Black Is Beautiful - Mark II

[sansnombre]

The first post on this topic was with a Yoshimura pipe - I obviously painted it black and liked how it looked with the paint job. But . . . I never really liked the pipe. It was too loud for my taste, actually it was just freek'n loud PERIOD. And looking at the dyno charts and reading posts here and there, got me to believe that it wasn't doing much for power gains either, so I decided to go with an Arrow. Dyno runs showed solid midrange boost, which is what I was looking for, and I got a good deal on it (direct from the factory via EBay), so I pulled the trigger.
It looked great in the brushed stainless, but with this bike, black exhaust just keeps the aesthetic flow going, so back to the paint shop for header paint. But I didn't think the muffler section would look so hot in flat black, so I let that simmer for a while before deciding to try crinkle paint that is used for valve covers. I thought the color offset from the pipes would be good, as well as the addition of a texture.
Honestly, this whole project was a PITA and if I had to do it again, I would not have. The Arrow comes in 5 different sections that have to be painted individually and put together without touching your skin (your skin oils mess up the flat black once they get heated up) and without scratching or damaging the paint. And, while the Arrow is manufactured very well (the welds are lovely), there were some questions about how to go about installing it, as every component can twist and you can rotate the entire unit by 25 degrees or so under the bike, so where exactly is it supposed to seat?
AND . . . the two exhaust pipes that attach to the engine are ever so slightly different, but there is no mention of this in the literature nor on the website. So I'm handling these things in butyl gloves and get them on and am wondering: this way or the other way - of course after thinking: "Damn, they look a little different. No . . . yeah . . . shet." Both setups will work because of the available rotation mentioned above. So you have to sort this and figure it out while handling the parts in gloves and being extra careful that nothing gets scratched or falls over or gets touched or whatever. Again, a PITA.
I eventually contact the factory (and they got right back to me, even though they are in Italy) for info and they sent a pdf of instructions and comment that, yes, they are different exhaust pipes, but they don't say how to differentiate them or which is left or right. So, you're on your own there.
I was concerned about the crinkle paint looking a little [em]too crinkly[/em] but once it got it on and the Arrow badge and the steel pieces on either end pop-riveted back on (MAJOR PITA to drill the rivets out!), I gotta say it looks pretty nice. Real nice. Kinda gives the impression of carbon fiber, but I wasn't going for that look.
So there you go. Black exhaust again on an Arrow this time, and it looks great. I'm old school ("Kerker KR" anyone?) and enjoy the long pipe, but there are many who like the shorty.
The sound is just what I was looking for - deep, resonant and just the right bit of loud without being raspy like the Yoshimura. I have the DB killer out and it is not too loud. Damn well feeling like Goldilocks here - it's just right.
Also running an EJK but haven't put any miles on the new pipe yet to comment on performance, but I'll let you know on a future post.
Cheers.

[Simbadc650]

A thread to follow

[twotone]

That looks great
Stylish n classy with the crinkle and length, hope it's not too hard to clean:-)
 

[rowdy]

That's one big ass can!  The black looks good though.
 

[phicurious86]

Looks sweet! Love how the can turned out.
 

[grahamfz07]

Looks great!

[Beemer]

The pipe is equal to your writing skills. Looks good!

[sorkyah]

Love the look of it in black
my only issue is with the mount
why have it mount at the passenger peg?