Sound and the Japanese Spirit

[DatBoi69YOLO]

I love my Valkyrie just like the rest of you guys. When I bought her in June she came 100% stock, and I want to mostly keep her that way because the notion of “no computers” is very sexy to me. I work with AI all day, so when it comes to my vehicles i like to get away from the thinking machines for just a little while.

Been searching around and adding bits of chrome though because it’s removable and because more shiny = more smiley.

When it comes to exhaust, it’s a conundrum. On the one hand, that gorgeous engine deserves a sound that does justice to the majesty of the Flat Six. I don’t want a LOUD bike necessarily, but I wouldn’t mind a little bit more of a rumbling, throaty purr.

But on the other hand, the bike was designed to be quiet for a reason. Every time I think about putting on a new exhaust I picture the old spirit of Soichiro Honda — probably in one of those old Shinto shrines — gently telling me something about how “a real samurai has dignified ease without pride” or some Bushido thing like that.

Thoughts?

[..]

Truck stacks?

[Valker]

Buy a set of MarkT Glasspacks and just swap them out when you want a different tone. It only takes about an hour of easy work to swap exhaust pipes.

[Bagger John - #3785]

Either of the two replies above.

I have a set of slash-cut stacks on my I/S; the exhaust system itself came off my first Tourer. I cut the piggies but did nothing else.

Nice, authoritative growl at idle or slightly above that quiets down a bit as you get into riding RPMs. Which is the way I like it on long trips.

[Willow]

TBR 6X6.  You won't find a better sound.

[Jruby38]

TBR carbon fiber glass packs. Just like headers and Cherry Bomb glass packs when we were kids.

[Valkorado]

TBR 6X6.  You won't find a better sound.

That sound was indeed beautiful.  And excessively LOUD.  I had to swap mine out for stockers.

[Duaneg]

I love my unbaffled Cobra 6x6, but I've also been a drummer, not using ear protection for the last 40 years.  My hearing isn't the greatest!  My bike is loud and sounds awesome. 

[-mike-]

Another vote for the sound of the TBR 6 into 6.
Extremely rare over here in Europe. Because these are kind of loud indeed.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/uXnQWHytLfY

I do use them only on certain occasions, though. Rallies, parades or meetings.
The phat gurl runs a tad better and a lot quieter with stock exhaust and just cut piggies.
Sounds more refined and should do for you best, DatBoi69YOLO .

-mike-

[Jess from VA]

Trimming the 6 piggies gives just a bit more rumble to an otherwise fully stock system.

But if you do it, leave enough piggie left that you can replace them with some copper tubing if you later decide you want to go back.

Add some 18" chrome truck stacks in replacement of the stock tips.  I like flat cut ends, not slash cuts which can be noisier.

[da prez]

  i made an extension on a hole saw and cut out one baffle at a time in each pipe until I got the sound I wanted.  It is a non-reversable modification , but the sound is deep but not to loud. Has a good roar when I get on it. I put on 45 degree truck stacks to finish it off.

                                                 da prez

[Knapdog]

Trimming the 6 piggies gives just a bit more rumble to an otherwise fully stock system.

But if you do it, leave enough piggie left that you can replace them with some copper tubing if you later decide you want to go back.

That's interesting.  How much "piggie" do you leave behind, plus, how fo you cut them off in the first place?

[h13man]

Stock tips are very annoying with the piggies cut that was done to mine by the original owner. I made a set of slash cuts @ 12.5" long that's just right. Fortunately he didn't drill the baffles. If I were to cut the piggie's, I'd cut about a 3/8" past the weld to be able to reattach them but OO didn't leave that option on mine. She's got a good Dragon roar to her. 

[Jess from VA]

Trimming the 6 piggies gives just a bit more rumble to an otherwise fully stock system.

But if you do it, leave enough piggie left that you can replace them with some copper tubing if you later decide you want to go back.

That's interesting.  How much "piggie" do you leave behind, plus, how do you cut them off in the first place?

My bike came this way, and I am no expert.  But I guess a reciprocating saw (sawzall) or hacksaw.  Leave at least an inch and a half to two.  I seem to recall one of the piggies on each side is threaded for one of the three tip screws, so leave that.  Pull one of your exhaust tips on and study on it.  There are lots of old threads on here about it.

[Bagger John - #3785]

Trimming the 6 piggies gives just a bit more rumble to an otherwise fully stock system.

But if you do it, leave enough piggie left that you can replace them with some copper tubing if you later decide you want to go back.

That's interesting.  How much "piggie" do you leave behind, plus, how do you cut them off in the first place?

My bike came this way, and I am no expert.  But I guess a reciprocating saw (sawzall) or hacksaw.  Leave at least an inch and a half to two.  I seem to recall one of the piggies on each side is threaded for one of the three tip screws, so leave that.  Pull one of your exhaust tips on and study on it.  There are lots of old threads on here about it.

This is what I did with mine, and with a set of stacks at higher RPM the sound level isn't very different than that of a completely stock exhaust w/ the same type of tips. At lower RPMs, though, definitely more "rumbly". Some might say 'authoritative'.

[Jess from VA]

Yeah, the open truck stacks compliment the rumble (and are much nicer than the thin stock tips).  And I have no idea how it might sound with the stock tips, other than probably a bit quieter.

This is not a noisy exhaust, except to purists who want quiet.

But I have been told that at higher speeds, while the noise is behind me and not heard by me much, someone behind me does hear it.

Truck stacks (maybe 18" tips or full length, you can't tell)
   

[idaida98]

For me 18 inch truck stacks nothing more.Gives me a good sound without being annoying.

[Jess from VA]

My first interstate had the truck stacks only.  My second one came with stacks and trimmed piggies.

I like the rumble from the trimmed piggies OK, but not enough to trim them off my other bike.

I am not a fan of loud exhaust.  I like the idea of hauling ass without letting everyone know I'm coming, especially the fellows who write tickets.

[Bagger John - #3785]

I am not a fan of loud exhaust.  I like the idea of hauling ass without letting everyone know I'm coming, especially the fellows who write tickets.

For that I have my unmodified-exhaust Concours 14s. If I want to go faster still I'll source a ZX-14R and leave its mufflers intact.

The local LE contingent could care less these days about loud pipes. Quite a shift from 30 years back, when EVERYONE running drag pipes or open collectors got written.

[acejr71]

I love the sound of the TBR 6X6 pipes.  Reminds me of my younger years drag racing.  However I am getting older and would like to enjoy my music on a ride.  Those pipes will not allow that for sure.  Really loud but oh so cool.  I took them off and installed the OEM with chrome stacks added on.  The 18 inch  X 4 inch slash cut stacks look really good. 

I read some of you have cut the Piggies.  My question is what does that accomplish?  Is that simply cutting the three short pipes at the end of the muffler ?  I kind of would like a little louder system with a deeper sound.  I contacted Horseapple and looked into a mild to wild but simply can't spend the 1500 right now.  Any suggestions with my OEM ?

[acejr71]

Love the look just want a little more deeper sound

[crow]

Cut off the piggies.  Have a welder buddy silver braze a 1/2" drill to a length of cold roll the same diameter.  Run that through each hole. Not too loud and sounds nice.  I could send mine.  I've no need for it now.  PM me if you want, crow

[Led]

I cut my "piggies" and drilled a 1/4 inch hole through the baffles, on stock exhaust.  Sounds just right to me.  Not obnoxiously loud, but has a little more "growl".
I did this right when I bought the bike.....WAY before I knew how "priceless" a virgin stock exhaust system would go for today!!   Lol!! 

[psckam]

Buy some pipes that  have already been messed with and save those stock pipes, don't cut them up. You may (and probably will ) want to go back to a quieter ride. I see here and other sources folks wondering how to 'unloud' their exhaust.  I agree just adding the truck stack improves the note without hacking anything. In my opinion loud pipes suck but  hey.. that just me.

[hubcapsc]

I cut my "piggies" and drilled a 1/4 inch hole through the baffles, on stock exhaust.  Sounds just right to me.  Not obnoxiously loud, but has a little more "growl".
I did this right when I bought the bike.....WAY before I knew how "priceless" a virgin stock exhaust system would go for today!!   Lol!! 

That was done to my bike before I got it.



When I bought my bike on eBay from Philadelphia I considered
riding it home. I'm glad I didn't. With those pipes on it, I would
have abandoned the bike on the side of the road after five
or six miles.

-Mike

[Jess from VA]

Cut piggies alone can be fixed (if you leave something to attach back to).  Drilling and hacking is pretty permanent. 

[Dustifon]

Cobras and keep the baffles. I think revzilla has the cobras in stock, I recently pulled the baffles from mine and am likely to put em back. I feel it’s a bit too much without the baffles. With em you still get a good low timber that covers the whine.

The only thing giving me pause is that I do feel safer when I’m heard. The sound may not be appreciated by everyone on the road, but it’s certainly noticed. I ride in and around NYC.

Interested to know where you land. Keep us updated

[The emperor has no clothes]

If you ride with others, you should also consider what the effect of riders behind you hear. I can’t ride behind a Ragnar cut bike for very long. The drone is too much for me. I have to be several bikes back.
I enjoy riding behind some Two Brothers 6into2’s.

[h13man]

I cut my "piggies" and drilled a 1/4 inch hole through the baffles, on stock exhaust.  Sounds just right to me.  Not obnoxiously loud, but has a little more "growl".
I did this right when I bought the bike.....WAY before I knew how "priceless" a virgin stock exhaust system would go for today!!   Lol!! 

That was done to my bike before I got it.



When I bought my bike on eBay from Philadelphia I considered
riding it home. I'm glad I didn't. With those pipes on it, I would
have abandoned the bike on the side of the road after five
or six miles.

-Mike

You can size and use a tapered pipe tap those holes to fit a tapered pipe plug to restore them.

[Knapdog]

Buy some pipes that  have already been messed with and save those stock pipes, don't cut them up. You may (and probably will ) want to go back to a quieter ride. I see here and other sources folks wondering how to 'unloud' their exhaust.  I agree just adding the truck stack improves the note without hacking anything. In my opinion loud pipes suck but  hey.. that just me.

For what it's worth, I toured Soain and Portugal in June on my Honda cbf1000 that I had put a throaty Arrow exhaust on.
I did 3600 miles and it was only a matter of days before the exhaust sound was getting on my nerves.
When I got home I put the oem exhaust straight back on and preferred the standard sound.
Another reason why I'm leaving the Valkyrie piggies alone.

[Led]

I cut my "piggies" and drilled a 1/4 inch hole through the baffles, on stock exhaust.  Sounds just right to me.  Not obnoxiously loud, but has a little more "growl".
I did this right when I bought the bike.....WAY before I knew how "priceless" a virgin stock exhaust system would go for today!!   Lol!! 

That was done to my bike before I got it.

NO!!!   I did not drill through the backplate!  But the actual baffle itself!  I bought like a foot long drill bit, to do it.  That would reach way down into the tubes themselves. 
I agree, drilling the backplate was a TOTAL HACK JOB!!



When I bought my bike on eBay from Philadelphia I considered
riding it home. I'm glad I didn't. With those pipes on it, I would
have abandoned the bike on the side of the road after five
or six miles.

-Mike

[MarkT]

I love the sound of the TBR 6X6 pipes.  Reminds me of my younger years drag racing.  However I am getting older and would like to enjoy my music on a ride.  Those pipes will not allow that for sure.  Really loud but oh so cool.  I took them off and installed the OEM with chrome stacks added on.  The 18 inch  X 4 inch slash cut stacks look really good.  

I read some of you have cut the Piggies.  My question is what does that accomplish?  Is that simply cutting the three short pipes at the end of the muffler ?  I kind of would like a little louder system with a deeper sound.  I contacted Horseapple and looked into a mild to wild but simply can't spend the 1500 right now.  Any suggestions with my OEM ?

Glasspack mod only, on your cores and using the OEM covers so it looks stock, is $499 + shipping.  You get the louder (about 3X over stock, but that's not loud) and rumbly sound, and improved performance from recovering the wasted energy of the OEM muffler, and scavenging - OEM doesn't have that.  Obvious improvement, around 8 ponies & torque similar number.  No rejetting needed either.  The Trombones are compatible with this version, as well as the crossover, for a couple options at a lower cost than if you also get stacks.  Silencers require stacks to hold them, downstream of the glasspacks.  Stacks have gotten spendy with the advent of our wonderful new federal administration.  And sometimes on BO.

BTW, if we build on your cores you get a priority for minimum down time.  I just shipped a custom build with glasspacks, bones, silencers and stacks 7 days after I received the cores.  OK, that's faster than usual as all the stars aligned but it's possible, just did that.

There are several options you can choose, if you want to change the sound level easily, or have a custom look.  So you can fit a bigger budget than the opening price.  Those options are explained and illustrated at my exhaust page, http://www.horseapple.com/Valkyrie/Valk_Products/M2W_Exhaust__System/m2w_exhaust__system.html

Here's a page Dylan put up a couple years ago, demonstrating the sounds he got.  Nicely done.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8DWwxsz-YA

I made a video in my shop of 6 sounds we can produce.  Not as visual as Dylan's video.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmpWGVAvGkQ

[derek533]

I'm just keeping mine stock I think.  It's a 97 and still has an intact OEM with the tri-tips.  Yeah, it's not great but it does have a tiny little bit of rumble down low. 

OTOH, it sounds much better stock than my previous bike which was a Royal Star Tour Deluxe.  That thing sounded like a sewing machine going down the road. 

Alot of it depends on the type of riding you do.  City riding where you're accelerating and stopping and can enjoy it makes more sense than those that do a lot of highway riding where the drone will make you reach for the Excedrin. 

[DatBoi69YOLO]

To all you piggy trimmers in this thread:

Please tell me about “drone” at high speeds. I’ve heard awful stories about how piggy trimming causes a resonance in the exhaust that makes a loud and annoying drone sound at high speeds. Any of you encounter this problem?

[Valkorado]

To all you piggy trimmers in this thread:

Please tell me about “drone” at high speeds. I’ve heard awful stories about how piggy trimming causes a resonance in the exhaust that makes a loud and annoying drone sound at high speeds. Any of you encounter this problem?

Purchased a 99 Interstate with flush chopped piggies some years back.  On the first ride, the drone was almost annoying enough to drive me batsh!t crazy.  It gets inside a helmet an just kinda stays there.

[Jess from VA]

Its worse in full face helmets than halfs.  But I still hear in it my half.

My piggies are trimmed off, but not flush (couple inches left).  The more you cut the louder it is. 

[Knapdog]

I'm just keeping mine stock I think.  It's a 97 and still has an intact OEM with the tri-tips.  Yeah, it's not great but it does have a tiny little bit of rumble down low. 

OTOH, it sounds much better stock than my previous bike which was a Royal Star Tour Deluxe.  That thing sounded like a sewing machine going down the road. 

Alot of it depends on the type of riding you do.  City riding where you're accelerating and stopping and can enjoy it makes more sense than those that do a lot of highway riding where the drone will make you reach for the Excedrin. 

Agree entirely.

[Willow]

I'm just keeping mine stock I think.  It's a 97 and still has an intact OEM with the tri-tips.  Yeah, it's not great but it does have a tiny little bit of rumble down low. 

OTOH, it sounds much better stock than my previous bike which was a Royal Star Tour Deluxe.  That thing sounded like a sewing machine going down the road. 

Alot of it depends on the type of riding you do.  City riding where you're accelerating and stopping and can enjoy it makes more sense than those that do a lot of highway riding where the drone will make you reach for the Excedrin. 

Agree entirely.

Different folks have differing preferences.  I despise the OEM exhaust.  I have two with TBRs, one with Cobras, and one with modded OEM soon to be switched to TB 6 into 2.

I've never had a problem with a "drone".  It's probably not entirely the exhaust but greatly the result of that sill plastic one rides behind.  The sound of the wind on the highway is louder to me than the sound of my exhausts.