Botched baffle job

(6/1/2014) I should have known better, but I did the careless thing anyway. I recently purchased a “quiet baffle” for my Vance & Hines (V&H) 2-into-1 Pro Pipe Chrome exhaust system. (Shown new in the photo to the upper right.) So, Friday evening, I went to the garage and unpacked my new baffle. My neighbor John joined me and we each lit up a cigar. This is a great ritual for working on my bike. It’s kind of like a really masculine form of incense.

I followed the instructions for removing the standard baffle and separating the chrome end cap from the baffle. That went smoothly though slowly, as getting the allen wrench past the fiberglass wrap was tedious. (I wanted to preserve the existing baffle, and thus retained the fiberglass wrap as is.) I then mounted the beautiful V&H chrome end cap to the new baffle. That step went well. I then carefully inserted the new assembly into the pipe, being sure to line the two threaded holes in the end cap with the two unthreaded holes in the the exhaust pipe. The screws pass from the outside through the pipe into the end cap.

As careful as I was, the pairs of holes were out of lateral alignment by about 1/32 of an inch, just enough to prevent me from threading in the screws. After about 30 minutes of patient attempts at turning the end cap (with the baffle attached) in order to align the holes, and trying repeatedly to thread either of the screws, I did what I thought was prudent: I gave up. I decided that I would take this problem to my friend Mike Russo the next evening. I figured that the end cap was wedged in the pipe tightly enough that a short interval of riding without the screws would be OK.

I figured wrong, in the worst possible way. After some great riding with my brother-in-law and his wife, I headed from Chapel Hill to Cary on I-40. Quite suddenly, as I was passing an old cab that was burning an excess of oil, I heard a loud exhaust sound. At first, I figured the cab had a bad muffler in addition to worn rings. However, I quickly developed a sweat and pit in my stomach after I passed the cab and that loud exhaust sound stayed with me. I immediately concluded that I lost my baffle and the attached end cap.

I concluded right. After a quick three-lane change to pull onto the shoulder of the interstate, I got off and confirmed my fear. I had a big empty exhaust pipe. Since I was traveling at about 70 mph for a minute or two, I knew it would be quite a hike along the road to find my debris.

However, I decided that I really needed the end cap, even if the baffle might no longer be usable, because the cap would be needed to hold the standard baffle in. I took a long, disheartening walk along I-40 until I saw my $150 of metal rolling in the middle of the interstate. Traffic was moderate, meaning people were cruising well over the 65 mph speed limit and gaps were few. I could see that I would have to cross one and a half lanes of traffic. What really hurt was watching car after car inflict more damage while I stood there helplessly waiting for my opportunity to run out and grab my precious junk.

I have been humbled and learned a little more about the forces that exhaust can generate. Combined with the tremendous vibrations at the end of the pipe, it’s no wonder the instructions call for blue Loctite® in the threads of the screws. 

I rode the bike home with the loud, empty pipe and reinstalled the standard baffle using the battered end cap. The bike runs fine, but now I carry a badge of stupidity in the form of scraped up cap.

By the way, I really liked the new baffle and I plan to order another one. Maybe I can make it last a year or two, rather than a mere 20 hours. It was significantly quieter but still plenty loud enough so no one would mistake my bike for a BMW. :0)

Learn from my mistake: always insert the fasteners immediately, regardless of how much effort it takes. And use the correct color Loctite®.

The adventure continues…and I haven’t even left the state yet...

-The Long Rider