Y-pipe recommendations?

[Capt. Blackadder]

This is for those of you running Y-pipes on your R1150R instead of the cat converter... what's been your experience? I'd like the bike to run a good bit cooler and sound a bit more like a motorcycle. I have a Power Commander installed so I can make adjustments to the air/fuel mixture, no worries there. So, if you've done the Y-pipe thing, lay it on me... was it worth it? How much did you pay? Did it make the bike obnoxiously loud? Did you run it with the OEM muffler? Input, please!

[hank]

I fitted a y pipe a bout 6 weeks ago for the reasons you mention. I am running it with the stock muffler and it sounds very nice, deeper than before and loud enough to be heard, but won't annoy my next door neighbours when I return home from work at 2am.

Very easy to fit, just soak all the clamp nuts with WD40 or some other oil the night before you intend to do the job. No need to remove the tank to disconnect wires for the lamda, I just dropped the cat out and loosened the lamda sensor and carefully wound the cat around till it came out.

Tools needed are torx key from the bikes tool kit for the 2 bolts on the cat mountings, a 22mm spanner for the lamda and it was either 14mmm or 15mm for the exhaust clamps and an allen key for the muffler mount.

I have run my bike with the following set ups.

1. Stock cat and can. My mothers old treadle drive Singer sewing machine sounded better.

2. Cat and stubby tail pipe. Sounded great, cost very little and allowed me to fit full size left pannier but not sure of the legality here in Scotland.

3. Y pipe and stock can. not as loud as # 2 above but a big improvement over #1. Just need to lower the can now to get the full sze pannier on for summer.

Hank.

[Airman]

This is for those of you running Y-pipes on your R1150R instead of the cat converter... what's been your experience? I'd like the bike to run a good bit cooler and sound a bit more like a motorcycle. I have a Power Commander installed so I can make adjustments to the air/fuel mixture, no worries there. So, if you've done the Y-pipe thing, lay it on me... was it worth it? How much did you pay? Did it make the bike obnoxiously loud? Did you run it with the OEM muffler? Input, please!

I have the Remus y-pipe installed with the stock muffler. It is just about as quiet as the system with the CAT installed. Now if you want sound you put on an aftermarket silencer, like the Remus or Staintune or one of the others. I think I'm going back to the CAT only with a short pipe extention. It sounds pretty good and opens up the rear wheel visually. Not to mention you can then install a full sized left bag without buying a lowering kit. I think, (no real experience here) that you'd have to open the intake side to see any real performance gains, and then it would be small and maybe on the top end. This engine does not seem to be easy to extract additional power from.

[jeremell]

I'll put in a recommendation for the Ztech pipe and exhaust. Lighter, and it sounds good but not too loud.

[mcollect]

I have the Remus Y pipe and a low stainetune muffler. It is really light and the sound is fine but a bit loud for my taste. Last weekend I installed the restrictor to the staintune and now it sounds perfect, grunts but does not bark. All parts used and off this site!

[RichardD]

This is for those of you running Y-pipes on your R1150R instead of the cat converter... what's been your experience? I'd like the bike to run a good bit cooler and sound a bit more like a motorcycle. I have a Power Commander installed so I can make adjustments to the air/fuel mixture, no worries there. So, if you've done the Y-pipe thing, lay it on me... was it worth it? How much did you pay? Did it make the bike obnoxiously loud? Did you run it with the OEM muffler? Input, please!

I have the Remus y-pipe installed with the stock muffler. It is just about as quiet as the system with the CAT installed. Now if you want sound you put on an aftermarket silencer, like the Remus or Staintune or one of the others. I think I'm going back to the CAT only with a short pipe extention. It sounds pretty good and opens up the rear wheel visually. Not to mention you can then install a full sized left bag without buying a lowering kit. I think, (no real experience here) that you'd have to open the intake side to see any real performance gains, and then it would be small and maybe on the top end. This engine does not seem to be easy to extract additional power from.

Why would you go back to the cat. ? Why not the Y with the short pipe extension?

[Capt. Blackadder]

Why would you go back to the cat. ? Why not the Y with the short pipe extension?

That leaves in place no muffling of any kind. Straight pipes = Extremely Loud.

[Lobo1625]

+1 for Remus. I'm running the Remus Titainum Y pipe and Silencer. A very good sound, not obnoxiously loud. Ive got a video with audio of it, but in real life it's a bit lower tone than on the video. I have a power commander installed and with the setup, it need a good bit of Dyno tuning to stabilize the AFR. The bike runs stronger than stock and still is quiet enough to take out of the garage in the morning and not annoy the neighbors. I had to take the system off when i installed my Power Commander (The bike came with it on) and it was a very simple easy setup. Just had to make sure to get all bolts started before tightening anything down.. Exhaust Video

[Capt. Blackadder]

Thanks for the info so far. Do these Y-pipes usually come with a rest tang for the centerstand, or do you have to lose it?

[Lobo1625]

This is a shot of my Remus Y pipe. The center stand rest is sticking off to the right of the picture.

[hirsty]

My Remus y-pipe was collected by it's new eBay buyer last night after I traded-in the R & stripped the farkles, and held it's money well!

Main benefit to me was weight reduction, that cat weighs a ton - seriously, take it off (hold in both hands) and decide whether you want to lug around all that dead weight every day.