This month we were smacked in the head with the old adage of, “You win some, you lose some.” Like most bike owners, the first mod we made was an aftermarket exhaust. After spotting a CBR with a Taylormade slip-on at a recent bike night, that pipe was at the top of the list. There isn’t another exhaust on the market that looks as sleek and custom built as the Taylormade, and after installation the CBR resembled something straight from the MotoGP paddock. It even saved a handful of weight over the stock muffler, but after those two victories it showed a darker side.
With such good looks it was...
With such good looks it was a shame the performance wasn't on par.
Plug, play and enjoy your...
Plug, play and enjoy your day with a harder top end hit from the Dynojet Ignition Retard Controller.
While an exhaust note is subjective, there’s no arguing that the Taylormade exhaust tone at low revs offers an odd gurgle, more akin to a Ninja 250 than a literbike that should have a sharp, crisp bark. Hand in hand with the low-end sound is a noticeable loss of power just off idle through 3000 RPM. A few runs on the dyno confirmed what the seat of the pants said—from 2-3000 it caused a considerable power dip. It comes to life between 3-5000 RPM, but then loses power everywhere else. It looks amazing but doesn’t perform very well.
The exhaust lost peak pwer,...
The exhaust lost peak pwer, then the Dynojet unit added considerably more back to the top end to give us much better results than stock.
Win some, lose some.
The high point during this month’s testing came from a simple $59 part. After the disappointment from the exhaust’s performance on the dyno we plugged in an Ignition Retard Controller from Dynojet and wham—an instant nine horsepower was added to the top end. That’s pretty impressive power from a part that costs the equivalent of a few beers and some wings at Hooters.
Honda's move to a raw aluminum...
Honda's move to a raw aluminum frame for 2011 (instead of black on the previous model) brightens the bike considerably.
The part plugs directly into the stock harness and eliminates the stock timing restriction that’s in place for emissions, sound and other such regulations. According to Dynojet, the module leans the fueling out considerably on the top end where it makes power, so we’ll be installing a fuel management system and monitoring that to assure it’s in the safe operating zone.
SSB146
STOCK BASELINE
HORSEPOWER
Next Month: Full exhaust system, dyno tuning