Right off the bat lemme tell you that the sound is terrific! It's a nice deep bass at idle, which unfortunately is all I got to hear it at since the weather here in SATX today ranged from drizzly to cats-and-dogs to who-the-heck-is-dumping-buckets-of-water-on-my-house?
Installation was easy, straightforward and fun. I had no problem doing the swapout and I'm mechanically retarded as all get out.
Anyway, here's what the bike looked like before the surgery. That's the Akrapovic in the styrofoam down there on the ground.
The Akrapovic package included a detailed instruction guide, a replacement 13mm nut and washer since the stock can has the nut built into the attachment flange, a small tube of copper never-bind lubricant, a "street legal" certificate (whatever the hell that is), and enough Akrapovic stickers to let everyone know where you dropped your last paycheck. In my zeal to get the new can attached, I failed to photograph any of this stuff but it was all there, I assure you.
My first surprise was how light the Akrapovic can is. It's light enough that my 5-year old could heft it, as seen here:
Note that I removed the Akrapovic sticker from the side of the can. That took about ten minutes of rubbing the sticky goo off with my fingers since the Akrapovic boys don't recommend citrus-based cleaners to be used on the can (probably to keep the sticker from coming off...oh well). Anyway I don't want my R to turn into a NASCAR machine with commercial endorsements everywhere, so I pulled the sticker off. Notably, the sole exception is the "Bitte ein Bit" sticker on the side of my bike, but that's more tradition for me than actual endorsement of Bitburger beer - I can't stand the stuff nor do I believe that alcoholic beverages and motorcycles should have anything to do with each other, but I digress....BTT.
Removal of the stock can was very easy, requiring only a 15mm wrench for the exhaust clamp and a #45 torx bit for the attachment flange. Both the attachment flange screw and the exhaust clamp are reused with the Akrapovic. I started the bike up without the can just to see how it sounds - not too loud as others have reported. Here's a pic of the R with the exhaust removed.
AJ didn't like the heavy stock can as you can see:
Next you have to coat the exhaust clamp with Akrapovik's copper never-bind lubricant for whatever reason. 15 years in the military got me in the "don't question why, just execute" mindset when it comes to mechanical things of which I have no understanding, so I plopped the goop where the instructions said to:
Finally it was just a reverse process of getting the new Akrapovic can back on the bike. It was a very snug fit, but not difficult at all. The fitting really sealed up very smoothly when I tightened up the exhaust clamp - I guess that was what the never-bind lube was for. Total job time from start to finish was about 30 minutes, but that was with stopping to take photos. Here's the final result:
And some side-by-side comparisons of the two cans next to each other. The Akrapovic is really a work of art, and is very complimentary to the lines of our beautiful bikes.
And as a final note I have one nearly-mint condition (only 200 miles) stainless stock can for sale cheap.
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