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Too Quiet

4K views 19 replies 4 participants last post by  IDTrav 
#1 ·
Overall I love my 2017 500 EXC. One thing I don't like, the sound. It's too dang quiet! I understand the mufflers are pretty plugged up to meet goverment standards. I want more of a race sound. I am looking at a FMF powercore slip on. They are pricey. Would it improve it any or am I just wasting my money?
 
#2 ·
If you love your bike and its performance, do yourself and everyone a huge favor and leave it as is. Nobody needs more noise! The most common complaint anti- motorcycle haters have against us is noise. Most riders don't need race bike power unless they are racing. Use good judgement here.Your exhaust modification would likely need fueling adjustment to restore proper tune. No need for more noise. You will be most grateful later in life when you still have your hearing faculties intact. If you choose to use a louder exhaust, be sure to wear hearing protection. Or maybe use headphones and play some heavy metal or something.....enjoy your bike......responsibly
 
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#3 ·
I realise 4 strokers are different from 2 strokers and a chage of muffler on a 4 stroker has an impact on the power. And yes, FMF is a well recognised option. But in 2 stroker racing changing a muffler does nothing apart from adding bling. I say go for gold if you do 4 stroker racing, but if you are mainly on the road then you might have to fit your original muffler each time you take the bike for inspection? And that would mean re-tuning each time if you want the bike to run properly.
 
#4 ·
Have you had issues with flameouts - coming to a sudden stop and the bike stalling? Or when it gets hot do you notice a drop in power? Some have even had their rear plastics melt under heavy riding from the stock exhaust can getting too hot!

Reason i say that is that the EXC's from 2017+ run extremely lean and thanks to the stock muffler (and mapping along with two-stroke reeds in your airbox - check it out if you didn't know) you will experience a whole new bike changing out the muffler, removing reeds and ECU mapping.

I went with an FMF pipe on my 350-exc and love it. Looks great, sound is nice and very tolerable. +1 for muffler sorry Augie lol.

 
#5 ·
Have you had issues with flameouts - coming to a sudden stop and the bike stalling? Or when it gets hot do you notice a drop in power? Some have even had their rear plastics melt under heavy riding from the stock exhaust can getting too hot!

Reason i say that is that the EXC's from 2017+ run extremely lean and thanks to the stock muffler (and mapping along with two-stroke reeds in your airbox - check it out if you didn't know) you will experience a whole new bike changing out the muffler, removing reeds and ECU mapping.

I went with an FMF pipe on my 350-exc and love it. Looks great, sound is nice and very tolerable. +1 for muffler sorry Augie lol.

View attachment 93897
Hah?? Wazzat ye says lad???
Can't hardly hear ye :D
No worries lad. All in good spirits
Best kind sir:LOL::cool:
 
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#8 ·
Does it have this crap? If not then he removed it. My hunch is that it's gone.



The bike has a JD power surge fuel tuner on it. I have no idea how to use it. The previous owner installed it and didn't leave any instructions. Anybody know the right settings for this bike with a leaner muffler installed? I will definitely be keeping the stock muffler around in case I decide on a long highway run.
The nice thing about the JD Tuner is you can't F anything up. The base settings on the JD are specific to the bike and will be better than stock. Because of different elevations depending on where you live it's best to play around with the settings. Some like the power coming on sooner and to hit hard for wheelies or log hops whereas other like a more mellow progression through the RPM's.

check this link out on useage right off JD's website. THere are also a pile of youtube videos.

 
#9 ·
I agree, if he did all the other stuff he probably removed all of that. I wished I would have asked him along with having them instructions. The one thing I notice about it, it seems to idle kind of high. Which probably a sign of running lean I am guessing? I don't even have to gas it when taking off. I like a hard hit myself. I was reading the best setting for them tuners is the accelerator pump for KTM'S, whatever that is. I hope I can figure out how to work the thing. I might have to richen it up after putting this muffler on.
 
#10 ·
I believe that idle can be adjusted... Do you have a manual? I'm at work and manual is at home but someone else may be able to chime in.

Definitely richen that bad boy up after you change the muffler out but can you confirm it is a STOCK MUFFLER END CAP? A lot of guy just change the end cap out so I'd bet money if the JD installed, reeds gone and emission crap deleted that he would have thrown on a gutted end cap.

I pulled this off google but looks similar to the settings I went with and super easy to do. Just turn the bike on and press the mode button on your JD Tuner to cycle through the colors then hit the + or - button on the tuner for each color that lights up as per the chart:

93937
 
#12 ·
Looks like a stock cap and he just took the screen out of the can? I'll have to check mine out when I get home but that looks to be the story there. Either way you're on the right track - did you get a chance to play with the JD?
 
#13 ·
Still a little confused on it all. So if I would need to make a richer from them settings, what would I do? He did take the screen out of the endcap. Also I looked for some of that smog stuff and didn't see any. So would that mean he flashed my ECU and it is in Euro mode now? I received my new muffler and can't wait to get it on to see how she sounds. Gonna be cold around here the next few days.:(
 
#14 ·
I would set the bike back to a base line across the board and if you haven't played with the settings then you may want to write them down. You can cycle through everything by hitting mode and it won't change anything.

Turn bike on and then cycle through the colors by pressing mode and ensuring they're all at 3 (You may have to + or - depending where the settings currently are). Now if you want to make it richer then hit the + button to add fuel where you'd like it.

94023

So for example if your mode is on the red light blinking and is set to 6 then that would be pig-rich at full throttle - make sense?

Here is another chart for reference and recommended settings - see how 3's across the board is your baseline then the recommended settings are there too.

94024
 
#15 · (Edited)
Ok that helps! Now how will I know if its too lean or rich? I know when I had two strokes if it was too lean it would idle erractically up and down. If it was too rich it would smoke a lot and run boggy with throttle. I don't know how 4 strokes react with fuel injection.What does open exhaust mean? Is that highway mode?
 
#16 ·
Open exhaust means you've replaced the bunged up stock one with a free-flowing exhaust. I would mirror those settings after you put your new exhaust on and then fine tune it from there.

How do you tell if it's too rich or too lean...without a dyno it's tough to say but remember that any of the settings from 3 and above will be "stock" at 3 then whatever on-top that is richer. Play around with one color, take the bike around the block and if you like it then move on to the next color. I re-geared mine end of last year and just left the settings at 3's across the board and runs great. When i put my SM setup on and have a couple hours to play in a parking lot then I'll set it more aggressive. Let us know how it goes for ya...
 
#19 ·
Finally got it on and took a test ride. First thing I noticed right out of the gate, the power ! My lord I about flipped the front end over a couple times trying to get used to it. Had a little trouble installing. I don't know why they put them spacers in there. I couldn't get the straps tight enough with them on there. I even over tightened a bolt breaking it off in the hole. Took about an hour taking an easy out to extract it. Anyway the JD settings seem to be fine where they are at. Seems to idle the same. Doesn't bog out any that I notice. When I first tried to start it, it took a little while but now it fires right up. The settings go like this. Green= 4/5 Yellow=5/6 Red= 6 Green/Blue= 6/8 Yellow/Blue= 5/8 Red/Blue= 4/8.
I am guessing these are a little rich? Thanks for all the help fellows!
I almost forgot the reason I got it. The sound which is great BTW!
 
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