It will be in mid July before I get to yours, you're #9 on the list for when I return. The parts will be here next week though, along with all the others. I don't have room in my garage for turning around now, and it's not all here yet.
Had the pleasure to finally meet up with Dean yesterday and check out his operation, so for what it's worth I thought I'd offer some observations and opinions.
Although he is running a very modest operation, his products are most definitely 1st class. His attention to detail, quality of workmanship and the quality of materials used to build his products seem to be about as good as it gets.
The design of and fitment of his pipes are equally impressive too.
After we talked for a while he fired up his Helicon with the RT4 mounted up under it for a quick listen. WOW! At first I was kinda in disbelief at what I was hearing because I had no idea that it was going to sound so different and so good. Keep in mind that I'm just an average street rider and don't spend much time at the track so it was huge surprise to me. With the tune he is running it has a flawless deep thunder tone that you can feel even at idle.
I think the mapping is still being developed for it so the full potential power gains aren't known yet but his previous versions are making impressive gains in HP and TQ so surly this one won't disappoint.
I really wish that I was going to the homecoming track day to hear it out in the wild amongst the others. Maybe someone else can report on that next week.
Just weighed one of the RT-3 systems I finished today, I don't think I had ever actually done that. 8 1/2 pounds. So, if the stock can weighs 20.5 or 21 lbs with all the nuts and bolts, it's 12+ lbs lighter than stock.
Just for reference, the RT-4 weighs in at 12.75 lbs.
Got 2 more done today, starting on 2 more tomorrow morning first thing after a trip to UPS to ship these out. I may take an extra day of vacation to get another one done so I have less to do later.
Was at Erik Buell Racing yesterday with all the other buellers, but I got to hang out in back for a short while also. They had the test mule fitted up with a drummer pipe, so we got to see the actual tuning process. It takes a lot of work to squeek out more power from these, but we saw 122 hp on the superflow dyno (136-137 on a dynojet) after a full tune. Dan got one of mine on it kinda late in the day and loaded their base race cal again to start fresh. The RT-4 got 122 right off the start without any tuning, so there might be a little more in it. They will have a map for them, I have the base one on mine now and it's unreal how smooth it is.
Ok, finally got the videos to upload from this phone. Not sure I like the iphone much. The audio isn't exact, although the bike was inside an enclosed dyno room and had 2 panes of either glass or plexiglass for a window. First is the Drummer, didn't get a good WOT pull on video though. 2nd one is the RT-4, it's definitely louder.
End result, Drummer with the full tune on the superflow dyno, about 122-123 hp and 68-69 ft/lbs of torque. RT-4 with just the base Erik Buell Racing race cal, 122 hp and roughly the same torque, although it has some dips since it hasn't been tuned yet. Bottom on mine was showing rich and the upper rpm was lean, so it looks like there might be a little more power available. It got tweaked once on the dyno and I think it showed 123 or 124 hp, but I don't have the charts to show it.
Btw, Brad, I'll agree the red one's make an extra 4-5 hp just because of the color, so your's will be faster.
Ok so, here we go again. Different dyno gives different results I guess because I have seen other dynos for stock bikes that claim higher HP output at the rear. So, ho do we know what is what and who is accurate? Shouldn't the HPs be in the 130s or higher with the exhaust change especially when there is a Erik Buell Racing mods?
A Dynojet dyno is about 12% higher for readings than a Superflow, so you can do the math easy enough, I just posted rough guesses on what it actually is based on the Superflow numbers. Yes, the Dynojet numbers are well over 130 hp, something like 137-138 at least. They have their baseline race cal on their dyno and then they have the DSB race spec cal, which was (I think) using an HMF pipe and it got about 119-120 peak hp. That would be about 133-134 hp on a Dynojet. The Drummer hit 122-123 after it was massaged to get everything out of it. Mine hit that with their base map only, nothing was done to it. I know that it was rich below 6k rpm and lean above that, so I'm just speculating that there's a lot more available on it. Keep in mind, I have 4 different type exhaust systems and they've only gotten a baseline on one of them. That said, my personal experience with the dyno I'd been visiting shows they get pretty much identical power gains, even if it isn't tuned, although I'd HIGHLY recommend it now. As they say, seeing is believing and I definitely believe now. I hammered out a 4th gear wheelie on the front straight once (too skeered to do it more) at Blackhawk Farms on Thursday. I don't know if it was just the way I shifted or what, but the front end just lofted up like it was a feather and I almost panicked from the suprise of it lifting up like that. Fun times out there, I'm soooo glad I got to go and play there.
The big thing to remember here is, it's not always about peak HP numbers, it's how the power gets put to the ground. The race cal is exceptionally better than the stock one by such a large margin, it's not even funny, although it will make you giggle a lot when you have it and can make the bike run like it was meant to. This thing runs so smooth now, it's a lot more fun to ride. No jerking or bucking/surging, it's just smooth as spreading hot butter.
One other thing, from what I observed, the dyno room at Erik Buell Racing is what appears to be environmentally controlled, it's got fans everywhere and the temp looked like it was pretty stable from what I saw.
Hey Dean, Great to see this bad boy in person, the sound was quite awesome! Will be keeping an eye on the progress and wish you all the best. I would agree with other coments that the workmanship is superb!! PS I am the Canadian with the Full Erik Buell Racing exhaust you met at Erik Buell Racing last week. I'll have to get a video up with the Erik Buell Racing sound clip... later
Nathan, you got the better deal. Full race pipes will certainly make more power over any slipon, so it's tough to beat those. I'd expect these to hit maybe 140 or so at the wheel, maybe even more, but past that, it's going to be a lot of wishful thinking. Even so, at 136-137 right now, I'm extremely happy. It's way more than what you need for the street during everyday use, but it's nice to have it if you need it. I get a couple of thumbs up daily, even from non-bikers. Of course, I get frowns too, usually it's people talking on cell phones in the car next to me. I try not to stay near them, I've had several swerve at me, I assume trying to hit me or run me off the road. I just accelerate some and move on. I guess I've gotten lucky so far in not actually getting hit.
I do love the sound, next track day will give me real feel for change in power Just remember, loud pipes saves lives!! I guess the trying to run you over was never in that calculation. i used to love BARKING at convertibles with my X1 with D&D pipe. You know some titanium spike studded riding boots might be good against stupid cell phone talking cagers...for self defense.
Just unpacked some stuff today, time to get welding soon. More stuff on it's way, I'm not sure when I'll climb out of this hole I've managed to dig for myself.
