So here we are, three weeks from new thruxton R and just had the 500 miles service done, i resisted getting the V&H exhausts for now, not only are they expensive but i was surprised how nice the originals sound… have been watching a few vids on you tube about the de-cat and fitting an x pipe, i think doing the exhausts and the x-pipe will be too loud and i will get a little extra power and just a little more noise…… anyone else fitted an x pipe and how have you found it? i am fitting myself so any pitfalls to watchout for…… i can see you have to loosen the side of the frame….. are there any breakable exhaust gaskets i have to worry about….>??
Thanks Andy, did you actually do yours or have you kept it as standard….? I am in two minds about it as i hate jobs that are difficult and i hate botch jobs, unless i can get it back together as it was i wont be happy, maybe the risk of leaking exhausts etc is too high for the gains… as the thruxton has more than enough power than i actually need, as for the bike having clunky gears as mentioned in my other post, you were right, after the service the bike was a different animal, the gears are nice and smooth and i can now ride on a 30mph road in fifth gear, pre service i had to run it in 3rd, Triumph told me they had balance the throttle bodies as they werent right, so this has made it so much nicer and smoother, its like riding a different bike. When i called my local dealer in Bristol otherwise known as "fowl ups" to book in for the service, they told me that as i hadnt bought the bike from them then the service cost would be £182, so a lifelong dislike for them from back in my motocross days in the 80s led me back to the tranny van i had hired to go buy it, for £29 hire and £30 fuel i took the bike back to Milton Keynes and got the service done there for £50… pure triumph in Woburn are a friendly bunch and always give good advice and help, and i was £70 in pocket to add to the the £2300 i had already saved by not buying the same bike in Bristol, so i consider my two 110 miles each way trips well worth it….. i think you mentioned that riding this animal makes you smile every time you ride it, i can now understand what you mean….it does me too.
And Andy , when you say use some lube are we talking grease or some special exhaust fitting product…?
Oh yes it most certainly is…. 80mph on a thruxton feels like 130mph on my Yamaha…. so that got to be a good thing, i was on the bristol ring road yesterday, it a long straight peice of road , i went past all the cars and was doing 85, i looked in my mirrors and the cars now in the distance gave me one of those moments, i could see blue lights, i slowed down for a moment like you do when you know you've done wrong, i took a second look to realise it was those annoying blue headlamps that some cars have these days…. then i began thinking….. why the hell did i slow down for anyway, so i cracked her open again and i was through the lights and gone……. like a bat out of hell. ha.
Hi Spacefrog, if you’re looking at the decat for sound alone just buy open pipes so you don’t mess with the fuelling. My bike came with Vance and Hines EU chrome cans which did sound better than standard, much deeper tone (and are also for sale) but they weren’t what I wanted so I decided to change for the US spec with removable baffles which are significantly louder, with a beefy bottom end with a bit of a growl at the top end. One of my pals has straight through Arrow down pipes with the US spec open pipes which is ridiculously loud. so the choice is find someone who can show how there bike sounds to see what you want
hey Andy , Do you reckon leaving the x-pipe loose while getting the pipes fitted back in, maybe it will leave a little more scope and make re assembling a little easier, i might ask my father to help getting the headers back it, he can come over on his yamaha fz6 and i can race him the 25 miles home…….
Hi Spacefrog, are you aware you’re going to have to fit a power commander or o2 sensor blanks and a remap if you fit an X pipe
Hello Glyn, I haven't seen anything about that, no mention of that in any of the youtube vids ive watched …… i also asked Motone if there was any other mods i needed to do they said this.. No ECU changes are required. Delivery is next working day depending on the time of day the item is ordered. Sam
Hey Glyn, I just asked a well known manufacturer of the xpipe i am going to fit, they replied with this … Beware "knowledgeable" people on forums. There are a couple of graphite seals, if you are careful no need to replace them just re-use. As for power commander... well if you wanted to squeeze more power out of it perhaps you could go that route, but its certainly not necessary nor worth the ball ache in my opinion. You can just fit the xpipe. You then turn the bike on from cold. Dont touch the throttle, wait til the engine fan comes on. Then time 12 minutes without touching anything. That will cause the ECU to readjust the fuel for the new xpipe setup. If you remove the o2 sensors Im not sure if the 12 minute retune will work.
What do you say Andy, you did your bike and you have a thruxton R, did you have to fit a power. commander and do a remap….im sure if you did you would have said…….
Yeah sounds good, go for it. I was only going on previous experience of decating my Daytona 675r and GSX R1000 and ZX10r that all had power commanders fitted to get the fue If the Thruxton electronics can cope great . I think I’d speak to Triumph or anyone else who’s fitted one
Hey Glyn, no worries, but we are in a thruxton thread here after all and on an all things Triumph website forum, did you read the thread from the beginning or just read my latest post…… you had me going for a few minutes you little devil…...
Yes completely understand and the reason I even mentioned the power commander is I cannot see how the bikes Ecu can compensate the fuelling after the cat is removed without an outside influence. I get that the Vance and Hines cans and Arrow parts that are factory approved are already added to the ecu by Triumph but I doubt that the X pipe is and it will considerably change fuelling requirements. I will say no more, hope it works for you
Yes Glyn apparently the thruxton R has a very intelligent ecu and can adapt itself by the method described by the xpipe manufacturer so i think its all good and straight forward, apart from needing some good planning to do the job and care when fitting…..i know you only meant well……...
I had my V&H open pipes and Arrow headers fitted by Triumph Birmingham and watched them do exactly as you describe, waiting for the fan to kick in etc and the bike has run like a dream for the last 2 years. Same procedure with an XPipe I was told. Enjoy.....
It seems as I write these comments like I’m having a dig even as I read them back, but I’m actually trying to help . I’ll explain, a friend of mine has Arrow downpipes with open V&H cans, no O2 sensors fitted. His bike has a power commander so no problem, but I do know both of these products are approved by Triumph and are included in the many maps built into the Thruxton ECU. An X pipe does not delete the O2 sensor so how does it quantify the difference in mass flow through the exhaust I cannot understand how it can. I’m not saying it won’t work but I really cannot see how it works without the need for fuelling mods to be carried out. It can only use the Arrow internal ECU map but they don’t have O2 sensors so I don’t get it,sorry
As we’ve said before my Arrow pipes do have sensors. Triumph do, or used to approve Arrow Pipes for some models but I’ve not seen anything for the 1200 Thruxton. When they launched the 1200 they had a full system as an accessory which were dropped because of noise or emissions laws or something. I don’t know much about these things but all I can tell you is mine were fitted by a dealer, we stood around drinking tea waiting for my bike to reach temperature and for the fan to cut in while plugged into a lap top thing. That was it, job done, as I say, it’s ran perfect ever since. I quickly put the baffles in, jeez it was loud. https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=1512591482109045
