New pipe?
- Thread starter Blaise22
- Start date
All pipe manufactures claim to be the best. FMF has a bulge gimmick in the mid pipe section, Pro Circuit has great riders and lots of advertising dollars, most pipes are copies of each other with their respective companies muffler section.
I don't have a Yamaha or a Doctor "D" pipe on my ride but I have friends with Yamaha Thumpers and they were very happy with their ride. Doug, (Dr. D) was a former factory Yamaha star and test rider that started making his own pipes for Yamaha's and that's why I think that his pipes are about as good as you will find for a Yamaha. If you get the stainless steel version the price is very reasonable.
Good luck with what every you get, most are better than stock...
I don't have a Yamaha or a Doctor "D" pipe on my ride but I have friends with Yamaha Thumpers and they were very happy with their ride. Doug, (Dr. D) was a former factory Yamaha star and test rider that started making his own pipes for Yamaha's and that's why I think that his pipes are about as good as you will find for a Yamaha. If you get the stainless steel version the price is very reasonable.
Good luck with what every you get, most are better than stock...
fastrider11
Member
- Sep 2, 2007
- 34
- 0
Yea i think i would go with a Pro Circuit T-4 but if not then i would go with the Wb pipe.
2 strokes for life
Member
- Jan 3, 2007
- 1,860
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After you can afford it the Mega bomb header makes great low end power and lowers the DB out put.
The only pipe currently on the market that will provide a really noticeable increase in the low to mid range is the Thunder Alley megaphone design. It's a true 8 degree meg with a proper 32 degree reverse cone. The Dubach pipe is a good design and it is really well made but it's still just a variation on a straight pipe design with a standard absorption style muffler. The Thunder Alley meg is a pipe that has to be hand built so the big volume California shops won't deal with this type of design.
BigRedAF said:
Bob Murray at Thunder Alley runs a small shop building each pipe by hand, so he doesn't have the money or the juice to get a magazine test. I don't think you'll find the guys making $800 pipes that don't do much of anything comparing themselves to a $250 pipe like the TA that actually works. I think it might be bad for business. ;)
From my own testing the basic 8/32 meg design is the right one for the type of power we are talking about. All the pipes I've made myself over the years have been of similar design, so it was nice to be able to buy one that was already available and incredibly well made.
I don't have any BS dynojet charts to show you. I just did seat of the pants testing on the track with a few riders on my CRF450 and some basic data acquisition studies on the street with timing beacons in Supermoto trim to confirm the seat observations were real.
It's a good design, it works, it's well made, it fits better than the OEM Honda part and it's priced for racers not high profits. Is it the best pipe? Beats me, but I've yet to find or build one that did a better job of filling in the torque curve below the peak torque rpm. This holds true for the CRF and my YZ444F Supermoto. I built a couple of pipes for this bike and even tested with a high dollar Italian Arrow stepped system. The Thunder Alley pipe I borrowed for the YZF felt every bit as strong as the Arrow from an on bike perspective, but the Arrow pipe was much quieter so it got the nod for street riding.
The downsides :
- the TA meg portion is mild steel so it has to be maintained or ceramic coated. Mine is non-coated, but gets the scotchbrite and WD40 treatment now and then. The muffler is aluminum so it's no trouble.
- the very nature of how a meg performs it's wave tuning magic makes this pipe very loud. Bob has some quiet inserts but I've never tested them. It is probably too loud for areas that are noise sensitive, but that holds true for most of the pipes I've seen that make any power. The few quiet pipes like the FMF Q just kill the response of the engine. Single absorption style mufflers are not likely to be the long term answer for making good power and keeping quiet.
I am still running the same TA pipe on my CRF450 Supermoto bike that I bought 5 years ago, and it still looks good, and performs like a champ.
On top of it all Bob Murray is one of the genuine nice guys in the motorcycle business who really goes the mile for his customers.
Here's a little review I wrote on the pipe when I first started testing them on my CRF450.
http://www.dirtrider.net/forums3/showthread.php?t=53760&highlight=thunder+alley
I hope this helps.
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I tested just the slip-on version on both the CRF & YZF. Give Bob a call and tell him what you are looking for. He'll help you make the right call.
RYDMOTO
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- Feb 16, 2001
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I second the Thunder Alley.I have one on my 04 crf450 and LOVE it! I can venture to say it will improve your cornering with the throttle response it will give you.AND I get compliments on how the pipe sounds...it has a distinctive sound of it own.I bought it after reading Richs' review.
RYDMOTO
~SPONSOR~
- Feb 16, 2001
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I bought just the slip on.I am not sure if the header pipe would add anything or not.Rich might know or or I am sure if you ask Bob he will be truthful.Just so you know it might take a while to receive your order as they are made by hand but well worth the wait.