Just did this Akrapovič setup this week. Bought from HardRacing here on the Forum. I went with the Carbon Fiber/Titanium full system. Order Thursday Afternoon before Labor Day weekend, FedEx delivered Wed. and I was installing it Thursday following. Would've been a few days sooner but was a rural delivery in the styx.
Note:
You might not want to worry about paying for next day/2 Day shipping, you might be waiting. Reason: You should have already ordered a Exhaust Pipe Gasket (#18291-GE2-920) from your local dealer, if not, do it NOW, they're only $7, this doesn't come with one and your screwed if you can't reuse/tear up your old one. It's ONLY a trip to the local dealer and about 2 weeks to get one special order here in Austin. I was careful and got lucky, I could reuse my old one. Better to have a spare in the tool box, than a bike in pieces.
I also replaced a couple of the bolts with Button Head stainless steel ones (M8X1.25 X 50, 60 and 20). One of them was for the Ram Mount Ball (RAM-B-367U) in the Handlebar Clamp as the supplied black oxide one will rust if rain is anywhere within 100 miles, they suck that bad. The new Stainless Steel bolts went in holding the Can to the rail below the seat along with a new Stainless 13mm Nut & Flat Washer on the backside and another one holding the Header just below the rear brake that goes into the welded nut in the frame. The other forward bolt holding the stock muffler does not get reused, I put it back in the frame for now. Should've bout a small SS button head for that too. Stainless hardware was less than $2 total. Stay away from Home Depot/Lowes... that stuff is junk. I also had to pick up a T45 bit at the same time, luckily FastServe had those too and some WD40 so no additional trips.
Tools needed were:
- 12 & 13 mm Wrenches/Sockets and a short extension
- Torx T45 socket bit for new clamp bracket from Akrapovič
- WD40 for cleaning the Titanuum before startup. I wanted to make sure the pipe's patina would be uniform and no dirty spots developed.
- Torque wrench for the 2 Header Pipe 12mm nuts if you think its important, I just cinched it up tight from feel and will recheck aftter a couple of heat cycles.
The Carbon Fiber form fitted clamp for the Muffler is terrific! No unnecessary stainless clamps/rivets here to snag your clothing. Anybody selling a Carbon Fiber can that doesn't do a matching CF clamp should be ashamed. The instructions supplied with each part from Akrapovič are very detailed with pictures of each step. Difficulty level is a 1 out of 10. I took my time, ran for parts, weighed pieces, pics etc.. and it took less than 2 hours. If you are not concerned with such things 1/2 hour to 45 mins easy.
Haven't rode yet with the Titanium baffle out (stock fender blocks the set screw access a little). But as it sits, the Grom sounds REALLY good. Not too loud, but GOOD. I've outgrown the entire "I have the Loudest bike in the neighborhood, wake up all the babies, make all the dogs bark 'a$$hole' " phase... Except when it comes to my straight-piped weed-burner exhaust on the 8.3L Cummins in the Coach.
My Bike is stock, not even a intake mod yet, just with this Header/Muffler and the low end is noticeably improved. Gets up and moves a little quicker. Put 20 miles on it before the rain threatened and made it home as the first drops hit.
I weighed all the parts coming off and then all of the new setup going on and the bike lost 7.69 lbs / 3490 grams with the Akrapovič Carbon Fiber & Titanium full setup. I guess I can consume more Blue Bell now.
