PROJECT RUNT
Scott Redmond quieten downs his Suzuki GSX-R1000 K1.
Seems like our Scottie doesn’t like saying it loud and proud.
Loud exhausts save lives? It’s a debate that’s older than this 15-year-old GSX-R1000K1, but loud pipes also give me a headache. Initially in the medical sense but more so in finding a remedy to cure this unwanted blight that’s afflicting my motorcycling enjoyment. When I purchased the bike it was fitted with a stumpy aftermarket silencer. I’ve no idea what its origins were, but it had been cut and shut to create a minimalistic way of silencing the heartbeats emitted by the GSX-R engine. It was very loud and also looked wrong in my opinion. The K1 needed a different silencer for both looks and noise reduction, and while at the Newark Show in January, I found what could have been my answer, an alloy oval Vance & Hines silencer. It was in pretty decent shape, no obvious signs of damage and the seller even had a mounting strap to sling in on the transaction. After some friendly haggling, I was £60 lighter but had a silencer that I couldn’t wait to fit. On it went. It took less than five minutes to swap the silencers over: there’s only four 12mm nuts to deal with and another one for the mounting strap. I had promised myself that I would get the alloy shining again, but my tube of Solvol had gone AWOL. The Vance & Hines silencer immediately made the Runt look better but my happiness was brief. Starting up the bike revealed that the ‘new’ can was even louder than the stumpy one. One step forward and one bigger one back. I decided to leave it on but knew that I’d have to carry on my quest to find another silencer. The Runt is my everyday ride, so after a few days of the Vance & Hines noise box I had pretty much had enough. The fact that I can’t use earplugs when I ride added to my initial headache. The GSX-R1000 K1 four bolt can fitment is shared by plenty of other Suzuki models from the turn of the millennium. The GSX-R750Y and GSX-R600K models could offer me an answer, but searching ebay with these various options quickly became very boring, I even considered
fitting an original silencer, but the only ones on offer all carried road rash. Paying for damaged goods isn’t something that I make a habit of doing, so that option was crossed off my list. In my garage I had a GSX-R600K5 anniversary silencer. I bought it ages ago because it was cheap and rare. It carries the four bolt fixing pattern but when I fitted it, the foot peg mounting hole was about an inch out, so that wasn’t my way out. Then my prayers were answered. A Yoshimura RS3 alloy can appeared one morning on a GSX-R selling page on Facebook. The guy wanted £100 plus £10 to post it. Unlike the real world of an autojumble, haggling virtually is tricky, at best you manage to save a few quid, at worst you upset the seller. The written word carries no emotion but with no phone number supplied, I simply inboxed him to say I’ll have it! He responded and informed me that he’d bought it new for his GSX-R after being kicked off a track day for having a silencer that was too loud. Maybe he too had gone down the Vance & Hines route I thought? Two days later the postman delivered the precious goods; I will never tire of getting bike parts through the post! Before I could scoff my porridge, I was out in the garage and I had the Yoshimura can fitted. It came with the proper Yoshimura exhaust band too. It looked okay but what would it sound like? It was quieter than the others, but still a bit too shouty for my liking. If my bike was just for weekend blasts I could have lived with it, but for everyday riding it was getting on my nerves within a few days. All of these silencer swaps had made me aware that the link pipe to the downpipes gasket needed replacing, I ordered one (£12!) and fitted it upon its arrival. Despite the old one having mostly disintegrated, I already knew my new one wouldn’t cure any noise issues. I’d covered the outlet on the silencer before fitting the new gasket and although it should’ve blown gases it didn’t. I was baffled and exhausted by my silencer woes, so I did something that I try my best to avoid doing and looked at buying a new aftermarket silencer. Years ago I had a Blackbird that had some MTC silencers fitted. What I liked about them was the removable baffles. Many companies use this cheeky answer to creating a silencer to suit everyone’s needs. I tracked down Martin Leigh, the chap who makes and owns Max Torque Cans, and hit him with my needs. Martin talked me through the variety of cans that he makes, everything from carbon fibre to titanium and stainless versions: they also come in a variety of shapes and sizes, and even informed me that he manufactures link pipes too. Even better that the GSX-R1000K1 slip-on link pipe clamps up with no need for a gasket! I placed my order at midday and by 9am I had a DPD driver banging on my door. I went for the round stainless can as I’m not a massive fan of carbon cans. Yet again my brekkie was put on the back burner and out to the garage I trotted. I unbolted the Yoshimura can and with just the foot peg bolt removed it fell away in my hands. Another gasket had chewed itself into a pulp, why was that? I am not too sure but with the Max Torque Can link pipe slid over the downpipes, I wasted no more thought on the gasket issue. The shiny stainless silencer simply clamps on to the other end of the link pipe and a few twists of the bolt secured it solid. It arrived with the baffle in place. I must be one of a few people who didn’t whip it out to release the bark of the exhaust. At last, my Runt no longer sounds like the paddock at Santa Pod. The silencer cost me £160 and came with free delivery and a free T-shirt! I’m now more than happy to be seen on my GSX-R and not heard. So, my search for (relative) silence has cost me £60 for the V&H pipe, £110 for the Yoshi, £12 for a gasket and £160 for the MTC end can – but what price peace and quiet eh? Thanks to: Maxtorquecans.com 01704 893337