Posted by Stuart McCreary on June 08, 1999 at 06:48:53:
I got my Supertrapp today and anxiously took it home for installation. Hmmmm...I quickly found that I had the same problem that George did - the head pipe had a large diameter pipe on the end of about 4" in length, while the Supertrapp bulge to accomodate the larger diameter pipe was only 2-1/2" in length. The slip on stopped about an inch short of where it should be to attach the two screws in the muffler bracket.
What to do? Well...you get some courage and cut off about an inch and a half of the large diameter outer pipe on the stock head pipe. This will then allow the Supertrapp to slide all the way up to the head pipe flange and will allow the muffler bracket bolts to fit. You must be careful not to cut it off above the spot weld points because these welds keep the smaller diameter inner pipe from rattling around.
I started doing it with a hack saw and then realized that I couldn't cut it off very straight. I went to a local muffler shop and for a small tip, they cut it off clean for me. After that, the installation was a breeze. I tightened down the the clamp as much as I could without breaking it and I got a good seal.
I played around with the disks and ended up with 6 as the magic number. Wow, what a difference! I now have a very deep throbbing exhaust note and enough volume to hear what the engine is doing over the wind noise. I feel much safer knowing that car drivers in close proximity will surely hear me if they don't see me.
The performance gain is also impressive. The bike feels more responsive and pulls much harder in 2nd through 5th gear. I now find myself shifting earlier to 3rd and 4th. Fourth gear used to bog down a bit in moderate hills - not any more!
This is a great product, but Supertrapp really should fix the pipe fit problem. Nobody should have to cut down their head pipe to get a "slip on" to slip on. When I called Supertrapp, their chief tech guy was out and the tech asistant didn't have a clue. If they get this little problem solved, I would rate it a 9.5 out of 10.
Regards,
Stuart