I mentioned in my last article that something had to be done about the huge canon that was hanging off the side of the new track hack. I did some research and went ahead and ordered a Danmoto carbon gp exhaust along with a db insert.
If you don’t know much about Danmoto, they are a budget, online exhaust company from Asia. They are known to offer pretty reasonable quality at a dirt cheap price. Since I’m trying to keep costs down on the CBR, it sounded like a match made in heaven. My exhaust was $180 delivered including the db insert, that’s bloody cheap for a new exhaust that includes a link pipe.
The package was pretty basic and nothing was damaged. The silencer was absolutely covered in bubble wrap which was good.
First impressions were positive. The welding appears to be of good quality and its light without being flimsy. The only thing that is definitely cheap is the exhaust strap.
Ok, time to remove the old exhaust. Just looking at it offends me, thank goodness it was easy to remove. It only has 3 bolts so it was a piece of piss. It was a simple matter of taking the top bolt off, loosening the 2 bolts connecting it to the header pipes and giving it a wiggle.
Picking it up, the stocko weighs A LOT more than the new Danmoto set up. I’m trying to save weight where ever I can and this is by far one of the cheapest ways of going about it.
The header pipe connection was absolutely filthy so I gave that a clean up with some de-greaser and steel wool followed by some lanolin. It revealed some pitting on the steel, but nothing that will affect how it runs.
So, now that’s done, time to install the exhaust.
Installing the Danmoto was pretty easy. It was a simple matter of following the procedure as earlier. The only thing that was a slight pain was getting the nut onto the top bolt. I had to push quite hard to get enough thread through the hole so I could get the nut on. After that it was a simple case of tightening it up.
There are a couple of faults though. Firstly, the link pipe doesn’t fit onto the header as snug as I would like. This results in some air escaping, even when tightened to buggery. I will have to get some exhaust goo to help combat this. Also, my fears with the slight gaps in the carbon wrap were confirmed, air escapes in one small part. Unfortunately there isn’t much I can do about this, but when the whole kit is $180, you can’t complain too much.
Overall, I’m pretty happy with the exhaust. It looks and sounds significantly better, plus it has saved a lot of weight. Its no Akrapovic and I wouldn’t put one on my Aprilia, but its absolutely perfect for a cheap track bike.
There is still a fair bit of work to do on the CBR till it can hit the track. Turns out the battery is stuffed and doesn’t hold any charge. Maybe I can stretch for a lithium battery. On top of this I’m going to need new bar ends, rear pick up spools and fairing. The bar ends and spools are cheap as on ebay. The fairing is going to be the main cost. This will vary significantly depending on whether I go new or second hand. No doubt there will be other little things along the way too.
I just want to complete it, but damn life and adult responsibilities keep getting in the way! I just want to be a man child who has no bills and can just spend all his money on motorbikes and computer games. I don’t think Mrs OnTheBackWheel would approve though. Correction, she definitely would not approve!
From now on, I’m also going to do a running cost to let people know how much setting up a track bike costs on a budget. Here are my costs so far:
Bike – $700
New Danmoto exhaust – $180
Second hand throttle cables – $40 off Ebay
Total – $920
Righto, that’s it for now everyone. I’ll keep you updated regularly. Keep it OnTheBackWheel! *braaapppp*
OnTheBackWheel.com 