Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums Exhaust Bubs, Sceptres, Tpipes -- help please

OK, here's the latest...and my quandry.
I, this past week, installed Freaks, and a friend removed all the baffling from my TORs and put a straight pike insert (drag pipe). Tried it with the stock jets -- it would barely run at all. Re jetted with the Freak supplied 160 jets. Runs very well, but with a feeling of loss of low, mid range torque, probably from the lack of back pressure. All in all, unacceptable. In addition the sound is great at idle but totally too loud and rough at all other speeds.
Now my quandry. Think I will put a new set of exhausts on. Wonder what your recomendations might be given the Freaks and 160 jets. Wondering why so little is said about the Bubs in recent posts? Lots on Sceptre and a whole lot lately on Tpipes. Honestly I like the look of the Bubs, they are less expensive, but I wonder how the performance stacks up against Sceptre's and Tpipes. I know this is a very much discussed topic, but I am still confussed. And thoughts on the above would be greatly appreciated!!!

For the money, I don't think you can beat the Specialty Spare product. Check out this great looking America on their website, hey, wait a minute - that's my bike! <g>
Specialty Spares Long Cannons

i have heard bubs and they are way to high pitched when the bike revs. never heard scepters but they are the loudest and honestly the low rumble of the tbike pipes is perfect. all depends how much sound you want

Frank

I have slash cut bubs on my BA. They give the bike more power. They were designed by a guy that rides an america, and they sound great.

Like Kenny, I have the BUB slash cuts. Really improved performance and good sound. Not so loud at idle so that the neighbors complain, but plenty loud when opened up. And I don't think they are high pitched at all. ('course I have some high frequency hearing loss from all the front rows at Zepplin, Sabbath, Humble pie, etc. during my youth).

I'll chime in with Kenny and bigbill - I've got Bubs, they sound good, the bike flies, no mods needed other than the pipes.

Downside - they are a bit loud when you get on it and sound a little raspy when you're really on the throttle. At idle they're fine. I had some minor rust at the weld on the hangers (no need to swap out your hangers to get the pipes on - nice!) and that took about 2 minutes and a little steel wool to remedy.

If you ever need to call the factory the folks are great. Good pipes - doubt you'll be disappointed!

roadie

All three are excellent pipes. The Sceptres have the added advantage of being stainless and require no additional mounting hardware (you need to remove and use the stock hangers for the others).
The Bubs and the Tpipes are very similar in that they were both specifically designed for the Triumph to gain max HP and torque. Totally different sounds too.
The Sceptres are by far the loudest. Can't really say about the gains in HP though.
You really should look and listen to them before you buy.
Come over to NY in two weeks, they will all be present.

what other brands are stainless?

Frank

The Staintunes, Epcos and this new brand from Oz (Mad Dogs or soemthing like that) are also SS. May be another brand or two.

Specialty Spares offers their pipes in chrome or stainless. So far, they're chrome version is holding up very well.

how do staintunes and the oz pipes sound ? wonder how loud they are ocmpared to the tbike pipes. also the specialty spares, almost baught them instead of the t bike pipes

Frank

I have the bubs slash cut drag pipes (sound good to me) with 69.9 hp @ rear wheel and 51.3 ft/lb torque. 61 degrees F, 46% humidity, 28.5in hg pressure. (torque was corrected at engine) 7641 RPM

Dynamometer sd325

Specs as follows:

bubs slash cut drag pipes
air screws 3 turns out
162 main jets
2 shims under each factory pilot jet
freak kit installed
air injection removed
factory carbs
2003 speedmaster stock engine 790 cc

Frank
I have the Staintunes i would say they are just slightly under the Thunderpipe for sound, but they do sound good and give you that authentic Triumph sound. they have removable restrictors so you can tone them up or down when needed. they are 100% stainless and the workmanship on these pipes are excellent. they look good on the TBA or Speedy.
they say they will last the life of your bike. have a look on their web site for some more info.
Its like everything, all aftermarket pipes sound better and sould make the bike perform better, but for sound it is down to each and everyones own preference to what they like.
Keep safe out there
Herb

Thanks for the input. I think I am going to sit tight and ponder this a bit more for now. REALLY wish I could make it to NY to participate, but WORK is, once again, getting in the way of all the important stuff.

Had a great ride yesterday with a buddy on a customer Harley, 113 inch Ultima (??) engine with LAF pipes (loud as f***) no baffles at all. After a couple full throttle roll ons at various speeds, we stopped for a break and said "man that thing is quiet at idle, but sounds pi$$ed off when you're on the gas!" I thought that was a pretty good testimonial for the TBike pipes....just what I was after!

Cheers, Mike