Following two unhappy experiences with Chinese decat exhausts I have decided to buy either an Arrow or a Mistral decat system for my 2003 model V85tt Travel. Can anyone offer any advice on which is the better buy. Unless anyone can suggest any other reputable system.
Any comments gratefully accepted, or even advice of used items for sale.
The only difference I could see was the fact the Mistral decat bracket was bushed;like the original cat. You could argue that the downpipes and cat are one solid unit on the later models like yours but on my 2020 I felt the bushing might be important. No idea about price / value, I’m afraid. The Mistral decat is nicely made.
@David49 What were the issues with the Chinese pipes if you don’t mind me asking? I’m looking at a decat for my E5 and I’m interested in peoples experiences…
Have a look at SC Project SC-Project
These exhausts give a lovley deep sound that wont upset the public and look great have had a couple of these exhausts on past BMW’s. They re-sell very well as well.
Paul
The first problem was the confusing ordering system, where one advert showed several photos of the item which all showed an item with different details. This lead to me receiving a unit that was different to the item I thought I had ordered. I returned it and got a refund.
I ordered again, ensuring that I was going to receive the one I ordered. It arrived and appeared to be very nicely made.
When it came to fitting the parts, two of the joints were very sloppy and would have been difficult to seal. I solved that problem by making two cylindrical packing pieces, but when installing the Y piece with the mounting bracket on it, it would not line up with the mounting bracket on the bike, even when all the joints were pushed together far beyond where they were supposed to go. That system has now been removed and returned.
I have put on a Mistral exhaust big bore an Agostini link pipe and a Agostini exhaust pipe. All from Gutsibits. All fit ok and it sounds very good. I have added other bits but that story is for another post.
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Just polished and fitted a chinese stainless 2 into 1 exhaust
With new (cheap) exhaust gaskets and (expensive) graphite pipe seals exhaust Pipe seals 44mm OD 38mm ID it fit together firmly with enough movement in each joint to get the pipe ends flat to the head and the support bracket in the right place. I used spacers & washers each side of the support bracket on an m8 allen screw. No leakage, started well with a deeper tone but no strange noises.
Have done 900 miles since installation and it is running smoother at low revs (can hold 1900 rpm in gear and pulls smoothly from 2000) and seems to have more midrange 2500-4000 and smoother through 4500 to 7000. I seem to be holding higher gears than i expected. I am very pleased.
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