2008 Suzuki Hayabusa
Dave Sonsky: Editor
Miles Ridden: 3000
Modifications: Micron GP-Sport exhaust
After doing miles on my obnoxiously loud Speed Triple, the 'Busa's stock whisper was getting a bit aggravating. If there are 170 horses under the hood I'd like to hear them once in a while after all.
Just as the bike's breezy buzz became unbearable, a set of Micron GP-Sport slip-ons showed up to save me from nodding off after the third mile. The sleek cans have a removable baffle (which immediately came out, of course) and a smart-looking carbon-fiber end cap to complement the satin-black finish.
The weight scale indicated some interesting numbers, but judging from the stock-pipe's girth it wasn't much of a surprise. The stock cans weighed in at a meaty 15.8 pounds a piece, while the comparatively featherlight Microns barely registered on the scale at just 6.9 pounds each. I can't say I immediately noticed the weight savings around town, but when hammering some corners I'm sure the weight transfer will be obvious.
The slimmer stature did, however, make slicing through the perpetually semi-static L.A. traffic easier with my reduced width. Those stock cans are really quite wide and have left an impression on many a slow-moving bumper throughout the metro area. So far the slimmer Microns have gotten me past some tight squeezes that I wouldn't have otherwise made it through.
But enough of the boring stuff. We buy these things for power and sound, too, and this is where I was a bit puzzled. I'm accustomed to a screaming inline four-cylinder tone that typically gets more obnoxious as the revs climb. It wasn't the case this time. Quite frankly I think the modded exhaust sounds more like a V8-powered sports car than anything else. At low revs the tone is thick and beefy, but wind on the gas and you'll get a gurgle instead of a howl. Initially I didn't think much of it, but the more miles I rack up, the more familiar (and therefore less foreign) the sound is.
There's a perfectly good reason for it though, and it's not the pipes' fault. For 2008, Suzuki incorporated the catalytic converters into the actual head pipes. Unlike other GSX-R models with a large external cat, the 'Busa cat isn't removable unless the stock headers are swapped.
Slip-on pipes aren't actually part of my quest for a top-speed run over 200 mph at Maxton later this year, but rather an immediate solution to the stock silencers. The dyno runs we did with the baffles intact and removed showed a negligible change in power, but the air/fuel ratio was in the lean zone. The cure for the power loss and lean air/fuel ratio is a Power Commander, which should also help achieve mild power gains.
Next month we'll get down to business and install a full exhaust system for big power and biting sound (hopefully).
Coming Next Month: Full exhaust system.