What an undertaking – If I see another muffler or dyno sometime in the next 3 months that will be too soon. After a day spent changing mufflers and running a CBR 929 Fireblade up on the dyno we present here our results.
The 929 Fireblade in question had 6,500 kilometres on the clock and was overdue for a service etc. This was done on purpose so as to give a more realistic representation in the results. The chain was not freshly lubed and was not lubed during the test to also ensure the exact same conditions for each run. This seems harsh but I honestly did not believe it was in the best interests of this test to have a perfectly fettled bike on the dyno. From experience I know that brand new spark plugs always give an increase in power at every stage of the rev range but lose that noticeable edge in a matter of minutes. This is one of the reasons that brought me to the decision to leave the bike completely alone before undertaking this test.
Two runs were done through each muffler, with the runs starting from nearly identical engine temperatures in each case. The bike was held at a steady 4,000rpm before whacking the throttle open and keeping it there until the rev-limiter. We have only printed results from 5,000rpm up, if you are worried about power below 5,000 rpm then forget about it and go buy a postie bike. The Fireblade will now receive some TLC and a full service.
All quoted power and torque figures are corrected to SAE standard which takes into account any slight differences between barometric pressure and temperatures to equalise the results to a standard set of conditions. Even though all these runs were done in one day the temperatures did change slightly during the day which makes it imperative that we only use SAE corrected figures here. SAE figures are nearly always lower than actual measured figures but it is our opinion that SAE figures are the way to go in such a comparison.
A HUGE thanks to all those companies that were brave enough to send us a muffler for this test. Some will maybe not like the results but I can assure them that if there is a fairer way to comparatively gauge performance between these products we would like to know it.
The performance differentials are so minimal that we have decided to tabulate the exact numerical results here rather than use conventional dyno charts which in this case would have basically been absolutely useless.
NB: The ‘Staintune (R)’ represents the runs that were done with the supplied Staintune restrictor in place to reduce noise. The ‘Staintune’ results represent the same muffler with the restrictor removed. Yoshimura supplied both a normal muffler and also a half system that replaces the standard pipe all the way down to the HTEV valve. This test goes to show that the Yoshi pipes really need a Power Commander and/or other modifications in order to work best. These results really show just how close these pipes are in terms of performance. Different bikes may of course produce different results.
In the following pages you will also find images of each muffler and also sound files which even let you hear what the pipes sound like!
Power
| Brand – rpm | 5000 | 5500 | 6000 | 6500 | 7000 | 7500 | 8000 | 8500 | 9000 | 9500 | 10000 | 10500 | 11000 | 11500 |
| Std | 54.2 | 63.1 | 69.9 | 76.5 | 83.1 | 91.3 | 99.4 | 104.5 | 110.7 | 116 | 119.4 | 121.6 | 122.6 | 120.2 |
| Ballistic | 55.5 | 62.2 | 68.5 | 77.2 | 82.3 | 90.6 | 98.4 | 103.6 | 110.3 | 116.1 | 119.8 | 122 | 123.3 | 122.6 |
| Roo | 55.4 | 62.1 | 68.5 | 77.3 | 83.6 | 91.6 | 98.6 | 103.7 | 110.7 | 116.2 | 119.9 | 122.6 | 124 | 123.6 |
| Megacycle | 52.6 | 60.1 | 66.8 | 75.4 | 82.2 | 90.5 | 97.4 | 102.9 | 109.3 | 112.6 | 117.1 | 120 | 122.3 | 122.7 |
| Staintune (R) | 53.9 | 60.3 | 65.9 | 74.9 | 82.2 | 90 | 96 | 101.5 | 108.3 | 113.9 | 117.6 | 120 | 120.8 | 119.3 |
| Staintune | 54.5 | 62.5 | 69 | 77 | 82.5 | 91.6 | 98.7 | 103.9 | 110.7 | 116.5 | 119.8 | 122.2 | 123.7 | 122.7 |
| Pipemasters | 55.3 | 62 | 68.9 | 76.7 | 82.6 | 91.3 | 99.2 | 104.1 | 110.6 | 116.4 | 120.2 | 122.5 | 124.1 | 122.4 |
| Yoshimura + | 52.3 | 61 | 68.7 | 76.4 | 82.2 | 90.7 | 97.1 | 102.2 | 109.4 | 114.7 | 118.6 | 120.9 | 122.5 | 121.3 |
| Yoshimura | 54.8 | 60.7 | 67.5 | 76.2 | 82.4 | 90.5 | 97.7 | 102.9 | 109.4 | 115.6 | 118.7 | 120.5 | 122.2 | 121.1 |
| Micron | 54.9 | 62.6 | 68.7 | 77.4 | 83 | 91.3 | 98 | 103.8 | 110.7 | 116.2 | 119.5 | 121.9 | 123.4 | 122.6 |
| Madaz | 55.1 | 61.9 | 68.5 | 75.9 | 82.6 | 90.9 | 97.2 | 102.7 | 109.2 | 115.3 | 118.7 | 121 | 122.6 | 122 |
| Remus | 55.7 | 61.3 | 68.2 | 77 | 82.7 | 91.4 | 98.9 | 103.4 | 110.4 | 116.5 | 119.5 | 122.1 | 123 | 122 |
| The muffler from Pipemasters marginally delivered the highest peak number of 124.1. But for a better representation of overall performance we added up all the power scores to achieve a total score. We think this is the fairest way to judge overall performance from 5,000rpm right through to the rev-limiter. Using this formula we have ranked the mufflers from 1st to last in the opposing column. We believe this is the best representation of the overall power delivery. |
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Torque
| Brand – rpm | 5000 | 5500 | 6000 | 6500 | 7000 | 7500 | 8000 | 8500 | 9000 | 9500 | 10000 | 10500 | 11000 | 11500 |
| Std | 77.2 | 81.6 | 82.9 | 83.9 | 84.5 | 86.7 | 88.5 | 87.5 | 87.5 | 86.9 | 85 | 82.5 | 79.4 | 74.5 |
| Ballistic | 79.1 | 80.5 | 81.3 | 84.5 | 83.8 | 86 | 87.6 | 86.8 | 87.2 | 87 | 85.3 | 82.7 | 79.8 | 75.9 |
| Roo | 79 | 80.4 | 81.3 | 84.6 | 85.1 | 87 | 87.8 | 86.9 | 87.6 | 87.1 | 85.4 | 83.1 | 80.3 | 76.5 |
| Megacycle | 75 | 77.8 | 79.3 | 82.6 | 83.6 | 85.9 | 86.7 | 86.2 | 86.5 | 86.3 | 84.4 | 82.2 | 79.6 | 75.5 |
| Staintune (R) | 76.8 | 78.1 | 78.2 | 82 | 83.6 | 85.4 | 85.4 | 85 | 85.7 | 85.4 | 83.7 | 81.4 | 78.2 | 73.9 |
| Staintune | 77.6 | 80.9 | 81.9 | 84.4 | 83.9 | 86.9 | 87.8 | 87 | 87.6 | 87.3 | 85.3 | 82.9 | 80.1 | 76 |
| Pipemasters | 78.7 | 80.2 | 81.8 | 84 | 84.1 | 86.7 | 88.3 | 87.2 | 87.5 | 87.3 | 85.6 | 83.1 | 80.3 | 75.8 |
| Yoshimura + | 74.5 | 79 | 81.6 | 83.7 | 83.6 | 86.1 | 86.4 | 85.6 | 86.6 | 86 | 84.4 | 82 | 79.3 | 75.1 |
| Yoshimura | 78 | 78.5 | 80.1 | 83.5 | 83.8 | 85.9 | 87 | 86.2 | 86.5 | 86.7 | 84.5 | 81.7 | 79.1 | 75 |
| Micron | 78.2 | 81.1 | 81.5 | 84.8 | 84.5 | 86.6 | 87.2 | 87 | 87.6 | 87.1 | 85.1 | 82.7 | 79.9 | 75.9 |
| Madaz | 78.5 | 80.2 | 81.3 | 83.2 | 84 | 86.3 | 86.6 | 86 | 86.4 | 86.4 | 84.5 | 82.1 | 79.3 | 75.5 |
| Remus | 79.3 | 79.3 | 80.9 | 84.3 | 84.2 | 86.8 | 88 | 86.7 | 87.3 | 87.3 | 85.1 | 82.8 | 79.6 | 75.6 |
| The standard muffler delivered the highest peak torque number of 88.5nm. But for a better representation of overall performance we added up all the torque scores to achieve a total score. Using this formula we have ranked the mufflers from 1st to last in the opposing column. We believe this is the best representation of the overall torque delivery. |
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