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Leo Vince install and review


fooschnickens

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fooschnickens
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Purchased from Omnia Racing Italy
 
Initial impressions and Install overview:
 
The packaging is very robust and keeps everything protected. All the pieces are individually wrapped in heavy-duty plastic bags and the muffler is wrapped in cardboard in addition to being bagged. No chance of things getting scuffed up in transit, and mine came all the way from Italy (more on that later). All the parts are stainless steel and very high quality. The welds are impeccable and each piece fits snugly inside the other, the tolerances are very tight. The directions and assembly diagram are kinda lackluster, but if you're mechanically inclined, you really only need them to know if you have everything that you need. Note that this does not come with a catalytic converter.
 
It took a bit of fiddling to get it in place. The directions tell you just install it on the bike one piece at a time (flanges, header, midpipe, muffler), but there's not enough clearance to get the muffler in place since it comes into contact with the tire. The tolerances are pretty tight between all the pieces so there's not much wiggle room to fudge things into place. I got around this by installing the muffler and midpipe as one piece. You'll need to finesse the installation, but it's not difficult by any means. The hardest part of it all was getting the springs in place. The ones that connect the midpipe to the header pieces were brutal, everything else was pretty easy. I was able to get by with some pliers, but a hook would have made things much easier. If you go with the plier route, expect to fetch the sprigns on the other side of the garage a couple times. Another cool thing is that they provide a plug for the o2 sensor hole, and it's even pre-drilled to be safety wired in place! It's the little things that count.
 
Installation:
 
The installation process is straightforward and takes about 45 minutes. The exhaust comes in 6 main pieces: 2 head flanges, 2 header pipes, 1 midpipe/collector and the muffler (along with several bolts and other connectors). All the pieces apart form the flanges are held together using high-tension springs.
 
Tools needed: 4mm and 5mm allen head socket (you will need a 5mm allen key in order to get to the muffler mount on the chain side of the bike), pliers (heavy duty hook recommended), 12mm socket and extension, o2 sensor socket (or 11/16 spanner), gloves (to prevent prints getting on the pipes and burning in), lubricant.
 
I won't go over the exhaust removal process as it's been covered several other times. Look for Russian Rider's youtube video, he goes into great detail on how to get the stocker off.
 
Once you have the stock exhaust off, locate the two flange pieces. These will be bagged up together. Put a dab of silicone/moly grease on the exhaust gaskets before putting the flange tube in place. The long end will face upwards toward the motor. Also be sure that the flange plates are turned in the right direction, otherwise the spring loops will not line up. There are two small holes drilled into the flange plate that the spring will hook into depending on which pipe it is going into. The plates are identical so don't worry about mixing them up. Tighten down the flange plates using the 12mm bolts and you're done with the socket wrench until you reinstall your foot controls.
 
Next, locate your two header pipes and break out your gloves. These can only be inserted one way into the flange tubes so there's no way to install them backwards. Each tube is different, however. Etched into each tube is a part number (ending in 01 and 02). Tube 01 goes on the left side of the bike (gear selector side) and 02 goes on the right side (rear brake side). You don't need to install the springs just yet, friction will hold them in place and you want to be able to wiggle them around a bit for the next step.
 
Included in the hardware baggie you'll find two slip-on nuts. The muffler does not bolt into the stock location, and instead uses two holes located just below the stock location. Slip these onto the tabs and verify that the muffler will sit in place, you may need to tweak something if it got banged up somewhere along the line. With the header tubes in place, slip the muffler onto the midpipe. It helps to spritz a tiny bit of lube to help things move around a bit, do the same thing to the ends of the header pipes as well. Line the two header pipes up with the midpipe/muffler and rock it back and forth, it will take a bit of fiddling, but eventually everything will slip into place. Once that is done, take one of the supplied 5mm allen bolts and a washer and hand thread it a few turns into the muffler hanger on the right side to hold it in place.
 
Once the muffler is secured, it's time to put the springs in place. This is where I highly recommend using a hefty hook to help stretch these into place. It doesn't really matter where you start, but I started at the head flanges and worked my way back. There is a joint for each header pipe at the flanges, two joints for each header pipe at the midpipe, and two loops for the single joint for the muffler at the midpipe. The joints at the header/midpipe were the hardest to do as they seemed to have the largest gap. I braced my ankle against the header pipe while I pulled the spring into place to keep from bending anything. It took a substantial amount of force to get those two springs in place.
 
With all the springs in place, tighten down the two bolts for the muffler mount. To get to the bolt on the left side, you will need to use an allen key since there is no way to get a socket in there (even with the shifter taken off). You can get the bolt finger tight pretty easily, so you won't be spending 20 minutes tightening the bolt 1/4 turn at a time.
 
After that, reinstall your o2 sensor (or plug the hole), rear brake controls and you're good to go! If you want to take the baffle out, there is a single 4mm bolt located on the underside of the muffler near the tip. There's a rubber cover on the carbon fiber end cap, the bolt is underneath it.
 
 
 
Riding review:
 
The sound is quite nice. It's not roaring loud, even with the baffle out, but it's definitely deeper than other exhausts I've heard on these bikes. Because of that, this exhaust -feels- louder, but doesn't seem to -sound- louder. The other exhausts I've heard and ridden on had a very sharp sound for each exhaust pulse, almost like you were riding a single thumper. This exhaust seems to smooth that out a bit and makes the "thump" more of a "whoomp". When you get on the throttle, it sounds great and definitely turns some heads. It's great that it is totally under the bike as it helps to muffle a lot of the noise to the rider. The one downside is that I can feel this exhaust more than previous ones. At idle there's an obvious vibration in the seat, but I didn't notice it while cruising. It doesn't drone badly at speed, and wind noise easily drowns it out on the highway unless you're doing top speed runs (shame on you!). The butt dyno didn't reveal anything, but it seems like the engine revs faster with this exhaust. There's not very much popping under decel, and a retune would take care of it completely.
 
Vendor Review:
 
Here's where I may lose a few of you. This was purchased from a vendor in Italy. But, hear me out. Currently, this exhaust can be shipped to you, from Italy, for around $560. I played the money exchange game and waited for the dollar to get pretty strong against the Euro (it was $1.05 when I pulled the trigger). You will see on their site that there is a VAT and non-VAT price, if you're in the US, you will pay the non-VAT price. Currently that is at 447.30€ (about $485). Shipping was an additional 60€ and there was a small fee for using paypal of 10€. After placing the order, I received a notification then a day or two later, I received a shipping notification. They ship through DHL so expect it to take a couple days for the tracking number to become active. The exhaust was in transit a total of 3.5 days which is pretty stellar for how cheap the shipping was. These people have their act together, even in the middle of the holiday season they were able to get the exhaust to me in just over a week. So do yourself a favor and skip on the revzilla preorder and save $250.
 
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  • Premium Member

Nice lookin' pipes there! It really does pay to shop around. When I think Ive found the best price I still keep looking.
 

Crush your enemies. See them driven before you. Hear the lamentations of their women.          Fuss Life.

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jeffkisthename

Nice ground clearance. This is a great exhaust for those who want that streamlined look like the Akra Ti. Nice.

SigSide.jpg

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Still not sold on the look. I bet I would like it better if it were all flat black (including the pipes)

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booboobusfz07
Nice ground clearance.
 
 
Eh.
Not so much.
I scrape my lv if I'm not carefull on speedbump in my complex. Definitely less clearance than stock if only by an inch or so. Never had an issue w my stock pipe
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jeffkisthename
Nice ground clearance.
Eh.
Not so much.
I scrape my lv if I'm not carefull on speedbump in my complex. Definitely less clearance than stock if only by an inch or so. Never had an issue w my stock pipe
Well that sucks.

SigSide.jpg

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booboobusfz07

It's pretty giant speed bump tho. Never scraped it outside my complex. Just a bummer cause I either have to go around through gravel, or slow down hella and put a foot on it to unload the suspension.
The minor hassle is worth the sexy rumble an shiny pipes my bike has now

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