Aftermarket Motorcycle Exhaust – I will confess. I’m reluctant to mess with things. Especially the change of motorcycle or car. This is usually a hit or miss process. Unless you are technically savvy, don’t expect a trial and error process along the way.
I have had an Interceptor for 16 months now. I can’t stop praising how well Royal Enfield has done this motorcycle. I don’t think there is any motorcycle out there that can beat it for what it is. I’ve had a lot of people come up to me and say it’s a great machine. Some were shocked that it was a Royal Enfield. All they know about a Royal Enfield is the Bullet.
Aftermarket Motorcycle Exhaust
Over time and all the riding I’ve done, I feel like this motorcycle is like a Brother sewing machine. When you are out cruising or even when pottering around the city, there is no noise. To everyone. I wanted to try and copy some of the characters, and the noise can be seen in their marketing videos (I’ve mentioned this before). That is not possible with the stock exhaust. It had to go. The question is which one is which and will it be a pain to source and fix it. We all know that the Interceptor has been well received around the world. With this, the aftermarket parts you can get for this motorcycle are almost limitless. From simple cosmetic upgrades to technical ones. From Hitchcock motorcycles right up to our very own Trip Machine, there’s a lot you can do to spruce up an Interceptor and its Conti cousin.
Can I Use A Different Brand Muffler For My Exhaust With The Same Aftermarket Headers?
It’s been on my mind for months. How can I get a little more character (or life) out of this motorcycle? I don’t need more power. At New Zealand’s conservative legal speed limits, stock power output is heaps. I can only imagine upgrading the exhaust. I wanted something that would be easy on my ears, not too expensive and easy to fix. I’ve heard of a “two to one” single side pipe (or exhaust) arrangement on a Conti and it’s loud. All I need is some noise to hear under the hood.
A few months after I got the Interceptor, I saw another rider with a pea shooter style exhaust on his bike. Looks nice. However; I wanted to keep the same upswept design.
I popped into Motorrad who are the only Authorized dealers for Royal Enfield and some other makes. They have the S&S Cycle Stainless Steel muffler set for $1100! It sounds the part. There is no question about it. I didn’t want to spend that much. Then I stumbled upon a few people here who fitted an Aashu Engineering Works exhaust system. They are beautiful, well finished and the Tube videos suggest they sound great too. Honestly, none of those videos really do this exhaust sound justice. Somehow they failed to get the note right. I tried and my Sony Action camera failed to pick up audio such as the exhaust note. The microphone tends to mix in a lot of ambient noise, and wind and ultimately drowns out the exhaust note.
I have a TE102 fitted and have clocked close to 1000 km on it. All observations have Baffles or DB killer installed. I’ll tell you one thing, close your eyes and buy one. This is the type of exhaust that should have come with the Interceptor.
Motorcycle Exhaust Header Burning Blue Titanium Stock Photo 438642769
The first thing you’ll notice is the rise of a bass note from the exhaust. You hear/notice it from the start and at urban speeds. Less when sailing. Wind noise tends to drown out this bass when you’re on the highway. Over the stock exhaust, this adds a little more weight to the exhaust note from each cylinder firing. You don’t have to do a WOT stunt to hear it. It is heard even by others. I suspect these tubes might be annoyingly loud if you remove the baffles. This is a personal preference. So far, I like what I’m hearing through the baffles.
Start moving slowly (<50 km/h) and as you cut the throttle, you will hear a distinct phat-phat sound from the exhaust. Drop down the gears, blip the throttle to go from 4-3-2 and you hear an intake-exhaust noise that sounds like another parallel-twin British motorcycle. Although not exactly the same, there are similarities. Shift into 5th from 60 – 110kmph and the aural pleasure trip continues. You will hear the firing sequence of each cylinder, in Stereo. In a typical highway scenario, where you have a long gradual incline, leave it in 6th and let the engine run a bit and you'll hear the exhausts from every side. It is clear under your insulated lid. Keep the throttle open through a wide corner and you'll be rewarded with an exhaust note that reflects off the road surface. Words cannot describe it. It's amazing.
Throttle modulation is improved. Riding between 40 – 50 km/h in 4th is very easy. It’s very easy to ride in the City. You may ask, why bother with low speed? New Zealand Town and City limits have either a 30kmph or 50kmph limit. Depends on how tight the zone is. When you tour, you pass through several towns along the way. Small towns do not have bypass roads. You need to reduce the speed from cruising to 50 every now and then. I don’t believe this situation is too different when you travel on rural or urban roads in India. The Interceptor is a bit annoying at low speeds. The throttle is a bit snatchy and you have to keep releasing or sliding the clutch to control it.
In terms of design, the exhaust flows freely. Noise levels are controlled by a DB killer and ceramic fiber exhaust or muffler packing. The last information was obtained from FM tharian.
Motorcycles Exhaust Muffler Pipe Universal For 1 3/8
I reached out to Aashu Engineering Works last year for a quote. They came back and said they would prepare a payment invoice then I never heard back. I revived the conversation last month and got an immediate response and follow up on the quote. The TE102s are $555 shipped. Yes; more for the exhaust*. However; after i received and installed the exhaust i realized it was money well spent. TE102 graduation is first class. I chose the matt stainless steel finish. The welds are clean, the exhaust joint shield has an almost constant 0.5mm gap running around the partial diameter of the exhaust. It feels solid and doesn’t rattle when you tap it. Looking at the design, it looks like a straight copy of the exhaust from a Triumph Street Twin. It should be an easy guess where the “TE’ part of the model name comes from 🙂
After the order, the exhaust arrived within 12 days. Double boxed, wrapped in cling film and a little Styrofoam. A specification sheet and an Allen key (also in styrofoam) to remove the baffles. Installation couldn’t be easier. They got the inner flange (or galvanized packing in Aashu terms) in the right position. This is a thin metal inner sleeve (Think of it as a coke can your mechanic used to cut and fit for your old Enfield exhaust at the joint below the front footrest). In fact, the stock exhaust takes longer to clear.
You will need some 12mm spanners as the nut and hex bolt on the rear footrest mount point are the same size. You will also need a 10mm spanner to loosen/tighten the exhaust pipe bend. It’s easier if you have a socket set. You have to remove the joint shield before you can remove the exhaust. The joint shield has its own bolt and is further secured by two notches that slide into the bend pipe and exhaust side. It may cause some resistance when you try to remove it. After you remove the joint shield, you can access the bolt that secures the exhaust to the bend pipe. Once you pull off the stock exhaust, the first thing you’ll notice is the weight. I weighed them and they weighed about 10 kilos on the scale! In comparison, the TE102’s are 5.2 kilos.
The TE102s should come in easily. I put a few drops of 3 in 1 oil to make it easier. My only struggle is for proper exhaust. The slot for the joint shield for the stock exhaust protrudes a bit. The non-removable joint shields in the AEW hit against it when I tried to put them on. This is a non-issue for the left exhaust. I had to hammer the slot a bit to flatten it out a bit and not crush the AEW joint shield in it. Other than that, it’s a job that can be done in <1 hour.
Aftermarket Motorcycle Exhaust
There are some minor design improvements over the previous TE101. Baffle screws are