We're back from our all too short trip to Hollywood and as usuall it was busy doing short rides to here and there. Unfortunately Malibu canyon was not an option due to the fires but the Crest Hwy was open and we saw some carnage at Squid's Leap. A Ducati and rider went over a cliff. The bike was on the tow truck as we rode by. They retrieved it from about 100 ft down a very steep bank after a long left hand turn which had about 100 foot rear wheel skid mark leading to the to the launch site. The rider was air lifted out, they said he was probably going to live. One sports rider we talked to at the accident scene said this happens all the time, newbies riding beyond there ability mostly.
But back to the thread!!!
Anyone that is interested in my experience with RB Racing here it is..
The facility in Gardena isn't what you might expect, minimal signage and the shop itself very full of projects, however the service I got in person was better than I expected. I had read some reviews that said the communication with the business wasn't that good. Bob the proprietor and the brains behind product development seemed a little unsure of me maybe because not to many customers come to the facility to pick up their parts, but after a bit of discussion he figured out I was genuinely interested in his products not just getting my pipes and getting out of there. He is very knowledgeable and some might say a little eccentric but I wouldn't hestitate to do business with him again. He showed me his FXR2, which was somewhat disassembled and told me he was in the process of turbocharging it to go for the landspeed record for an 80" I believe that's over 200 mph. He also took the time to show me his real time fuel ratio sensor/gauge that works off exhaust temperature, you can install it on your bike and are able to tell at a glance how your carburetor or FI is working through the different loads you experience while riding, taking a lot of guess work out of the tuning process, it's all on the RB Racing website. (I bought one for installation later)
After I said goodbye to Bob and Lynne, I had HD of Glendale install the 1017 "C"style (in chrome) pipes with the RB Racing CNC gaskets replacing the 65138-97 HD 2-1 pipes that were on the FXR3 when I bought it.
The tech that installed the pipes said everything fit together nicely, the quality of the finish is top notch and I really like the sound, they aren't too loud at start up or low throttle cruising but they really wake up and sound like a performance exhaust when you screw it on. I'm also very impressed with the performance improvement, the gains where significant from 2500 RPM on up. Without some dyno runs before and after the exhaust change, it is difficult to quantify the extent of the improvement but I can tell you that the bike didn't used to wheelie when speed shifting into 2nd gear while caring a passenger but it does now! Performance upgrades before the addition of the RB Racing exhaust;
-80" Evo with stock heads which develops 175 PSI cylinder pressure on compression testing with a Andrews EV46 Cam; an HSR42 Mikuni; a SE ignition module and now a RB Racing 2-1 Exhaust.
These pictures weren't taken with the idea of showing the exhaust in great detail but I think you get the general idea of how they look on the FXR3. Anyone considering RB Racing Products feel free to ask me, I'll do my best to answer your questions.