Post title : Re: Exhaust Volume (Re: quilopian) | | | Good Luck with that, it's become an epidemic. I just prefer to avoid them all togather, as their an accident just waiting to happen. I'd prefer not to be their first victim.
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| | | Rev | | Set | | | | Reg. Date | : | 02/02/2011 | | Posts | : | 266 | | Location | : | United States |
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| | Posted : 04 Dec 2012 - 22:10 Post title : Re: Exhaust Volume (Re: quilopian) | | |
quilopian wrote:
Thanks. Catless is the next major step I am taking after I get back to the US in February. I don't want to compete with the V-Twins, I just want to wake up the young girls who think they can text, put on make-up and drive all at the same time. One step at a time I guess. |
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I have a cat bypass I'm not using that's stainless steel if you're interested. I'd be happy to part with it for a fraction of the cost new.
| "I know just what I'm gonna do..... I'm gonna ride on" ~ Bon Scott
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| | | Dougl | | Chaac | |  | | Reg. Date | : | 13/07/2012 | | Posts | : | 544 | | Location | : | Reno, Nevada, United States |
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| | Posted : 05 Dec 2012 - 05:53 Post title : Re: Exhaust Volume (Re: Rev) | | |
Rev wrote:
quilopian wrote:
Thanks. Catless is the next major step I am taking after I get back to the US in February. I don't want to compete with the V-Twins, I just want to wake up the young girls who think they can text, put on make-up and drive all at the same time. One step at a time I guess. |
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I have a cat bypass I'm not using that's stainless steel if you're interested. I'd be happy to part with it for a fraction of the cost new. |
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Which one is it?
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| | | Rev | | Set | | | | Reg. Date | : | 02/02/2011 | | Posts | : | 266 | | Location | : | United States |
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| | Posted : 05 Dec 2012 - 16:09 Post title : Re: Exhaust Volume (Re: Dougl) | | |
Dougl wrote:
Rev wrote:
quilopian wrote:
Thanks. Catless is the next major step I am taking after I get back to the US in February. I don't want to compete with the V-Twins, I just want to wake up the young girls who think they can text, put on make-up and drive all at the same time. One step at a time I guess. |
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I have a cat bypass I'm not using that's stainless steel if you're interested. I'd be happy to part with it for a fraction of the cost new. |
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Which one is it? |
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Dave Platt's I believe. It fits kinda funny, but it's well made.
| "I know just what I'm gonna do..... I'm gonna ride on" ~ Bon Scott
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