zebra
Bachelor Dog
- Joined
- Jun 23, 2008
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- 14,435
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- Bike
- BMW (all models)
Exhausts/Silencers; let me, er, vent!
I own a store, I sell soft- and hard- luggage, and hard accessories for a living, and every customer of mine has a bike with an exhaust/silencer, no surprise there...!
What IS surprising, is the shape/ size/placement of so many dual-sport exhausts!
Think of it, BMW 1200GS/A; huge can hanging out wide...
Yamaha XT 660z; one can on each side, ditto for the 650 singles..
They are most-often overly-large, in-the-way, at risk of being dinged by looking too hard at it (them), and worst of all, they are right where luggage OUGHT to be...!
Now many super-bikes have got this 'problem' sorted; design the exhaust to exit UNDER-SEAT, which, on a dualie, would do the following:
1. Hard luggage would then be of equal in size; no 'exhaust cut-out' on the exhaust side...
2. Pannier boxes could sit closer to the sub-frame, since exhaust-clearance a non-issue...
3. No hot silencer to POSSIBLY Interfere with a pillion coming into contact with it...
4. Symmetry: a bike that is not lop-sided in neither weight nor looks!
5. Soft luggage: ZERO possibility of soft-luggage burning on a silencer, since it's not actually 'there'....
6. Whilst riding dirt, if you drop, say an BMW 700/800 GS, and that Apollo-11 sized space-ship hanging off the side of the bike gets an IMMEDIATE crease, and then, and only then, does the customer pop in to buy a seat of rear-racks which can double-up as rear crash bars. RumBux, anyone?!
I hear you say: "what about wheel clearance, these are DUAL-SPORT bikes! What about it?! In a well-designed system, there could be space for maximum wheel travel AND an under-seat silencer, to both co-exist...., the Germans/Austrians, Brits and Japs are clever tech-heads, after all!
Since a rear number-plate and a rear light can be located pretty much ANYWHERE on the back of the bike, the silencer should have pride of place (in the centre) and silly, dangly number plate hangers should go the way of the Dodo..., they are always coming unstuck/getting burned in any case, move the number plate !
After all, we've all seen 'crisp & toasty' number plates on KTM's and other bikes; and how many hinders of number plates have not been ripped off their mountings?! Put the damn plate on the swing arm/sub-frame/outer-space, and be done with it!
Ditto the rear light; an IMPORTANT bit of kit, sure, but try a different location, people! Burnt indicators? A thing of the past!
So next time you see a super-bike with an under-seat exhaust, bend down, see how they do it, and ponder; I wonder IF it can be done on a Dualie, then tell me why it CAN'T be done?!
Flame-On!
Chris
I own a store, I sell soft- and hard- luggage, and hard accessories for a living, and every customer of mine has a bike with an exhaust/silencer, no surprise there...!
What IS surprising, is the shape/ size/placement of so many dual-sport exhausts!
Think of it, BMW 1200GS/A; huge can hanging out wide...
Yamaha XT 660z; one can on each side, ditto for the 650 singles..
They are most-often overly-large, in-the-way, at risk of being dinged by looking too hard at it (them), and worst of all, they are right where luggage OUGHT to be...!
Now many super-bikes have got this 'problem' sorted; design the exhaust to exit UNDER-SEAT, which, on a dualie, would do the following:
1. Hard luggage would then be of equal in size; no 'exhaust cut-out' on the exhaust side...
2. Pannier boxes could sit closer to the sub-frame, since exhaust-clearance a non-issue...
3. No hot silencer to POSSIBLY Interfere with a pillion coming into contact with it...
4. Symmetry: a bike that is not lop-sided in neither weight nor looks!
5. Soft luggage: ZERO possibility of soft-luggage burning on a silencer, since it's not actually 'there'....
6. Whilst riding dirt, if you drop, say an BMW 700/800 GS, and that Apollo-11 sized space-ship hanging off the side of the bike gets an IMMEDIATE crease, and then, and only then, does the customer pop in to buy a seat of rear-racks which can double-up as rear crash bars. RumBux, anyone?!
I hear you say: "what about wheel clearance, these are DUAL-SPORT bikes! What about it?! In a well-designed system, there could be space for maximum wheel travel AND an under-seat silencer, to both co-exist...., the Germans/Austrians, Brits and Japs are clever tech-heads, after all!
Since a rear number-plate and a rear light can be located pretty much ANYWHERE on the back of the bike, the silencer should have pride of place (in the centre) and silly, dangly number plate hangers should go the way of the Dodo..., they are always coming unstuck/getting burned in any case, move the number plate !
After all, we've all seen 'crisp & toasty' number plates on KTM's and other bikes; and how many hinders of number plates have not been ripped off their mountings?! Put the damn plate on the swing arm/sub-frame/outer-space, and be done with it!
Ditto the rear light; an IMPORTANT bit of kit, sure, but try a different location, people! Burnt indicators? A thing of the past!
So next time you see a super-bike with an under-seat exhaust, bend down, see how they do it, and ponder; I wonder IF it can be done on a Dualie, then tell me why it CAN'T be done?!
Flame-On!
Chris
