exhaust tips

[big sky]

are the stock tips on the valkyrie horizontal or vertical?
Thanks
Sky

[YoungPUP]

Standard and Tourer: Vertical with slight slash cut.  Interstate: horizontal with no slash.

[big sky]

are they interchangeable?

[YoungPUP]

If you have cut piggies yes. If not then I don't believe so. The piggie arrangment on the interstate pipes is longer and arranged horizontal. But I remember reading here that someone adjusted the piggies with little effort.

[Jess from VA]

The OE tips are nothing like the quality of Air Flow  chrome stacks.


Get these, and the piggies do not matter.

http://store.airflo.com/af40-418hs.html

[Thunderbolt]

I have the Airflo's on my OEM Interstate pipes.  I cut the piggies off when I installed them, as they looked strange sitting in that big 'ol pipe.

[MarkT]

The OE tips are nothing like the quality of Air Flow  chrome stacks.


Get these, and the piggies do not matter.

http://store.airflo.com/af40-418hs.html

Airflo is only a distributor.  They sell Dynaflex stacks.  Dynaflex quality is uneven.  Varies a lot.  If you have a good set - chalk it up to luck.  I had to reject over the years, hundreds of Airflo stacks.  Such that I had to stop using them as a supplier.  There are a number of reasons for this, but chief among them, is the EPA.  American-made chrome companies have a long row to hoe, competing with overseas chrome companies, who don't have the EPA to deal with, and cheaper labor.  You can also thank Hollywood and Erin Brokovich for making hexavalent chrome industry's pollution villain. BTW, that's my bike and my photography Airflo is using on their web site.  Without permission or a byline.

[Jess from VA]

Hmmmm.  Well both sets on both my ISs are great chrome and quality.  One with full OE pigs, which can't be seen without a light, and the other the pigs are gone.  Vroom.  

(Both purchased in or before '05)

[YoungPUP]

Not trying to hijack but then who is a good (quality) truck stack tip supplier to buy from?

[gordorad]

Ok, what are the piggies??   I"m baffled!!!

[YoungPUP]

the 3 little tubes in the end of each of the tips. Look in Shoptalk under exhausthttp://www.valkyrieriders.com/shoptalk/Pipes101.htm

[MarkT]

Not trying to hijack but then who is a good (quality) truck stack tip supplier to buy from?

Couldn't tell ya I stopped selling the little tips years ago.  There aren't many choices - I can name several companies that make 4 inch stacks but all American made ones at competitive pricing have spotty quality.  If I buy American, and ready-made (that is, not manufactured for me) then I have to reject some.  I haven't bought from Airflo in years, they might have set up a deal with their supplier to keep the quality up with a QA / inspection-rejection program.  Chrome from Venezuela, Mexico, and China is all better in quality than US made - thanks to the economics of it, and the EPA.  Or you can buy from a custom jobber and pay a higher price for really good chrome - it does exist here, if you're willing to pay for it.

[da prez]

  I have bought tips from my local auto parts supplier. Try to get an older or agressive counter person. Most have the catalogs or computer info on hand , but you have to ask specificly .
  If they can't look it up by a model , most will not try.
                                                                         da prez

[Ricky-D]

The sum total is that the original equipment Honda chrome is a superior product that can only be equaled by specialty chrome plating in job shops.

I have seen only a few aftermarket chrome plated accessories that can match the quality of Honda chrome plating.  Remember Honda has to stand behind their products for a considerable period of time and Honda cannot afford to have a reputation for poor quality, especially with regards to finish.

Heck, my Interstate shows no aging on any of the chrome with the exception of the alternator cover and the rear brake cover which is constantly beat upon with my boot.

***

[Jess from VA]

My OE tips may have been nice when new, but they were very thin material and pitted and bubbled when I got my bike in '05.  I gave them away.

The Airflow tips are vastly superior to OE tips; the material is at least twice the thickness and the chrome is solid, smooth and beautiful.  Besides Mark, I cannot remember ever reading about anybody who thought the chrome was poor on a set of Airflow's.  And I'm fairly sure if you got a tip you were unhappy with they'd replace it.  They are being used by thousands of valk riders now.  With routine bike cleaning, my years-old Airflows remain as nice as any chrome on the bike.  I do agree that most Honda OE chrome is very good.

You do have to drill holes in them to mount on the bike, making a cardboard or construction paper template from the OE tips to relocate bolt hole locations.

It is also the cheapest exhaust upgrade I've ever done on any bike... not like buying entirely now exhaust..... just some 18" tips.

[MarkT]

My OE tips may have been nice when new, but they were very thin material and pitted and bubbled when I got my bike in '05.  I gave them away.

The Airflow tips are vastly superior to OE tips; the material is at least twice the thickness and the chrome is solid, smooth and beautiful.  Besides Mark, I cannot remember ever reading about anybody who thought the chrome was poor on a set of Airflow's.  And I'm fairly sure if you got a tip you were unhappy with they'd replace it.  They are being used by thousands of valk riders now.  With routine bike cleaning, my years-old Airflows remain as nice as any chrome on the bike.  I do agree that most Honda OE chrome is very good.

You do have to drill holes in them to mount on the bike, making a cardboard or construction paper template from the OE tips to relocate bolt hole locations.

It is also the cheapest exhaust upgrade I've ever done on any bike... not like buying entirely now exhaust..... just some 18" tips.

I didn't say you won't get good quality from Airflow.  I said, my experience with them - having bought hundreds of stacks from them, not just one or two pairs - was, the chrome they delivered was from Dynaflex and the quality was uneven, that is, spotty, and I had to reject a lot of them. You might get good chrome from them, I did most of the time.  But my experience was - don't count on it - bad chrome from them happened frequently.  Again, that was years ago, could be they've fixed the problem by now with various means.  Airflow replaced my bad stacks a few times, then they wanted me to eat the bad chrome they sent.  Not a good plan for customer relations towards a large repeat customer.

FYI, Dynaflex stacks are .065" in thickness, same as the rest of the stack industry (thicker than the OEM tips).  That's almost all the base material, being carbon steel.  The plating is copper, nickle and chrome and it's electroplated; extremely thin, in the thousanths, the same as everyone else.

I have also bought Dynaflex stacks from other distributors, hundreds of times, ever since.  Their quality is still spotty, and if anything, is getting worse.  I still have to reject stacks from them. Add to the spotty quality that passes their QA, the damage from handling from UPS, whom everybody except me seems to use, and I have to reject half the stacks that come in here.  It's my biggest quality problem.  Thank God I have a GREAT supplier on the five inch stacks - almost NONE of them are bad.  They are NOT from Dynaflex, they are imported.  Consistently great chrome.