Royal Enfield Classic 350 De - Cat exhaust and silencer swap out Pt 1...

 As soon as a new Motorbike is released there is usually some factory bolt on accessories and then a steady stream of aftermarket stuff from various countries of various states of build quality and actual function. Exhaust systems are one of the first things many folks used to change on Japanese motorbikes in a bid to get a few more horsepower out a bike along with a nicer exhaust note.

The Royal Enfield bikes are no different thought in the case of the new Classic 350 most folk are not expecting much of an increase in top speed - I believe it has a restricted 70something MPH, but a better running engine that  pulls better and also runs cooler. Some owners have published up their findings doing some modifications to exhausts and air filters to great success....

Looking at a few other Classic 350 Reborn owners on their own Youtube channels some have fitted a complete after market exhaust system available from UK Royal Enfield parts specialist Hitchcocks - this looks nice and has an expected premium price for a well made chromed full system, that would no doubt look very nice and sound very nice on a chrome finished Classic 350, sadly they do not yet have an all black version available for the stealth black colour options, and for folks wanting an exhaust system more suitable for UK winter commuting and the inevitable road salt corrosion,

However there are other ways of obtaining a black exhaust system and one way is by a cheap stubby replica silencer from India, and some pipe to replace the CAT and I thought I would go down this route as a cheaper experiment...

So first off I ordered a stubby silencer from India which was approx £53 delivered in under a week!, and some stainless pipe on eBay at £7 per 500mm length in a couple of different outer dimeters...

I soon had the silencer and CAT removed after unbolting the heat shields and was staggered at the weight of these two items...

The silencer mount plate was removed then I put the heat shields and clamps back on and nipped them up to store these items complete and ready to re use at any time if needed...

After measuring the diameter of the front pipe I had to remove the exhaust sleeve gasket which was stuck into the CAT before storing them in the garage loft...

The narrower of the two size options of stainless pipe - 41mm outer diameter (41mm OD) fitted straight into the India bottle silencer...

After bolting on the silencer I marked the stainless pipe where to cut with a selfie and took it off and cut it to size on the vice in the garage, it was only about 50mm length to cut of the 500mm length to size...

All fitted I gave the pipe a quick spray of matt black exhaust high temperature paint and it all looked good. I took it a bit further as had also bought a length of exhaust wrap tape like you see on a lot of old classic custom bikes and race car exhaust which helps cool engines drawing heat from the exhaust and it looks cool!...

And vola!  job done!, if I had used a 42mm OD pipe it would have clamped onto the front pipe without the need to hacksaw cuts in the stainless pipe to squeeze over the front pipe - and these made for a not too neat join and with the cuts a slight air leak - needing the exhaust wrap to proper seal it and you will see this in the short film I made...

Running the engine on idle from cold start for a few minutes supposedly reprogrames the fuel system and the bike car-berated perfectly and has proved better than stock!

All in a £75 DIY exhaust which i`m real happy with, more in another film on the changes to how the engine feels with the changes after a weeks commuting...

Wee film...

More soon...