Performance - diy pipes vs pro's

[Paul Bryant]

@Paul Bryant
I reckoned you might appreciate this.
Many folks do not understand the work that goes into original design and fit work.
Then one must consider that these products are not mass produced and they have a limited demand.
IMHO - the custom headers produced by yourself & CES are quality, state of the art, products that are made for function, fit AND looks!

Quite right Bull, I spent two years developing my Rocket headers (not full time, every day) But for example the Oval to round transition piece at the head has over 500 hours development time in it.
Firstly I had to come up with a design that would work, then I had to make the tooling to produce and machine it.
THEN, I had to make that tooling work. As always a great idea doesn't always progress straight into a workable solution.

Some of the earlier versions

A small number that did not work. 6 Meters of tube went into the initial development, each piece is only about 32mm long, that's about 187 piece's that went into the scrap.

Then there was the development of the tubes, the collector (250 hours) tail pipe etc etc.

Not only all of the above, but it all had to add up to be financially viable, because if it wasn't going to work from a Business perspective, it wasn't going to happen.

 

[Danvitt]

I’ll try and answer questions as you asked them:

The something you don’t know about what makes them so expensive is R&D. Carpenter pipes make the most power, period point blank. They will make more than CES, Rebamd, etc. They are a no compromises max power pipe, loud, hot, pricey. If you want ALL the power the R3 has to offer, get the Carp pipe. NOTE: I am not saying it’s the best pipe, but it does make the most WHP.

Many have made their own, haven’t yet seen a dyno of a set though. Any three tubes will get the job done, but there is at least a 50WHP range of power derived from just the header, get it wrong and you get 11X hp get it right and you can touch 170WHP.

Yes, a massive performance difference, but not just power. Longevity, rust resistance, clearance between your leg and the pipe, and weight. While I too balked at the price of R3 headers, you absolutely get what you pay for, with probably the only exception being Paul, who has a great price for some great craftsmanship (probably the best built set available).

You do you, for $500 and some time researching primary length, stepped vs non stepped, collector type, secondary length, muffler type and length you may end up with a great set of pipes....or a dud. That’s what you get for ~1500, insurance your headers are both functional and beautiful.

All good points, I'm quite sure its more work than it looks and I can just see myself cussing up a storm on a hot summer day knowing I could be RIDING instead of trying to force my will on some stupid pipes. Especially after waiting all winter to ride. I don't know what i was thinking. I'm good now

 

[canecorso]

Here's a question my Jardine exhaust is all scratched up and dull because my wife melted her boots all over my pipes and tried to get it off scratched them and made the top dul.
So I was thinking of re chroming them or ceramic them.
Or I was at motorcycle show and seem some nice Rinehart exhaust what would it sound like if I took off my Jardine exhaust and fitted Riinehart exhaust on? Kept my headers just Change exhaust,Would it sound better?
would it give more performance?
Or any other exhaust fittings I could put on Harley has a few as well that looks cool would it make a difference in sound and performance?
Or am I just better off re finishing my Jardine exhaust?

 

[RacerX74]

You know, I was thinking after I posted that photo, .... if I had have had a naked Woman in the back ground when looking through that tube, sure she would be out of focus (as the back ground is) but no one would have noticed that seam

You could always take the photo again and re-post with the naked lovely in the back ground Paul