Perhaps it's unlikely but I'll not know unless I ask. I'm in the UK and until some years back Motad used to supply stainless downpipes. They've gone bust now but I'm hoping someone has saved a set from a bike which is no longer alive. I have a 2001 CBR600F fuel injected which I believe has the same gear as the F4i. If anyone has a set to replace the cardboard ones that Honda supplied originally (that was a joke, in case you wondered), please let me know. Thanks in advance.

 

Hi masdo welcome to the forum.

Please pop over to the new member area and give us a introduction, pictures are mandatory (only kidding).

Not sure how you will fare with the request but lets see as it was quite a while ago that they ceased trading.

As far as I am aware the only firm that current do replacement header are Black Widow and Delkevic if you can stretch to new ones or its the trawl of the bay to see if some decent second hand ones come up.

Cheers
Al

 

Thanks Al. I've put a little in the profile section. I'm still brand new to the CBR. Just got her 2 weeks ago and have spent most of the time getting her back up and running. While the bike was stripped down I decided to tidy up the headers and the rust was a lot worse than I originally thought. I even had to do a few spots of welding as there were blow holes near the flanges on pipes 2 and 3. So while the exhaust is now functional, time is definitely ticking.

I dont want to go down the stage tuning with Power Commander, air filter and full system. I dont have any problem with a 100bhp+ bike and I also dont want to wake the dead when I ride around. While I would definitely like to save a bit of money by buying second hand, it is more because of the options available that I thought I'd ask.

Black Widow - I emailed them and they told me that they are getting new stock soon, which will be "the best headers ever made for the CBR600". When I asked for more details they suddenly went quiet. It might have been because I also asked where they were made and expressed my dislike for Chinese products. I'm pretty sure these pipes will be made in China to make the maximum profit. Not to produce the best headers ever. I'll be skipping Black Widow I think.

Delkevic - I also emailed them and asked about the crossover pipes which they dont have on their CBR600F4i system. The response I got was: "As you suggest Honda must have put the link pipes in there for some reason, but it may be emissions related rather than performance." I dont profess to be an expert on exhausts but I would hope the exhaust manufacturer would know about these. From my research it appears that Honda went to the trouble of fitting these (and they would have been a bit of a nuisance to manufacture) in order to have a smooth mid-range. I dont race anymore and I dont intend keeping my revs above 10k. So having a mid-range is important to me.

And this is where Motad comes in. If the only alternative is Delkevic I might look to buy some Honda original headers made from cheese from a country without excess rain like the UK. Postage is a killer from the USA (£100 in post...!!!) but Italy is also an option. I've got a search running on Fleabay and if a Motad set appears I will bid. I just hoped someone on here might have some which need rehoming...

 

I understand you are only looking for aftermarket and not OEM headers, right?

 

I am planning on keeping my original stock can and air filter so if the headers happen to have a higher flow, this should be acceptable due to the restrictions in the can and filter. So, OEM or non-OEM (race/aftermarket etc) should be fine. Stainless is my preference as I live in the UK and the weather REALLY enjoys eating mild steel. But good condition mild steel headers from Greece, for example, I could probably make work for some years.

 

have a look here - since it is a very usual description mixup between the F4i-F4 pipes & headers, this one could be the F4i headers instead of the F4 they say it is - I guess you can tell the difference given the patchwork you performed
(not only in Greece it seems: I recently got a mint F4 silencer from NL at just 45 euros plus... 75 euros postage and I was sure I was buying the F4i part , well I am now cutting and matching ..... on my defence, I got my F4i with a Yoshi slip on and had no idea how the original one looked so I relied on their erroneous description but they had good photos posted along so it is more me, the buyer at fault...)

 

Thanks Mi_ka. I will keep an eye out here. I understood the can (silencer) required a link pipe to fit the F4i due to a difference in length. I dont mind doing dome fabricating etc but I was hoping to just have something which bolts on, especially to try and avoid altering the airflow on which the bike was tuned at the factory.

 

from what I read around the forum, a full F4 set is a bolt on option for the F4i as an F4i set is a bolt on option for the F4 - look here too

 

Ah, sorry, I missed the link embedded in the 'here' text. I guess I can stay open to the idea of using a full F4 system but it might end up with me having to go down the stage tuning route which I dont want to venture down. Thank you for your info. I appreciate it. Those pipes from Greece look mint. But I imagine postage will be quite high. I think I'll look for some stainless ones for a while before giving up and going to mild steel.

 

Unfortunately they are strangely shaped so it ends up a too high volumetric priced package - however if you end up at them, tell me to inquire more into it.

IMHO, Honda, like most high ranking japanese companies, is ALWAYS nit picking for tiny details to improve for each model incarnation "because it is better"(stereotypical answer to journalists at press events) - all these details a.sum up to a better product b.present different part numbers, thus less parts volume per part number thus higher price&profit margin.
This way a.they keep up their "kaizen" deep philosophy of Being b.keep their marketing dept. and investors happy.

IMHO but without personal hands-on experience, what is to be lost by mixing and matching F4-F4i parts is too little to make it worth considering - if I was up to the level of being sensitive of such differences I would not be looking at a 25 year old design to begin with!

Important detail: Does your bike have a O2 sensor and catalyst?