Assuming I get the exhaust off of my R80ST ( see my other posting asking for help! ) I am thinking of a couple of options and would appreciate any feedback. The exhaust is in farly good shape but could use re-chroming. Am I asking for trouble by getting everything chromed such as potential peeling and flacking? I know the first few inches of the exhaust pipes where they slide into the heads must not be chromed or they won't fit. I've read posts where riders have had their exhaust ceramic coated but know nothing of the process, costs, benifits, etc. Is ceramic coating a good upgrade? Finally, I've though of a new exhaust system, one that would get rid of the collector box. What are my options and again, what's the upside? How expensive? Thanks!
I have Keihan stainless steel systems on both my R80GS and R8G/S, the latter of which is the same one as your ST, they look exactly the same as the original, have a slightly deeper exhaust note and come with a 10 year warranty but I expect them to last a lot longer and some parts already have. Stainless does go yellow with time but can be polished back to original very easily, I recommend this option rather than coating your orginal system which will still rust out eventually.
Muskett Mufflers in New Zealand make a replica of the G/S muffler. Fit is good and it is hard to distinguish from the original. Cost is good too.. IF you go for chrome it will need some tidying up before polishing The steel is better than original . Mine is coming up for 20 years old and none of the rust that appeared on the original unit during the warranty period. Paul Rooney makes a junction box that can be adapted to work with the muffler. It is designed to work without any second stage . Comes in stainless and you would need to cut the anoying kink at the back of the headers to get it on as it fits like a GS junction box instead of a G/S junction box.
The Keihans are a top shelf choice with the advatnage of being stainless. After a certain model year (not sure) BMW OEM R100GS mufflers are SS, fit, but the bracketry needs some mods to handle the ST or G/S side cover. Sito makes a decent aftermarket muffler, but folks I know with it have had to go ceramic coatings or other steps to slow rusting. I have a Staintune R100GS muffler on my ST that i lucked out and bought on Ebay from the USA importer as a blemished product for half the MSRP. The blemish was a mark where a bolt had been inserted into one of the mounts. I had to fab up a couple of brackets to secure the left side cover since the muffler didn't have them. Also discovered without the optional $32 baffle insert it lost gobs of midrange and top end torque and sounded like a Harley with cut-off mufflers at expressway speeds. But adding the baffle and the bike has never been happier - sounds great without being loud, too. During the initial fitting. Since then I have made some brackets and installed the black heat shield. Except for the extra long stinger at the end, it looks like it came on the bike. The extra long stinger keeps hot gases away from ANY luggage you might fit to the bike. I've thought about shortening it to more closely match the original muffler length, but the performance up in the mountains tells me via the ass-dyno and the ears that the motor is very happy with the resonant length of this pipe. As always YMMV. At the time I bought this pipe, CB & T in CA was the USA importer for Staintune and was great to deal with. You may want to scour Ebay for any offereings from them, or call them directly and ask about clearance or blems items. It never hurts to ask.
The Sito sounds good, but even w/ ceramic coat they will rust, major downfall to the Sito, plus lower mount at foot peg is weak. Go for stainless, to heck w/ chrome.
Bluethumb I doubt whether you'd find a chromers prepared to re-chrome your exhaust because no matter how well they are cleaned, any internal carbon would make a mess of their expensive chemicals. Stick to stainless, Simple.
The original R100GS silencer is stainless but the baffles are mild steel and rot out eventually. They are slightly longer but do fit, it is just the extra bracket near the end has nowhere for the bolt to go on the G/S subframe but they can be used.
