Good thoughts!....but I double checked the joints last night and they're tight. That in mind, the stock muffler produced quite a bit of sound for the rider, especially when you were on the throttle. If you look at how the RX3 system is set up, the muffler doesn't even exit the entire rear end of the bike, as seen in the attached pic. The muffler doesn't even clear the bag and the exhaust exit is trapped behind it. I think my louder pipe may enhance this effect. Just a guess though.

Litmus test possibly coming up this Sunday. My brother is bringing up his bone-stock RX3. He has yet to even wash off the original Oregon dirt.

I'm curious to see if there's any real difference in rideability between the two with the new muffler or not. I've gotten so used to how mine is now, it should be interesting to compare.

Ive been wondering if it could be sound bouncing off that case? :hmm:

As compared to many bikes I've had, the RX3 exhaust exit isn't very far behind the riders head, then add being trapped between the bike and the bag. I think this could contribute to the stock exhaust being kind of noisy on acceleration.

It's not like it's too noisy right now. I moved the spark block up one hole last night and it toned it down enough. I'm just in 'experimentation mode' more than anything at the moment. Must work on something!

Hi 2LZ,

Thanks for the detailed write up on this! Is there any chance you could share some additional info about the purchase of your pipe? The amazon link is busted, and I've done a fair amount of searching for the same one or similar, but haven't definitely found it yet. I'd be happy with just dropping 5 lbs and getting a smaller profile, any performance/sound benefits are just bonus in my eyes.

Oh, and on the later topic of the RX3 being extra noisy due to the pannier box, I replaced my boxes with removable soft bags last year and haven't noticed a difference even with the bags off. However I think there may have been a little less vibration noise coming from the hollow empty boxes.

Hi RC and thank you for your interest. Here's a link to the same basic muffler that I just mounted on my Qlink. There's a number of this type of muffler available on Amazon last I checked.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I can't say, even after drilling out the baffle, that there's any nopticable performance difference. I THINK I have a little more grunt under 5k rpms. I've got great results changing exhaust on all my CB's, but not the RX3. I feel it has to do with injector and ECU mapping.

The sound is a little louder but nothing out of the ordinary.
Truth be told, I'm going to run my RX3 against my wife's RX3 and if there's no real difference, I'll probably end up acquiring a stock exhaust somewhere. We'll see......

Member rtking acquired great results, dyno proven, on his RX3. He had a muffler shop make a mid pipe for his Akrapovic muffler. Plus, he's done some additional gearing and breather work, I believe.

Long overdue update:

It's official. After a number of miles and months, I've found, at least on my RX3, that changing the exhaust to a more free flowing unit and eliminating the cat, makes no noticeable difference in performance. I think I may imagine a tad more under 5 grand but it's most likely my wishful thinking. No, there was no dyno involved, so if there's an improvement in numbers, I can't tell. I even pulled the baffle and ran an Uni filter at one point but it basically ran the same.....just far louder.

The Mrs. and I took out both RX3's over the holiday weekend. Hers is bone stock, mine has the free flow muffler. We ran them next to each other, WFO up the same steep hills, holeshots on flat ground from a stop and roll ons from 40 mph. The bikes were all but glued to each other (both have the same gearing).

My uneducated guess would be that the mapping of the EFI and spark advance really put limitations on what mods may accomplish. I don't think any mod will make much difference until we can achieve a reflash of some sort. Again, just a guess. I used to be a mechanic, but I don't even play one on TV anymore.

As stated prior, this was the experience with my bikes. Your results may vary. I'm thinking a stock pipe is in my future to quiet it back down.

why would you do that? don't you know that loud pipes save lives? :p

That's good info 2LZ. I guess the only reason to change out the exhaust is for weight then.

The Haunting Solution
 

The secret is in the dna (the mapping)

Max Output:32 hp @ 8000rpm

http://www.pitsterpro.com/bike/specs/id/66

:hmm:

I'm hoping at some point someone will start mastering EFI on these bikes and offering revised flashes for the fuel tables.

Of course how much is enough with wrecking rideability and engine safety? From 24 to 28 hp is midway compromise.

What is the wish ? More low end, higher top end?, both?

Wow, 32 hp out of a 250. I see that engine has 11.6:1 compression. I wonder what our Zong is running. Still, an 7hp increase is 28%...very impressive and when you include the fact that the bike is over 100 lbs lighter...double wow!. One way to look at this is to see the Zong engine as being grossly under stressed, which should lead to very long life.

According to this, the RX3 shares the same 11.6:1.

http://www.cscmotorcycles.com/Articles.asp?ID=322

Both bikes run the Delphi injection so my guess is the mapping. As you state PY, the RX3 must be down-tuned for longevity.

Preferably both but I'd take the current top end and spice up the midrange some. Make it more friendly.