Jack Phelps' Pages
|
Bub's
Big Willy Exhaust
WHY? I
rather like the looks of the stock exhaust, and with the modification
I had made to mine it sounded pretty good. One afternoon ,however, I
was browsing the closeout section of the Dennis
Kirk web site and happened upon a set of Bub's Big Willy pipes
for the V Star 1100. I did a double-take on the price ($225) and knew
that I couldn't pass up such a deal. I like the bold look of this
exhaust system, and at that price I just let it go. I placed my order
online, hoping that it would be in stock.
SERVICE.
Not too bad. Kirk doesn't have real-time inventory online, so you
don't ever know if they are in stock. Navigating the site is simple,
as is ordering. They do not send a shipping confirmation (you need to
add that feature, guys) so you don't know when to expect your order.
The box arrived, in good shape, 5 days later. Packaging was in the
original box and all parts were included. Bub's did a really nice job
of packing the system so that there was no damage. Quality of the
pipes was excellent, with clean welds and near-flawless chrome plating.
INSTALLATION.
Instructions were okay, but could have been improved with a few
illustrations. The average home mechanic with moderate skills and
tools should be able to figure thing out pretty well. I have read a
few reports about problems with fit and alignment with these pipes,
but I did not experience any of them. Both pipes lined up nicely and
I was careful to get everything well in place before tightening
things down. Both exhaust gaskets were in good shape so I was able to
re-use them. The gasket on the front cylinder is hard to keep in
place during installation, so I used a bit of high-temp RTV gasket
sealer on it--worked great. Installing both pipes, along with heat
shields, took me a little over an hour. I wanted this to be the last
time I ever had to remove this exhaust, so I installed my remote oil
filter system while I had the pipes off. See my write-up on it here.
RESULTS. They are a bit too loud
for my taste, and I tried several different baffles to tame the noise.
I like the looks of the pipes, but they didn't seem to give a significant
performance increase over the modified stock pipes; even worse, at 70 MPH
they make so much racket that I needed ear plugs. I eventually
removed them and went back to the modified stockers.
WORTH THE
MONEY? Not for me. Loud pipes may be music to another owner's
ears, but it was just noise to me. |
