Keihan stainless exhausts

Joined
Jan 22, 2008
Messages
954
Country flag
After a lot of thought about making a custom exhaust system for my Ducati single, I decided that it was too awkward and expensive, so I ordered a stainless header and silencer from Keihan in England: http://www.keihan.co.uk/

This may be of interest to owners of Commandos, classic Italians or BMWs who might like stainless replacement exhausts, so I thought I would post a few pics.

Keihan were reluctant to make an entire custom system but they said that they could make a Conti silencer to my measurements, within a certain range of lengths, pipe inlet diameters, etc, which they did. The header pipe is an off-the-shelf part but needed to be re-bent as it did not match the original pipe. They said if I returned it, they would modify it to my measurements and at no extra cost. This is the result.

Keihan stainless exhausts


Keihan stainless exhausts


Keihan stainless exhausts


The silencer had to be short enough to allow access to the wheel spindle and to clear the bottom of the rear shock, and it could not foul the gearshift or the centre stand, and had to have enough ground clearance. The angle of tilt is roughly the same as the angle of inclination of the cylinder.

I still had to make an additional bracket to mount the silencer to the frame, but that is because the bracket, like the silencer itself, is for the vee twins and not the singles and my bike is slightly modified as well. It is therefore my problem, not theirs. I will make a better bracket in due course. The exhaust looks to be good quality and Keihan were obliging and good to deal with. The sound is exactly the same as the original Conti - a good, healthy bark. It hasn't been run for very long, so it will be interesting to see how the pipe colours over time.

Dave
 
They did a nice job. It looks like it is turning a slight bit of "straw yellow" already up near the head. I have an Armours SS repro exhaust system on a 1961 Matchless 350 and it has turned almost all yellow even the muffler. I don't really mind it considering what the exhaust system looked like before (silver-painted rust). The yellowing can be removed with a lot of elbow grease. Put any purists to work with some polish and a soft rag.

Nice bike too. I had a 1966 Monza Jr 160 once.
 
Great looks, proportion. Good fit too. Well done.

Looking at your bike, I get misty eyed, I too had a bunch of Ducatis -
'67 250 Diana narrowcase
'67 Diana head/high compression/narrowcase 350
'69 350 Desmo
'89 450 Desmo
'72 Ducati 750 Sport

All of em long gone.
 
batrider said:
They did a nice job. It looks like it is turning a slight bit of "straw yellow" already up near the head. I have an Armours SS repro exhaust system on a 1961 Matchless 350 and it has turned almost all yellow even the muffler. I don't really mind it considering what the exhaust system looked like before (silver-painted rust). The yellowing can be removed with a lot of elbow grease. Put any purists to work with some polish and a soft rag.

Nice bike too. I had a 1966 Monza Jr 160 once.

So I can look forward to an all-over yellowing in time! At least it is highly polished to begin with so it will need less elbow grease than the modern Ducati headers, which are difficult to get at and roughly finished.
 
xbacksideslider said:
Great looks, proportion. Good fit too. Well done.

Looking at your bike, I get misty eyed, I too had a bunch of Ducatis -
'67 250 Diana narrowcase
'67 Diana head/high compression/narrowcase 350
'69 350 Desmo
'89 450 Desmo
'72 Ducati 750 Sport

All of em long gone.

You had a fair collection of Dukes. The only other single I owned was a mid-60s narrow case Mark 3 - very like a Mach 1 and a very quick little bike.
 
Dave, that looks perfect!
Good to see the 450 again. How much was the pipe and muffler.
My muffler is stainless and doesn't yellow very much if at all, but you can tell it's not chrome after a fun day.

I found the best way to get modern ducati pipes looking very nice is to get hold of some pickling paste from one of your local Stainless workers.
It's an acid of some kind, wipe it on and wash it off, (removes the black stuff) then polish the stainless and it will look like your 450 exhaust.
The stainless welders at work used it to clean up their welds before polishing.

graeme
 
GRM 450 said:
Dave, that looks perfect!
Good to see the 450 again. How much was the pipe and muffler.
My muffler is stainless and doesn't yellow very much if at all, but you can tell it's not chrome after a fun day.

I found the best way to get modern ducati pipes looking very nice is to get hold of some pickling paste from one of your local Stainless workers.
It's an acid of some kind, wipe it on and wash it off, (removes the black stuff) then polish the stainless and it will look like your 450 exhaust.
The stainless welders at work used it to clean up their welds before polishing.

graeme

Hi Graeme, cost me about £210 excluding VAT at 20% and postage. They quote for Contis in pairs but they sold one to me at half the price of the pair. After seeing a photo of your system, which is spot on, it nudged me to go down this route as well.

Thanks for the tip about the pickling paste, which I had not heard of before!
 
Hi Dave,
Your 450 S is very very gorgeus and the new muffler are like Conti.
In 1996, i was young and i did not have the sons else, with MKR 1000 i ride, with the my girl friend, my wife now, one shot from Paris to Gaeta, about 1650 km., in 14 hours.
With my other Ducati MKR 900 (solded) i ride accross all Europe states, the Pompone Engine is quite and indestructible.
In Ialy is very difficult and expensive to buy a old Ducati, the price are:
- 250/350/450 Scrambler= 4000/5000 Euro;
- 450 S= 6000;
-750 GT= 10000;
- 750 S= 15000
- 750 / 900 SS= 25000 first and 20000 onwards;
- MKR= 15000

Less exespensive Darmah, 860, etc.

Many people from Japan comes to buy old Ducati.

Sorry, but i do not like the Ducati Today, if I were to buy a new bike now, I would buy a moto guzzi.

See you, ciao

Keihan stainless exhausts


Keihan stainless exhausts
 
Back
Top