Ok guys, I need honest opinions

So here's the deal, when I bought this bike it had some rather awful drag pipes. Made the bike look pretty muscular, but the sound combined with tuning issues made it almost unbearable. Desperate and with a severe lack of direction, I scrounged up a 550F header and butchered myself up a tip. This is a temporary solution to get me through to winter, when alot of work is going to be done. So the question is, what the hell should I do about an exhaust? I rather like the ricey tone of the 4-1, but all these YouTube videos and such don't give a real life example of what the various set ups sound like. A buddy of mine really liked the sound of the drag pipes, so you see what I'm dealing with here as far as personal advice. Also, don't make fun of the wheels. They were spray bombed black when I got it. I've got another set that will be powder coated with stainless spokes.

Hard to say man but that looks like it would be easy to add a reverse cone and a bit of pipe to the header in the pic to give you some sonic relief. It should tune better too. That would be my .02.

A few questions, if you will:

-How's it run with your new setup?
You might even wear earplugs on a couple runs to eliminate the "it sounds fast" factor, feel the tuning through your controls.

-Do you know how to do plug chops?

-Do you like the way it sounds now?

It looks loud. If you like the tone, but not the noise, you could add a removable, tuneable baffle to your existing tip. Your long header is what's letting you get away with that short tip, so if you wanna stay short with it you gotta keep that header.

DohcBikes said:

A few questions, if you will:

-How's it run with your new setup?
You might even wear earplugs on a couple runs to eliminate the "it sounds fast" factor, feel the tuning through your controls.

-Do you know how to do plug chops?

-Do you like the way it sounds now?

It looks loud. If you like the tone, but not the noise, you could add a removable, tuneable baffle to your existing tip. Your long header is what's letting you get away with that short tip, so if you wanna stay short with it you gotta keep that header.

Click to expand...

I like the "tone" but the noise level in decibels is unbearable. Better than the drag pipes but not something I want to live with. It runs ok, that is until a cross wind blows through. I'm in the process of collecting the parts for the factory airbox. Plug chop tells me that I need to raise the needle clips to lean it out. I have the "shims" that come with most jet kits. I will likely raise the clip, shim it, and if it's still rich I will remove the shim. Lather, rinse, repeat until it's right. Probably gonna wait until I get my airbox together to delve into the slides again though. I am not opposed to lengthening the whole thing if it means better performance and tunability. This is just shit I had laying around the shop.

Good for you going back to the factory airbox. Way too many people try to run pods on SOHC4 Honda's and rarely do they work well off of a race track.

I'd try to find a CB550F silencer to go with the header, or at least a nicely baffled silencer. Or - http://carpyscaferacers.com/shop/exhaust/stainless-steel-4-into-1-exhausts-for-cb500-cb550/

Ok, so I came up with something. Scrounging around at the local scrap yard, I found this generic reverse cone muffler new in a pile of junk. It tapered down to about 1.5" with a roughly 40° bend at the end. I shortened it to the point where it would slide over the existing piece of pipe. Fire up the tig. Scuff the chrome to complete the look, and call it a day. The baffle looks like a sink drain. Only problem.

Nice welds, how does it sound?

Alot more quiet. Same "tone" just alot less aggressive. It has also almost eliminated the popping on decel.

So the bike is getting some color this winter. Haven't decided what color exactly, but something. Just the tank and side covers. I have two sets of side covers and I can't decide which ones to use. I've got some janky metal ones and some janky plastic ones. What do you guys think?

First pic by far.

Kind of what I thought. They just need a fluff and puff and they won't be so bad

ill second that =)