First of all I love my 600 RR. anyhow, i was just wondering, if Honda is bigon the concept of 'mass centralization', why do they build their machines with an undertail exhaust, making the bike carry extra weight on top. i thought having the exhaustat the side, like R6, GSXR etcactually centralizes mass better, easier turn ins, etc. I do see that the '08 1k exhaust is on the side though.

 

there are a few reasons why they did this...

1. is to replicate the rc211v which the bike was designed after... it has one undertail exhaust and oneon the side
2. aerodynamics.

 

all science and theory aside....its Honda styling, and it looks cool as hell! I was a complete noob and wanted a honda because the undertail pipe looks so good.

 

^^ Have to agree. When I first saw the 03 600RR, all the other bikes at the time had the side-exit exhaust. I thought (and still think) side exhaust looks horrible compared to tail-exit exhaust.

 

I am all about the nice big undertail exhaust.

Both on my CBR & wife !!

 

Check the '08 1000 RR

 

I hear ya BF!!! , ain't NOTHING nicer!!! I don't know why Honda change it on the 08 CBR 1000rr

 

What they mean by mass centralization is actually 'reduction of the Moment of Inertia', Mass concentrated in the center of an object turns easier, so yes underseat exhaust is against that goal. Think of carrying a long aluminum ladder, it is light, but it is hard to maneuver and turn, then once it turns it is hard to stop, same thing. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moment_of_inertia

The other thing that is bad about underseat exhaust it it raises the center of mass and makes a bike top heavy. The third thing that long snaking heavy exhaust does is rob power, anytime you make a bunch of sharp turns in an exhaust you lose power (that theory is fundemental to any engineer that studied fluid dynamics).

There arethree of the fourreasons why the GSXRs always win the shootouts in the magazines. But selling bikes depends on looks, and the underseat exhaust looks a whole lotbetter so Honda does it whether it hurts performance or not.

 

thanks to all replies, especially fishfryers detailed explanation. i love the looks of the undertail exhaust too but when i rode my buddy's R6, i foundright turns easier. either that ori need to check the suspension on my bike.