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A couple weeks ago I did the homebrew V-mod, one on my wife's D and one on my DX.
Wife's was easy. Following directions here I took a 1 7/8" hole saw, cut around the outlet of the baffle, and pulled it out.
On the DX, I started with a plan that I knew probably wouldn't work based on others' experience but I tried anyway. I cut in between the mounting ring and the outlet pipe and tried to get it out through the mounting ring. Wasn't gonna happen without a LOT of grinding, so I took a 3 1/4" hole saw and cut outside the mounting ring. I re-installed the end caps and secured with a screw for each drilled into the side.
After two weeks of riding, my wife declared that they were too loud and she was not happy having to wear earplugs (she has a hearing aid, which was an extra pain to deal with). It wasn't so much that it was loud, but the droning effect at cruising speed really bothered her. I also found it annoying, although I didn't admit it, and I was having trouble sneaking the bike out of the neighborhood at 5am to go to work because it was just a touch too loud and penetrating at idle/low throttle compared to what my neighbors are used to. I needed to tone them down "just a touch".
I know that "loud" is subjective. There are plenty of threads here declaring the stock v-mod pipes as "too loud" and "not loud enough". I knew what I wanted, I just wasn't sure how to get there.
I decided to try an experiment that, frankly, I didn't think would work. I figured the easiest way to choke things down a touch was at the endcap, even though I didn't think it would have much of an effect on noise level that late in the system. Since it was the easiest place to attack, I decided to try it anyway. The old mounting holes in the DX endcap gave me a perfect place to experiment.
I ran off to the hardware store, picked up some large washers with various sized holes, some hex cap bolts, and some locking nuts....
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Some measuring, drilling, and bolting later, and I ended up with a pretty professional looking endcap....
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The end result was that it DID affect tone and noise. The mounting bolts allowed me to switch the outlet hole size, and the hardware store had washers with interior holes of 1", 1 1/8", 1 1/4", 1 1/2", 1 3/4" to choose what level of restriction was needed.
The picture is with a 1" hole. The result of 1" was a reduction in noise, especially at idle, and a slight increase in tone (not as deep). At cruise there was no droning. At WOT it barked just fine. My wife declared it "perfect".
1" was a touch too quiet for me, so I tried 1 1/8" and 1 1/4". I ended up going with 1 1/8", which was quiet enough at idle to nurse it out of the neighborhood and plenty loud during normal operation and WOT. I was surprised at the difference that 1/8" could make. It's perfect.
Wife's bike wasn't as easy because the D doesn't have encaps. If she had wanted 1 1/8" or bigger, the washer would be large enough to drill and bolt with the same hex cap bolts that I used on the DX, bolted in around the original cut. The 1" washer was slightly too small for that, so I mounted it with one bolt up high and sealed the rest with high temp epoxy "weld". I could have also taken it down and had it tack welded in place, but we'll see how this first experiment goes. I wanted the one bolt in there as a safety so she doesn't launch big disks-of-liability down the highway if they come loose.
Overall, a great success!
Wife's was easy. Following directions here I took a 1 7/8" hole saw, cut around the outlet of the baffle, and pulled it out.
On the DX, I started with a plan that I knew probably wouldn't work based on others' experience but I tried anyway. I cut in between the mounting ring and the outlet pipe and tried to get it out through the mounting ring. Wasn't gonna happen without a LOT of grinding, so I took a 3 1/4" hole saw and cut outside the mounting ring. I re-installed the end caps and secured with a screw for each drilled into the side.
After two weeks of riding, my wife declared that they were too loud and she was not happy having to wear earplugs (she has a hearing aid, which was an extra pain to deal with). It wasn't so much that it was loud, but the droning effect at cruising speed really bothered her. I also found it annoying, although I didn't admit it, and I was having trouble sneaking the bike out of the neighborhood at 5am to go to work because it was just a touch too loud and penetrating at idle/low throttle compared to what my neighbors are used to. I needed to tone them down "just a touch".
I know that "loud" is subjective. There are plenty of threads here declaring the stock v-mod pipes as "too loud" and "not loud enough". I knew what I wanted, I just wasn't sure how to get there.
I decided to try an experiment that, frankly, I didn't think would work. I figured the easiest way to choke things down a touch was at the endcap, even though I didn't think it would have much of an effect on noise level that late in the system. Since it was the easiest place to attack, I decided to try it anyway. The old mounting holes in the DX endcap gave me a perfect place to experiment.
I ran off to the hardware store, picked up some large washers with various sized holes, some hex cap bolts, and some locking nuts....
Some measuring, drilling, and bolting later, and I ended up with a pretty professional looking endcap....
The end result was that it DID affect tone and noise. The mounting bolts allowed me to switch the outlet hole size, and the hardware store had washers with interior holes of 1", 1 1/8", 1 1/4", 1 1/2", 1 3/4" to choose what level of restriction was needed.
The picture is with a 1" hole. The result of 1" was a reduction in noise, especially at idle, and a slight increase in tone (not as deep). At cruise there was no droning. At WOT it barked just fine. My wife declared it "perfect".
1" was a touch too quiet for me, so I tried 1 1/8" and 1 1/4". I ended up going with 1 1/8", which was quiet enough at idle to nurse it out of the neighborhood and plenty loud during normal operation and WOT. I was surprised at the difference that 1/8" could make. It's perfect.
Wife's bike wasn't as easy because the D doesn't have encaps. If she had wanted 1 1/8" or bigger, the washer would be large enough to drill and bolt with the same hex cap bolts that I used on the DX, bolted in around the original cut. The 1" washer was slightly too small for that, so I mounted it with one bolt up high and sealed the rest with high temp epoxy "weld". I could have also taken it down and had it tack welded in place, but we'll see how this first experiment goes. I wanted the one bolt in there as a safety so she doesn't launch big disks-of-liability down the highway if they come loose.
Overall, a great success!
