Posts
756
Joined
11/3/2014
Location
Chantilly, VA
US
Edited Date/Time
12/24/2015 2:29pm
Hey everyone, before anyone gets to excited let me start by saying that unless you are building a garage queen then I do not recommend investing time and money into a carbon fiber silencer and let me explain why. I have made a couple (I am not machinist or fabricator), but the first one I made was for my 1980 RM125 (see the photos below), which I have rode with and it’s holding up pretty good (though I don’t ride this bike much). Back in the day American Suzuki’s MX race team used them (guys like Hannah & Cooper), however I do not believe they used them for their strength rather they were used to save weight. Carbon fiber in the form of a silencer is strong, but it will break. US Suzuki riveted theirs together, which if I had to guess, they did it for two reasons, one for weight saving and two because what’s the point in taking the time to bolt it together when it might be broken in one moto (and they easily had spares handy). Have you ever tried removing a rivet..? Yeah, you would tear the hell out of the carbon fiber doing it. In Europe from all the photos I have seen of the factory RA Suzuki’s on Donny Schmidt appears to have used a carbon fiber silencer and I think the reason was that in Europe they were not held by the production rule that we were held to in the US so they had works swingarms and other such lightweight parts (other ways to make the bike lighter). So why risk smashing a carbon silencer…they just used aluminum.
When I first made the silencer for my 1990 RM125, I used an acerbic carbon silencer (do not remember what it came off of), which was too wide (I think it was for a 4 stroke), so I cut it in half to make it narrower (see the photos). My plan was to re-fiberglass it, but I have since ordered another oval tube which I will try and make work when it arrives in the mail. But check out the photos below as my silencer will be very close to the factory silencer. I’ll keep you all posted as I build it.
Mike
When I first made the silencer for my 1990 RM125, I used an acerbic carbon silencer (do not remember what it came off of), which was too wide (I think it was for a 4 stroke), so I cut it in half to make it narrower (see the photos). My plan was to re-fiberglass it, but I have since ordered another oval tube which I will try and make work when it arrives in the mail. But check out the photos below as my silencer will be very close to the factory silencer. I’ll keep you all posted as I build it.
Mike
I have retro fitted several silencers for some of my restoration projects. I used an old Acerbis carbon Fiber silencer for my '88 Cagiva 250 and it looks really trick. I found it on craigslist for 25 bucks locally and I think it was off a mid 90's KTM 250/300. They had the funky curved stinger tip on the end but I just cut it off straight. The way most of the carbon silencers mount with the adjustable clamp make them pretty simple to fit.
I think the price is outrageous for that new one PC is selling and you can find round carbon fiber tube cheap online. But where did you find the oval?
I'm interested because I used a stock silencer I had laying around from my '92 RM 125 on my '95 KTM 125 project a few years ago and it was a pretty easy job....I assume the '90 one your building is close to the '92 so I should be able to use the same parts to build one for the KTM.
The Shop
I bought the oval silencer on ebay and have no idea what bike it came off of. Acerbis made it so I would check with them.
Mike
I ordered an oval carbon tube from a company in England, but it has not arrived. Once it does (and I have it in hand i will update you).
Respectfully, Wolfy
Pit Row
I took your advice and I cleaned up the bracket a bit (see below photos) and I cut the carbon tube (shortened it), which I had planned to do as the works silencers were a bit shorter than the stocker. However, I won’t make the silencer look perfect as I want that “works” handmade look that came from the factory. I took a couple of photos of some works parts to emphasize what I mean. Starting with the below photo of Ricky Carmichael’s last RM250, which had a hand built carbon silencer by Pro Circuit, and if you look at the photo below that one, you will see the Answer Racing carbon silencer on my 98 RM250 that while trick looks mass-produced next to Carmichaels. Another example is the works swingarm on my RM125 in the below photo that has the welding running straight down the middle of the arm, which unlike the stocker that had a smooth production line built look to it. I think that factories have lost the art of making handmade works parts, don’t get me wrong, they still make some pretty trick stuff, but just about anybody with a couple extra grand in their pocket can duplicate the look of a modern works bike (but not internally). I also think that the cost to make handmade parts is another reason they don't make them so much anymore along with the fact that there are many aftermarket companies capable of doing the work so the factories often use their parts or commission them to make them. Back in the day you couldn’t come close to making your bike look like a works bike as most of the parts were machined and sometimes crudely (take a look at the below photo of the works Honda HRC swingarm). The left side of those arms almost looked like art, but the chain side looked like someone in a welding class took a torch to it. Anyway, I just like the “one-off look” is all I’m saying, cheers, Mike
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