Picked my bike up Friday!
I did not have the sprocket put on, there was trouble getting one in, it was back ordered or something, so I decided to wait on that.
I'm glad it worked out that way, as now I'm able to tell the difference that just the pipes and re-mapping made without the sprocket change.
It feels like a completely different bike, the power is much much stronger.
It makes me suspicious if my stock mapping was wrong or if KTM just de-tunes the bike that much in stock form, because its literally a night and day difference.
It wheelies so easy now, and just feels stronger all the way through the power band in every gear.
I think I'm going to hold on doing the sprocket change at all now.
I really didn't like the sound of the stock exhaust, it was way too quiet, that certainly isn't a problem now!
I rode some Friday and about 150 miles on Saturday. It has a great throaty growl to it now, but I think its just a bit too loud now. I know I'm getting picky - stock too quiet, this one too loud, but even at idle its pretty loud when I'm trying to quietly exit my neighborhood before I crack that throttle and let it howl.
I also will need to start wearing earplugs while riding now, which I've never needed to do before on any of the bikes I've had. Even at constant higher speed cruising, the exhaust sound is pretty loud. But I do like the sound overall, its just a hair loud. I would like to hear it side by side with a Super Duke with the Akrapovic exhaust and compare them.
The FMF pipes look great too. The shape of the Apex pipe matches the lines and shapes of the bikes body panels, so it really has a good look to it, and I also like the carbon fiber, and would recommend that over the titanium version cans.
I know this exhaust is supposed to shave about 18-20 pounds off the bike compared to stock, and although that is significant, I didn't expect to really be able to feel that. But maybe its in my head, but the bike did feel noticeably lighter in the corners to me, it just felt lighter and more flickable. Maybe because those 20lbs are carried so high in the bike that getting rid of that weight does make a noticeable difference when leaning the bike, I'm not sure, but this is a great handling bike regardless.
So overall, I highly recommend these pipes, or any non-stock pipe on this bike and the engine re-mapping, as it really does make a huge difference.
I wish I could have done a dyno run before and after and see the horsepower gain, as it sure feels signicant.
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