That's the really loud one...
[ Tuesday - August 7, 2018 ]
It's been about two weeks in time but it's only been about a week's
ride time that I've switched the GSW to the BMW Akrapovic
exhaust, According to Brown Motor Works, a lot of GSW owners
are doing the same. So I'm just one among the crowd. Now
the question... "Why in the world would you switching the
exhaust? It's not like it's going do that much to the
bike." As it turns out, the slip-on exhaust effects the bike
in numerous ways. One obvious way is the GSW is now 5lbs
lighter. The other obvious effect is the bike exhaust note is
now a bit throatier. One of my friends said, "That's the
really loud one." Well... louder, yes, but nowhere near
straight pipes. Remember this is still a street legal exhaust.
Image ripped from Internet.
(I like the real carbon fiber)
Now before I go into more details, there is one other change to the
bike that I made that also alters things a bit. I've ditched
the heavy plastic expandable trunk for the Atacama top bag.
This in itself lightens the bike by at least 8-10lbs. Yes, the
plastic trunk is actually that heavy. By simply replacing the
trunk the GSW behavior is already changing. The bike goes from
46-47 MPG to 48-49 MPG average. That's a pretty decent change
for just swapping out a bag. The other thing you have to
understand is, I short shift the bike. What do I mean by
that? I only rev the engine to approximately 3.5K RPM before I
shift. When I don't pay attention, I'll go up to 4K RPM.
Because of this, I get out of the lower gears really quickly.
This is likely the reason why I get the mileage that I do from the
GSW. Bottom line, I'm light on the throttle. This
coupled with 43PSI rear & 36PSI front also contributes to the
overall scheme of things. Now do I always look at the tach
when I accelerate? No I don't. I do gun it every once in
a while because the bike urges me to.
Now that the additional references are out of
the way, here's how the new exhaust changes the bike. So
yes, the bike is now approximately 15 lbs lighter. But what
can't be seen is the efficiency of the Akrapovic exhaust in
comparison to the stock. Chalk it up to better exhaust flow
and/or better engine mapping (ECU automatic remap), but the bike
now likes to hover around 51-52 MPG average. I, like a lot
of other owners, think that BMW's claim about the GSW managing 51
MPG at 55 MPH is baloney. Well guess what, they're actually
true to their word. Of course it all depends on riding style
and so on and so fourth. Still, I'm impressed that I'm
getting close to a 800GS city mileage (53 MPG) on a 1200cc.
That's insane. Oh look... no chain to lube.
Oh the power... the power... I don't think it's 0-60 in 3
seconds any more. The exhaust probably shaved off a 10th of a
second. Maybe 2.9 seconds? But.... Who knows and who
cares!!! All I know is the GSW is now freakin' bat-nuts
fast. If the GSW can behave like this I can't image what the
S1R would be like. I'm sure the S1R is a hoot. Oh look
the latest S1R comes with a Akrapovic exhaust. No wonder it
claims 0-60 in 2.6 seconds. I will likely never find out but
with the GSW behaving this way, I don't have to. This is
plenty of machine.
One last note, I haven't put the bike into Dynamic mode yet.
All of the above ranting and raving is in standard Road mode.
Dynamic opens the bike up even further. One of these days.
Written on: August 7, 2018
Last modified: August 7, 2018
