Hey some of the best custom headers money can buy come from companies that don't need to suck up and kiss any ones ass and they don't need to spend a fortune to advertise either. Talking about your FMF slip on being loud, well really its just another type of resonator itself but a well placed resonator in the head pipe like we are referring to would likely quite it down some. The resonator's we are talking about do sort of trick the engine into thinking it has a longer head pipe giving it a wider power band but they must be of a size that is carefully tuned to reflect and cancel out sound waves of specific frequencies. It will smooth out the exhaust pulses and resonant drone and can allow the engine to extract more power with out any increase in fuel consumption. The "Helmholtz" resonator device has been around since the 1850s and can be used today for many things. An acoustic hollow bodied Guitar for instance is a type of Helmholtz resonator. Pop the hood of any modern or new vehicle. It will have intake resonance chambers to help reduce air intake noise that are of the Helmholtz design. This is much more common to see on the intake side of a production vehicle than the use on an Exhaust system. Look at the back of a new Camaro next time you see one. those big stupid looking boxes under the rear roll pan are exactly that resonant chambers to cancel out exhaust drone. My 2010 F550 V10 gas burner work truck has no less than 6 of them on the intake air inlet going from the airbox to the throttle body.
Hey, labor is labor....... material is material........cost is cost..........rent is rent.........profit is profit........getting screwed is getting screwed............. Why should any entity in the off road segment of the Bike market demand a higher percentage of profit by about 250% to 300% more than all the rest of the custom handmade fabrication industries?? Is it because Morons will pay that kind of money? Exhaust systems are something that could be competitively made "One off" by any number of competent fabricators whom possesses the proper skills and the proper equipment to do the job just as trick without all the stupid stickers that you are paying out the ass for. Plus that skilled local fabricator can probably repair it too for a fraction of the cost with a set of slip rolls and a few mandrel u-bends if and when it gets smashed while riding. People who dig the brand name stickers though will have to go out and buy another one because it couldn't even take a good hit, because it was made so cheap to begin with.
I have worked closely with several pipe manufacturers in the past on a few projects. The cost of Ti, the welding systems required, all the parts... it is not cheap to build. Everyone thinks manufacturing is simple and cheap, it is not. Design, R&D, liability insurance, overhead, materials, labor, finishing, packaging, shipping.... then profit. I don't think margins even at manufacturer levels are an higher on exhaust than anything else. Not sticking up for pipe manufacturers in fact it is the last thing I spend money on but facts are facts. Low volume, high tech materials, many model fitments is why they are expensive. Also you cant dirtbike and car parts. There is a huge economy of scale there. You can jig up and build thousands of car exhaust parts by robot. With bikes there are a lot of displacements and models to cover, all needed their own testing, jig, hand welding, and relatively few are made.
This shows your complete lack of knowledge about manufacturing parts.... ya labor is labor and material is material.... but when FMF goes to build an exhaust system do they build one? NO.... So its the cost of labor and materials spread over a "run" of a product..... For example most likely someone building a part for a car that was manufactured in the 10s of thousands is going to produce many more of a part and thus spread the labor over a higher number of parts plus since they can buy material in higher numbers that cost is much lower than a motorcycle that is built in a MUCH LOWER quantity.... Higher percentage of profit my ass.... I've been in the m/c industry for my whole life and no body is getting rich off this sport. NOBODY
I can't imagine there being any more 370z exhausts sold then crf450's. I can see what your saying about models though. Not only the amount of models but dirt bikes change designs quicker then cars which would mean different routing and everything that goes with it. Still don't understand how 2 stroke exhausts are that much cheaper though. They look like they would be more complicated to manufacture
Relax man, your posts have sucked so far. Simply adding to the discussion would get your point across. Check motosportz post as a reference
Sorry my posts arent up to the Land of Blowhards standards.... and I would hope you dont think I was talking about racers and Yes Malcolm has made some good money... Rossi type money? No.... Hes got money but not crazy money.... the margins just are not there.... and Malcolms was my first job....
So, you're saying, the many talented one off fabricators that were employed by the motorcycle factories of yesteryear weren't capable of making a fine tuned exhaust system. The GP bikes from every country and manufacturer that competed had one off systems back in the day. They certainly didn't build the old GP motocross bikes back in the 70's one at a time using name branded parts on all those bikes like they nearly do today, that just came off a production fixture in L.A. or where ever welded by some guy making $15.00 an hour. You should slap yourself and wake up because you are clearly dreaming. Bikes nowadays are based for the most part on Production models and have very few parts that you or I can't buy. I've been in the welding industry for 40+ years my friend and you are clearly delusional. I've owned my own shop for over 35+ years building everything from wholesale gym and institutional weight lifting equipment to full tube chassis drag cars for over 35+ years. Tube fabrication and bending being my specialty. I've worked in both production work and done custom race car and custom bike fabrication work for 35+ years and served full apprenticeships over the years in 5 different unions during that 40+ years in this trade. Like Steamfitters, Field and Shop Ironworkers, Boilermakers, Pipefitters and countless other production and manufacturing non union entities. I have also held my FAA A&P license for over 22 years.
So are you saying you can make a 4 stroke powerbomb style exhaust for $15 an hour? I dont own a 4 stroke but im sure many people will be very happy that your now offering this service with the amount of experiance youve gaind should be a quality component at competative prices.
Yep, sounds like they can be designed, tested, and manufactured for about 1/3rd of what FMF is charging. I'll buy a few.
$799-999 seems a tad high for the Pro Circuit system I want. Then again, whether you call an electrician, a plumber, an excavator, etc... It's $1,000 a day. I remember the last 4 into 1 Kerker I bought was probably $199-299 back in 82. Had to keep painting the header. 30 years later = inflation.
Big Timmy is right. A lot of the bike exhaust systems are ludicrously priced at what the market will bear.
