kind of a simple (and maybe stupid) question here. i was watching the ama races, and noticed that the american Honda team uses jardine exhaust systems. is this because honda's run best with jardine pipes, or just due to corporatism and big-money sponsorship deals at work?

 

i think the answer is B)sponsorship

 

i figured it would be. are there any exhuast manufacturers that really stick out as being great for hondas? or are all the companies basically the same?

 

well if you listen to the hype Micron claims to make the best honda compatible exhaust... they set the land sppe record on a 600 with some ridiculios speed like 185mph with a CBR600RR.

however I have a carbon fiber Jardine RT1 pipe on my old 600RR and I actually lost hp with it. stock it dyno'd at 104 and change and with teh pipe I was only turning 99.9 but it sounds cool as hell so I left it on

 

got the RT-One titanium for my 900RR. Noticed a little more pep one the higher end.

 

Couple things need to be noted about the Jardine's

1. Jardine is a very middle of the road brand of exhaust. Not too bad, but nothing to write home about either. Decent quality & peformance for the money so it's an ok return on the investment.

2. The Jardines you have seen in the past on the RC51's etc were actually Akrapovic exhausts built to HRC specs with Jardine badges on them (Jardine pays Am Honda to use their label for marketing purposes). Now in the very beginning of the Factory Honda RC campaign (2000) there were some Jardine exhausts being used, but they immediately had problems with welds coming apart & huge holes being burned through the carbon cannisters. Having said that you cannot really compare the products on the Superbikes to the stuff we use. A. the exhaust pulses & demands on the Superbike motors is way more than our bikes will ever see & B. NO matter what brand of exhaust they use those exhausts are built special for the teams & NOTHING like the exhausts we the public can buy for ourselves.

I'm not 100% sure if Jardine is actually making the stuff for the in-house Am Honda team now & I just haven't had the gumption to go to the lengths to find out, but the rumor is Jardine has made a few attempts at new cannisters for last years team, but the overall design is still HRC & this year they are back to using HRC Endurance systems with Jardine badges on them.

 

Oh & if you want a lot of detailed info about exhausts I have an article written

http://www.rc51.org/exhaust.htm

 

great post duckhunter. exactly the info i was looking for