exhaust drone

[big al]

I have the stock exhaust that has been cut and drilled in the back and it drones really bad when cruising down the road, want to goto mark t's glass packs with turn outs so can't use the trombones what i want to know is will it still drone when cruising down the road   thanks for your opinion

[tank_post142]

WOW ! all in one sentence! any aftermarket pipes will drone somewhat. even stock pipes, depending on what helmet you wear.

[BF]

Since your wanting to know about MarkT's pipes, I'd email Mark and ask him.  I've emailed him before....nice guy and very reponsive to questions. 

If you're wanting to know about stock pipes, as far as I know, they'll all drone untill you can lengthen those piggies back out to at least stock length.  They need to be as long as possible to reach the end of the exhaust tips.  From my experience, any shorter and they'll drone.  If you buy longer exhaust tips, you'll need to extend those piggies.  It's not the drilled baffles that are causing the drone.....it's the reduced length of those piggies. 

Mark does sell what he calls piggie plates (salvaged piggies from stock pipes that he's cut off and saved).  If your piggies can't be saved with somekind of extension, you can buy a set of those, either standard pigs or interstate pigs and weld those back onto the end of your stocker's cans. 

The only other cure is to wear a half helmet, or no helmet.  Just don't wear something that covers your ears and the drone will go away. 

[Gear Jammer]

I have the stock exhaust that has been cut and drilled in the back and it drones really bad when cruising down the road, want to goto mark t's glass packs with turn outs so can't use the trombones what i want to know is will it still drone when cruising down the road   thanks for your opinion

I went with Mark T's for that very reason,,,drone,,,from cut and drilled OEM pipes.   I have the Organ Pipes, no trombones, no crossover, fixed silencers.   Louder than OEM, but no drone at any speed that I can detect.  Wife on back likes them better than the previous Two Brothers 6x6 !!  Mark makes a good system.  Here's what I have,,,,,,,,,

[fudgie]

All pipes do it. How far are you riding before it gets annoying? My stacks (drilled rears and missing 3 1/2" of exh)  would do it and after 8 hours of travel my ears would hum for a couple hours that night. Helmetless. I got used to it. This year going west they did not. I think it was due to my radio. It was breaking up the noise. I do notince its louder when my ears are covered with my beanie then without. You could try ear plugs.

[Tropic traveler]

I have a glasspack set-up similar to MarkT's that I made myself sans the trombone option.
I cut these 4" truck style exhaust tips & fit them to the back of the exhaust.


The result was the glasspack exiting directly into the 4" tip causing a drone on the highway. Sounded great but got annoying on trips.
So I figured extending the exit point of the 'packs to the rear of the tips {or closer to} would eliminate the "echo chamber" effect the tips seemed to be causing. Also wanted to add a touch more back pressure. First attempt was an extension with a big flat washer welded in close to the exit point of the 4" tips.


Uhh... No.
Sounded like crap. So next I found some stainless tips salvaged from the warranty scrap bin at the Lincoln dealership where I worked. Welded them on the extensions offset a bit to give a tad more back pressure.



Bingo! Worked like a charm. Same nice glasspack sound without the drone.
Lesson to me is get the exit point of the exhaust gases to the end of the pipes to eliminate or diminish drone. 

[valkyriemc]

Earplugs, once you get used to them you won't want to ride with out them...

[lucky_1_chris]

Earplugs, once you get used to them you won't want to ride with out them...

That's what I told my wife when she didn't like the glass packs we put on. Said she couldn't hear the radio with ear plugs...

Back to stock...

[Hoser]

If you put on truck stack tips over the cut piggies and drilled baffles and add Grumpy's tips, they will sing the sweetest song you ever heard, and no more drone.  Hoser 

[valkyriemc]

If you put on truck stack tips over the cut piggies and drilled baffles and add Grumpy's tips, they will sing the sweetest song you ever heard, and no more drone.  Hoser 

Looks really good, to what diameter or extent were the baffles drilled?

[MP]

Seems to be a constant complaint.  I want more noise, so I drill out the exhaust, and cut the piggies.
Love it! 
For two months.

NOW, it DRONES!

I think 98% of the "droning" is LOUDER PIPES!

Droning is a rising and falling of the pitch of the exhaust.  What almost all "droning" complainsts are, are really a LOUD exhaust.

IMHO

MP

[Gear Jammer]

I think 98% of the "droning" is LOUDER PIPES!

Droning is a rising and falling of the pitch of the exhaust.  What almost all "droning" complainsts are, are really a LOUD exhaust.

IMHO

MP

The PO cut and drilled my OEM's.  The drone wasn't so much "loud" as was the "tone and pitch" of the sound.  I'd get a headache after an hour or so. They reminded me of a crotch rocket on steroids    The Two Brothers 6x6 which replaced the OEM's didn't have a bad "tone", they were just too loud.  I actually liked the sound and tone,, just not the volume.  Of course, with TB's they all go together,,guess that's why they're called "drag pipes'.  MarkT's are louder than OEM. The sound is a deeper glass pack rumble reminiscent of a Chevy 283 with CherryBomb exhausts.  I never hear anything that sounds anything like the drilled/cut OEMs that came on the bike. I also use in-ear speakers which help.

[T.P.]

If you put on truck stack tips over the cut piggies and drilled baffles and add Grumpy's tips, they will sing the sweetest song you ever heard, and no more drone.  Hoser 

HEY..................WHATS IT GUNNA BE,   HOSER or HOZER ?   ???   T.P.

[R J]

HEY..................WHATS IT GUNNA BE,   HOSER or HOZER ?   ???   T.P.

Hey T.P. wha difference does it make?   It is his handle, right?    That is what he was after.

Just like I was, I wanted #1 in the Purple Heart series plates.    1st to apply for the PH plate was to get #1.     They decided at the last minute to do the #1 as a lotto, so I ended up with #2, So 10 years later  now, I have P0001 on mom's Highlander, P0002 on my Truck, and P0003 on my Chevy Trike.  Those that got in early are either dieing off and family is not renewing that # or they got tired of the plate.  So, I'm waiting for the DOT to release & reissue P0004 and I'll have it on my trailer.    It just takes patience Grasshopper.       Enjoy, and give Nancy a hug for me.     Thanks.   Ride safely.

[R J]

Another way you can get rid of the Drone is to get the end of the pipe at least 4 to 6" behind the saddlebag bottom.     Found that out when I was playing with glass pak's and etc while I had the bags off of MGM.

Just happened to fall into that one by accident.

[Gear Jammer]

That was another reason for removing the TwoBrothers, they ended under the bags.  I had MarkT make the system so it ended aft of the bags to help eliminate that problem.

[Farther]

If you put on truck stack tips over the cut piggies and drilled baffles and add Grumpy's tips, they will sing the sweetest song you ever heard, and no more drone.  Hoser  

 Are your truck stacks just replacement for the stock exhaust tips and if so what length are they and where did you get them?  I have Hondaline tritips right now but would like to lengthen the exhaust by a few inches with stacks.

[Hoser]

If you put on truck stack tips over the cut piggies and drilled baffles and add Grumpy's tips, they will sing the sweetest song you ever heard, and no more drone.  Hoser 

Looks really good, to what diameter or extent were the baffles drilled?

Used a half inch drill bit, left the front baffles alone.  Hoser

[fudgie]

If you put on truck stack tips over the cut piggies and drilled baffles and add Grumpy's tips, they will sing the sweetest song you ever heard, and no more drone.  Hoser  

 Are your truck stacks just replacement for the stock exhaust tips and if so what length are they and where did you get them?  I have Hondaline tritips right now but would like to lengthen the exhaust by a few inches with stacks.

Mine are a solid 24" and stick by the bike a tad, even with the hitch. Only hit 1 curb before.

[Hoser]

My tips are 18" long and replaced the stock tips so it would clear the bags. They are 4" diameter, same size as the stock muffler covers.  I drilled holes for screws in to the stock muffler.  They fit really tight had to lube them to get them on. With the stacks only it was loud and droned a lot.  The tips made it sort of sound like a porsche and eliminated the drone. As for my handle it is Hoser, I had to changed the vanity plate cause someone else had hoser on thier car tag.  I guess some rollers were not specifiying car or bike when calling in vehicle stops.  Hoser   

[FloridaValkRyder]

Off topic..sorry, but went for a short ride today to get gas, etc and had a guy ask me if that was a Porsche engine..I said "You betcha" . That kid was so impressed...

[hubcapsc]

I have the stock exhaust that has been cut and drilled in the back and it drones really bad when cruising down the road, want to goto mark t's glass packs with turn outs so can't use the trombones what i want to know is will it still drone when cruising down the road   thanks for your opinion

Hey Al...
Did you chop up your exhaust? If you've never ridden an Interstate with unmolested pipes, there's one
answer. Pure sweet silence, no drone, and you can still tell you're on a Valkyrie when you crank the
throttle. I ran Interstate pipes for the first year or so that I had my bike...

Is there anyone here that runs a full coverage helmet and likes stock pipes with piggies cut or baffles drilled?

-Mike "wah wah wah wah wah wah"

[Ricky-D]

I can only comment on the Valkyrie's with the bags, and mine is an Interstate, but in relationship to the "drone" I feel that it is a matter of only an inch, more or less added in length to make a big difference in the "drone".

I have the stock Interstate extensions on my gutted out exhausts and have no experience with "drone" under any condition.

I ride with no helmet so I cannot comment about how it is with a helmet on but I have at times done so, on a bunch of trips, and still had no "drone" experience.

Get the exhaust tips out at least even with the bags and I think the "drone" will abate pretty much.

***

[BF]

I had longer tips (alot longer.....they stuck out pretty far out past the rear fender actually) on my bike for awhile and have since gone back to tips that end roughly at the tip of the rear fender. 

I hate to tell you guys, but longer tips did nothing to stop, or even reduce the drone. 

I'm firmly convinced that with the OEM pipes, you need to get those piggies out to the end of your tips (regardless of how long they are) as much as you can. 

Without those pigs, the exhaust just resonates inside those tips and causes the drone. 

[Tropic traveler]

I had longer tips (alot longer.....they stuck out pretty far out past the rear fender actually) on my bike for awhile and have since gone back to tips that end roughly at the tip of the rear fender.  

I hate to tell you guys, but longer tips did nothing to stop, or even reduce the drone.  

I'm firmly convinced that with the OEM pipes, you need to get those piggies out to the end of your tips (regardless of how long they are) as much as you can.  

Without those pigs, the exhaust just resonates inside those tips and causes the drone.  

Agreed. That's why I did what I did. No mo' echo chamber = No mo' drone.