Most of the time I am happy enough with the sound of my stock Bandit exhaust, but I have realised that this is because most of the time I am not riding in the company of other bikes. A lot of those times when I am riding within earshot of other bikes the marvellous growls and roars of the other bike’s pipes make me aware of just how much my stock Bandit exhaust whines quietly like an electric motor compared to them.
Then came the inevitable repair of the Bandits rusted exhaust joint and I got to hear the Bandit without any end can.
And while that’s too much noise for my taste, it does bring a certain juvenile grin to my face, so I got to thinking that a little bit towards that sound would be good.
So I started looking about for options, and while there are quite a few off the shelf options to replace the end can there seems to be just as much posted about performance problems after fitting each of them and I really hate the idea of spending €150+ on a can only to find it upsets my engine performance and of coarse all of them meant I was spending money to make an existing part of the bike obsolete. Also I couldn’t find an example of a can that just added a little bit of a low down note to the sound but there are plenty of examples of raucous race pipe noises around.
In fairness I was looking for something not really prized in the exhaust mod industry, something a little bit subtle.
But then I was pointed at an interesting idea in the contents of a forum thread where the poster claimed to have cut a bit out of the end can (same can as mine) with alleged good results and only a small change to the tone/noise. The poster had included a couple of pictures of the inside of the box as well which gave me a head start with what to expect. A buddy also reminded me he had a stock exhaust off a 2005 Bandit 650 left idle if I wanted to have a fall back while I’m trying this mod out or indeed a replacement if it all went horribly wrong. This option however had to be checked out first as the Bandit 650 stock end can is, on the outside at least, a significantly different and much larger can and I didn’t know if it would fit or if it would suit the engine performance wise.
So this is the first stage of the exhaust mod project, namely where I try fitting a 2005 Bandit 650 stock end can onto a 1995 Bandit 600 to make sure it will work ok and I have also recorded the sound at each stage in this project so that you can hopefully hear the differences .
If you compare both exhausts side by side then they look less likely to be direct replacements for each other as the Bandit 650 can is absolutely huge compared to the 600 can. But as it turns out the important dimensions (ignoring looks) are exactly the same so that the only real challenge I had was getting the joint seal off of the pipe with minimal damage. But before I removed the original can I ran the Bandit engine and recorded it for comparison with both the 650 exhaust and hopefully with a modified end can later.
Bandit 600 stock end can fitted
I then changed it out for the Bandit 650 end can and recorded it’s sound
Bandit 600 with 650 end can fitted
There is a very subtle difference in the sound which is almost undetectable while in the shed but when I took the bike out for a spin to check whether it had any adverse effects on the engine I could hear a slightly lower down hollowness to the sound. Different as it was I would still put it’s tune at about the same grin factor rating as my original pipe. But more importantly on that spin I couldn’t detect any difference in power delivery from the engine. So it would seem I had my fall back can, and this one was definitely the fall back can. I mean look at the size of the thing. Even if I cut a lump out of it it was still going to be bigger than my original can. The weight difference is significant too I discovered, my original weighed in at 5.2Kg before modding and the stock 650 can weighs 6.2Kg.
stock 600 can
stock 650 can
So the next stage will be the modification of the original 1995 Bandit 600n end can, which I will of coarse post about whether it works or not as soon as I can.
BTW I also recorded the engine running with no end can for the sake of it and because I could. 🙂
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Gotta say bud………..no end can = better sound than stock end can imho :). Can’t wait to hear the modified version.
I’ve just listened to the no end can track on headphones for the first time. I actually flinched at the first blip LOL 🙂 .
It does bring a certain big old juvenile grin to my face, but as I say above, it’s a decibel or two too far for my riding taste. But your comment has brought to my attention that I didn’t actually test the performance of the Bandit with no end can on. So I might do that too just to see how much of a viable option for someone that might be. I would of coarse do this purely in the interests of testing as many options as possible and any grinage derived from it’s sound or it’s effect on other road users would be purely coincidental.