Y pipe for 2004 R1150R

[peter1951]

Ive recently viewed an add in the UK press offering a Y pipe for my bike for only £113 ! Thats only a $182.
The add reads as follows
"NOT a Remus item but a value for money British made stainless steel Y piece. Weighs in at 1.74kg. This replaces the catalytic converter, improving gas flow and saves weight. It can be used with the Remus or original silencer and has a threaded hole for the Lamba sensor"

As it has has a threaded connection for the lamda sensor does this mean the injection system will not require resetting and will still give the correct fueling? Also will the stock exhaust still fit?

[duegi]

What is the web site you are looking at, URL that is? As long as it's got a screw in port for the Oxygen sensor all should be good. Stock silencer fits right on, that good also. That is a really good price compared to Remus USA $406 and Wunderlich USA at $387.

[peter1951]

Hi
The seller is Motorworks BMW motorcycle spares. www.motorworks.co.uk. I believe they ship parts to the States but you can call them on 00 44 1484 353604 to confirm this. The part is listed as "Y piece stainless steel collector box replacement (R1150GS/ADV R850/1150R Rockster) | EXA42816" . Let me know how you get on?

cheers

Peter
(2004 R1150R, silver with Black engine)

[Rog(UK) - Yorkshire Dales]

I don't quite understand what you are asking - it seemed that you were asking for advice, prior to buying, in your first post, then in your second, you gave the telephone number of the firm and asked how the second poster got on. Have I had my walk yet

If you were asking prior to buying, then I'm happy to tell you that Motorworks is a long-established firm in Yorkshire and I have bought a number of items from them, both for my Motor Guzzi (before they stopped selling Guzzi spares) then for my Rockster.

I fitted a cat which was second-hand, but I believe that it originally came from them. It's a straight replacement.

I have found that on occasions, mostly when on the overrun downhill, I'll get popping in the exhaust (and I am not talking euphamistically there!!) but apart from that it doesn't make a lot of difference. A number of owners leave the cat in place, but remove the silencer and replace it with a short length of chrome pipe. I haven't tried this myself, but apparantly the bike is still well within UK noise levels. - just another option....

Best wishes and safe riding,

Rog

[sweatmark]

Peter - thanks for the tip re: y-pipe sourcing. This topic comes up now & then, as folks contemplate modifications. Given so few aftermarket options now for R1150R/GS exhaust components, finding a y-pipe in North America is difficult, at least when looking for a good quality piece at reasonable cost. I've gone as far as inquiring about one-off fabrication using local custom exhaust shop, and discovered that component exhaust plumbing pieces are rare in the R1150R/GS 1.75" DIA sizing.

From the Motorworks web site:
http://www.motorworks.co.uk/bmw/product ... 5_30_JA_20

I see the y-pipe you reference, and it's certainly attractive at approx. US$120 ex-VAT. Wish its photo had better resolution of the y-collector construction, as it would be preferable to see a true collector similar to the pic shown of Keihan y-pipe. Note that on Keihan's web site, they show the R1150R/GS y-pipe as NOT having a true collector, but instead using one tube welded onto outside of other tube at 90-degree angle. This latter construction method does not produce even backpressure for the two exhaust sides.

[duegi]

I played with the web site and was going to send a message to motorworks. Then I noticed when trying to list country where the message was coming from a little notation; "We no longer export to USA or Canada." Rats, now what, looks like I'm going to end up with a Remus.

[rockstercliff]

I was able to get a barely used Staintune Y-pipe off of Ebay last year for 215.00 US. I was glad to remove the catalytic converter, and it added a tad low end power, and has a bit of a deeper tone, not much, just an improvement. I would encourage others to do likewise. Cliff W. in western Pa.

[sweatmark]

Next week I'm checking with a local tube bender & fabricator to see what a y-pipe project will cost. The fabricator has a good reputation with racing community, and he has the required merge collectors, expanded couplings, and raw tube in 1.75" 304SS. I've got a spare OE R1150R/GS catalytic y-pipe handy as dimensional jig, so the big question will be total for parts and fabrication.

Will post results here for anyone interested.

[peter1951]

With ref to Motorworks no longer exporting to the USA - A few of years ago when I went through my "custom Phase" An american supplier had saddlebags I wanted but they did not ship to the UK. The solution was that I got my nephew who lives in Las Vegas to purchase them and to ship them to me. They were a bulky item but shipping them by sea did not cost too much and they were still good value for money. If you have friends in the UK this could be an answer.
With ref to Rog's point about my second post, although the retailers advert does give answers my to questions but Ive learned the hard way that what they claim for their product is not always the reality. Forums such as ours relate real world experiences and these are a much better source of information.

cheers
Pete

[duegi]

Very interested in the end result with the pipe fabrication. If questionable or too expensive, perhaps one our UK friends could act as a middle man and ship a Y pipe over from the UK.

[rockstercliff]

In case anyone is interested, there is a Y-pipe, Touratech I believe, on ebay for sale. Just type in "bmw y-pipe", and it should show. This is where I got mine. Cliff W. in western Pa.

[CNorris]

I have one of these Y-pipes I'm willing to sell, from my '02 R1150R, and one for an R1150RT (it's a single pipe). It drops a lot of weight off the bike and it runs cooler. My bike ran great with that, a K&N, Techlusion, and Two Brothers pipe.

[slowtorque]

I'd be interested in your y-pipe for my 04 R1150R. Pls msg me if still available. Thanks Johnny

[Ol' Jeffers]

AFAIK there was a downside to these cheaper 'Y' pipes in that they didn't have the bracket welded to
them to fit the rubber bump-stop for the centre stand. I just visited the Motorworks website and I can't
find them listed, although it's entirely possible that I missed them!
A while back I decided upon the Remus 'Y' pipe and CycleRob sold me his brilliantly modified muffler internals!
( What a gentleman that man is! ) The S/steel welding is a work of art!
So the cat. is now in residence at the back of the garage and the silencer now makes the bike sound like a big twin
rather than the somewhat asthmatic noise it made before.It passed the annual roadworthy-ness test (MoT)) in the
UK with no problems as it doesn't look to be modified in any way. The acceleration has improved a tad too.

[grwrockster]

Just in case.....

I've got it from somewhere (I'm pretty sure Riceburner but not certain) advising that it's a bad idea to run a Y piece with the stock silencer. Apparently (and I can well believe it) the Cat is pretty restrictive (which would make sense as people can remove the silencer altogether as mentioned and the bike isn't too loud). So it seems the Cat does a fair bit of the silencing as well as slowing the gas down and absorbing and dissipating heat. Running the stock silencer with a Y piece reportedly means the Silnencer gets a higher volume of gas that's also way hotter than before. So, the silencer can get really, really hot (e.g. hot enough to melt the LH side case if fitted).

Quite what it a Y Piece/Stock Silencer combo does to the engine and performance I couldn't say, but I'd hazard a guess that a lot of the benefit of the Y isn't realised without an aftermarket can.

FWIW I run a Remus Y piece and Remus silencer combo on my Rock (I picked them up used from a guy who had them briefly on an R1150GS). Apart from dropping about 7kG off the bike, the bike was instantly crisper and freer-revving on the throttle and more responsive. You may not get big gains in the way of increased BHP/Torque with these items alone, but whatever you get seems to be useable and where you need it to be.

I just bunged them on the bike and let the Motronic / Lambda Sensor sort it all out, which proved to be fine. Spark Plug electrodes and engine running temp etc. are all just fine, and the bike runs great, being nicer to ride, mpg seems a bit better and of course it sounds a lot better without being offensive.

[slowtorque]

Is anyone here running an aftermarket can (I have a Remus) with the y-pipe on an R equipped with hard luggage? This high exhuast can temp thing concerns me. I do have reflective foil tape on the inside of the left bag as the Remus did close the gap between bag and can to about 20mm or so. All heat transfer here is essentially via radiation and the tape reflects 90+% of the heat load (as long as you keep it shiny and clean).

[grwrockster]

Is anyone here running an aftermarket can (I have a Remus) with the y-pipe on an R equipped with hard luggage? This high exhuast can temp thing concerns me. I do have reflective foil tape on the inside of the left bag as the Remus did close the gap between bag and can to about 20mm or so. All heat transfer here is essentially via radiation and the tape reflects 90+% of the heat load (as long as you keep it shiny and clean).

Slowtorque. Yes, I've run with side cases and my Remus Y-Piece/Can set-up when on a trip many times, including one over 500-mile day not hanging about in N.Italy en route to Austria on a pretty warm day, and had them on every day for a 3000 mile trip. I haven't got the Reflector foil on my case either and am happy to report that there have been no issues with heat at all.

I haven't done anything scientific like point an infra-red heat gun at it, but I reckon the Remus set-up results in a lower temperature than stock on the Silencer surface.

[slowtorque]

Looks like I'll have to order a Remus at $418. Just cannot find a used one anywhere.

[Airman]

Next week I'm checking with a local tube bender & fabricator to see what a y-pipe project will cost. The fabricator has a good reputation with racing community, and he has the required merge collectors, expanded couplings, and raw tube in 1.75" 304SS. I've got a spare OE R1150R/GS catalytic y-pipe handy as dimensional jig, so the big question will be total for parts and fabrication.

Will post results here for anyone interested.

Your fabricator interests me as you're not that far away. Are you going to have him quote the standard y-pipe design, or bring the pipes together aft of the transmission? I'm interested in either case, but a more exotic pipe would be more desirable, perhaps with the CAT removed, bringing the two pipes together in a collector?

[sweatmark]

Your fabricator interests me as you're not that far away. Are you going to have him quote the standard y-pipe design, or bring the pipes together aft of the transmission? I'm interested in either case, but a more exotic pipe would be more desirable, perhaps with the CAT removed, bringing the two pipes together...]

So time flies. My quote above was last year, as was the visit to exhaust fabricator. What I learned:

In order to fab y collector using stainless, a new welding jig would be required to retain the positions for inlets and merged outlet. Cost of jig fabrication would be $450-500.

Parts and labor cost to produce y pipes using the new jig would be about $175 each.

The y pipe design discussed used mandrel-bent segments and 2-into-1 collector, with geometry based on the OE cat collector I brought to the shop for show and tell.

Exhaust fab guy said that best (maximum) power production would necessitate a 1.75 into 2.25" or larger single outlet.

He also said that the cross-pipe in the OE headers is a power killer. (I didn't bring up the topic of cross/balance pipe scavenging effects for a boxer twin, and the resulting torque gain)

So, I punted on the y pipe fab idea... not worth the jig investment, not worth the cost for what we already know is negligible gain in performance aside from some lost exhaust system weight... on a bike that is already a porker.